![]() He had twice turned down contract extensions, and now, with two years left on the five-year, $25 million deal he signed in 2011, nobody knew whether he wanted to coach the 49ers next year and beyond, or even whether the 49ers wanted him. Harbaugh worked the players hard, tightening his grip, which prompted a few of them to voice concern to management. ![]() Team CEO Jed York says there was a "rawness" that festered after coming up short three straight seasons. ![]() It was not only a big deal: It was a chance for everyone to celebrate after a tense offseason.Īt the time, few knew the barely functional relationship between Harbaugh and 49ers general manager Trent Baalke - two men who can talk football but at the NFL combine didn't look at each other on a shared elevator ride - had started to spread to the front office and the locker room. The first day was the ribbon cutting to christen Levi's Stadium, a building decades in the making. Two days in July served as a harbinger for the strange season that's unfolded for the 49ers, a first month of blown leads and chronically undisciplined play and reports surfacing every few days that years of strain between Harbaugh and seemingly everyone in the building is finally spilling over. "But I'm not sure I'll answer questions." But it was catch and he is, at heart, a quarterback. Harbaugh tried to steer me toward profiling one of his assistant coaches or players. Harbaugh and Manning were throwing the ball, so it goes, when the coach couldn't help but remark that his passes had more mustard on them than the still-rehabbing future Hall of Famer's did. There's a late-night bar story told in NFL circles about Peyton Manning's free-agent visit with the 49ers in 2012. You can learn a lot about someone playing catch, including why they grate on people. I had happened upon a video of Harbaugh instructing high school quarterbacks, and when he picked up a ball, he seemed to come alive, energized by the power and possibilities at his command. But in San Francisco, it's gotten strangely personal. Many successful coaches can be jerks, of course. But after three NFC Championship Game appearances and a close loss in Super Bowl XLVII, the team seems to have all but concluded that unless this season ends with a championship, Harbaugh's way of winning is probably unsustainable. ![]() He's in his fourth year with the 49ers, a team that before he arrived was in a decade-long morass. His talent at turning losers into winners is matched only by his propensity to piss off people in the process. He's wearing his usual outfit - black 49ers sweatshirt over a black 49ers T-shirt, black 49ers hat and cheap khakis with a can of dip protruding from the back pocket - and not showing signs of the tension I'm here to explore: why, exactly, his methods seem to have a shelf life. I just knew Jim Harbaugh would end up where he is now, 10 yards downfield from me on a fall Thursday afternoon, playing catch. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser ![]()
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