The 49ers won the toss and took the kick in overtime, but they stalled at the 50 and punted.
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Even with a long-term deal in place, the pressure is on Trent Baalke.
Elevated from his defensive line coaching duties in an unconventional, surprising promotion by CEO Jed York last January, Tomsula went 5-11 as the Niners missed the playoffs for the second straight season. He will remain unavailable for comment most of the time rather than be a “distraction”.
The speculation had more to do with the roster than it did the hiring of Tomsula.
“Jim Harbaugh is a good football coach”, York said today in his season wrap-up press conference. “We didn’t get this one right”. They then replaced quarterback Colin Kaepernick with Blaine Gabbert, and Kaepernick ultimately went on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. But it sure feels like he took an opportunity, after staying largely quiet for a year, to put the 49ers and Tomsula on notice.
His firing was announced about two hours after the game ended at 6:58 p.m. PST.
And minutes after that…a subtweet from Jim Harbaugh.
Regardless, firing Tomsula will not save this team.
Since 2003, the 49ers have already churned through Dennis Erickson (who went 9-23), Mike Nolan (18-37), Mike Singletary (18-22) and Harbaugh (44-19-1). It’s not fair to the legacy of the 49ers greats. Kelly had full control over personnel during his final year in Philadelphia, with at-best questionable results, so he will have to be willing to relinquish some of that power to Baalke in San Francisco (or to an equivalent person with another team). We definitely have a short list. “For that, I want to apologize to our fans and everybody that cares deeply about this team the way I do”. That he wants that too. “We are going to do everything we can to get this team back to where it belongs”.
“Until we know what’s going on, there’s no reason to discuss it”, Fisher said. The good thing is we have the ammunition to do that.
That explains the other plain-spoken – and plane delivered – banners this season: “Jed York and the 49ers should have a mutual parting of ways” and “Hold Jed accountable”. There are plenty of capable coaches out there who could make a difference in the 49ers’ organization.
It’s hard to be faithful right now.
I try to interact with fans when I can. “When they say kick, I jog out there and kick the ball”. This is a dark time in the 49ers era. York isn’t going there. “It’s a second-by-second news cycle and I can’t add to that”.
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While he appreciated all the successful seasons from Jim Harbaugh, Trent Baalke never liked that Harbaugh did things his own way. I think it’s important to learn and grow from your mistakes.
