San Francisco 49ers Coach Harbaugh Has Team on the Right Path

I always love the fourth and fifth weeks of the NFL season because that is when teams begin to show their season's personality.

Every team has a different personality, year to year.  Some seem to continue right where they left off the previous year, others lose the spirit that got them through the past year.  And some teams surprise everyone with a whole new team personality that was not even hinted at the previous year.

However the season ends up, the San Francisco 49ers have found a new and pleasing personality this year.  Five wins against one very close loss has something to do with that.

But the real change is in the conduct and playing personality of the team as a whole.

Last season the 49ers looked like a group of guys that had nothing in common with one another. They had some good plays, even a few great plays, but no consistency, no real team spirit, no obvious show of élan or morale. They looked and acted as if they were just going through the motions.  They often looked lost. And then they did lose—a lot.  And they lost in spite of Frank Gore and Vernon Davis making stellar plays.

But the team has a bit of swagger now, and has had it from the first game. They play a conservative, calculated game intended to build team confidence.

They appear to be training up, on a trajectory toward a highly efficient and consistently competitive whole. They are no longer a bunch of guys playing football; they are a team.

This fact cannot be over-emphasized.

Coach Harbaugh and his staff can take the credit or the blame for this change of team personality.

Many of the same players from last year's group are still playing, but their whole approach to the game is different.  Instead of a couple of standout all-pro dudes, I see hard performance all over the field.  Excellent play is coming from almost all of the team—offense, defense and special teams.

Why—and I swear this is true—I saw Alex Smith smile on the field last Sunday.  It is the first time I have seen him smile on the field in his six years of struggle with the 49ers.  I had the feeling he was enjoying himself.  And that was before the team came from 20 points behind to win it.

The coaching staff uses a different approach with the guys than the past few coaches have.  I see very little critical shouting.  I see a lot of positive reinforcement, a lot of teaching.  Instead of chewing out a guy for making a mistake, I see coaches advising guys on how to improve.

All of this bodes well for a team that had become a joke among the NFL faithful, a huge fall from the glory days only a decade ago.

I’ll go out on a limb here.

The change in the San Francisco 49ers personality means that by next season, they will be a force to be reckoned with.  Mark your calendars.