Jim Harbaugh: 49ers' Savior a Clear Favorite for Coach of the Year

Where would the San Francisco 49ers be without Jim Harbaugh?

If you ask me, probably the same place they were under Mike Singletary. You can even go back to the Mike Nolan days, which weren't any better than the Singletary days.

You can't give Harbaugh enough credit for what he's been able to do with the 49ers. We all knew he had the ability to be a great head coach in the NFL, but that he is already a great head coach in his first year on the job is what's truly impressive.

In fact, I'd wager Harbaugh deserves some sort of award for his efforts. Just off the top of my head, the NFL Coach of the Year Award would do the trick quite nicely. There are going to be plenty of deserving candidates in the mix (i.e. Mike McCarthy), but none quite so deserving as Harbaugh.

To appreciate Harbaugh's impact on the 49ers, you really have to appreciate how he's achieved so much success with a team that really isn't that much different from the 2010 49ers. The 2010 squad went 6-10 and just barely avoided finishing last in the NFC West. This year, they're 9-1 and riding an eight-game win streak.

Without a doubt the most impressive thing Harbaugh has been able to do with the 49ers is getting Alex Smith to finally look like an NFL quarterback. All of us labeled Smith a bust years ago, and many of us accused the 49ers and Harbaugh of being fools when they made the decision to re-sign Smith.

Yet here is Smith having the best year of his career. To give you an idea, his 93.9 QB rating is better than Ben Roethlisberger's and Matt Ryan's, and it's far and away better than Philip Rivers'.

That the 49ers' defense is so good is catching a lot of people by surprise, but it really shouldn't. We should recall that the 49ers were supposed to be an elite defensive team last year, but they just weren't able to live up to their billing. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio deserves the bulk of the credit for the turnaround, and it's obviously worth noting that he was Harbaugh's DC at Stanford.

The other thing to keep in mind is that Harbaugh was able to straighten the 49ers out despite the lockout-shortened offseason. By all rights, the 49ers should have struggled in their first year under Harbaugh. Instead, they're running away with the NFC West and looking to make a run at the Lombardi Trophy.

Without him, the 49ers are nothing. With him, they're something for the first time in years.

At the absolute very least, that's worth an award.