Anatomy of a Messed Up Franchise: San Francisco 49ers

Last night the San Francisco 49ers fired their head coach, Mike Nolan, and promoted Mike Singletary to the position of interim head coach.  How the hell did we get here?  Wasn’t it just last year when Nolan was considered an up and coming head coach who had the team in the right direction?  How could that implode so quickly and so viciously?  Shit, the guy wears a suit!!!

Well, it didn’t happen overnight, and frankly, it’s not really all of Nolan’s fault, but I think we can all agree that since the Yorks assumed ownership of the 49ers they have been arguably the biggest laughingstock in the league behind Arizona, Oakland and Detroit. 

There were a number of elements that led them to this apocalyptic precipice of doom.  Teams don’t just magically turn to dogshit, it takes years and years of calculated effort to truly fuck up a once great organization.  So we’re going to take an outsider’s look as to what the hell went wrong…

Management had no plan for the future:  This isn’t just coaching hires either, it’s communication and a defined character the organization was going to mold, whether it’s successful or not.  Take a look at the Steelers…they are going in a relatively new direction with coach Mike Tomlin who isn’t a disciple of the 3-4, yet both he and the front office are looking to forge a team identity together with a goal in mind.  The 49ers didn’t do this, not by a long shot.

You build your team through the draft…and the 49ers have fucked theirs up royally.  Alex Smith was forced on Nolan by the team, and when you have a $50 million screwup, that’s going to have a residual effect.  For every Frank Gore and Patrick Willis there’s a Vernon Davis and a Joe Staley and an Alex Smith and a Manny Lawson, guys who just haven’t panned out at all at crucial positions. 

But what’s been more troubling is the total negligence to the defensive line.  Nolan wanted to run a 3-4…yet the team did not draft anyone suitable for that defense.  Sure Lawson had potential as a standup rusher on the edge, but what have they done on the DL?  They let Marques Douglas, the best 3-4 end in football not named Ty Warren last year, leave in free agency.  Bryant Young retired.  They never had a suitable NT, and haven’t even tried to draft one…yet they pour money onto skill position players like Nate Clements and Michael Lewis and for what? 

And Kentwan Balmer is a good player learning a new position…you expect him, and TOTALLY, EXTREMELY, INSANELY overrated Justin Smith to replace two guys who were PERFECT for the position?  Ugh.

Coaching hires were AWFUL:  Steve Marriucci was a decent coach who benefited from years of wise drafting to stock an established system.  Then come the Yorks who fired Mooch and replaced him with…Dennis Erickson?  Seriously?  Have you not seen him at one of his thousand NFL head coaching stints…failing miserably?  It wasn’t a surprise that he went 9-23.

But I’m not even talking about Nolan as being a bad hire…because I don’t think he was.  What I think was the worst decision the team made was letting Norv Turner go to San Diego and not even trying to retain him.  Norv actually established something in SF that worked, yet when it came time to pony up some cash, a counteroffer to what San Diego was offering was never made.  Why?  Your massive investment in Alex Smith actaully looked halfway decent…why not try and move it along?

And I’m not even going to mention the fact that they had Pete Carroll just sitting in their laps and they wouldn’t open up the wallet.  The ONE NFL team he’d probably go to…nevermind.  Moving along.

Cap Management:  Do you know who Donald Strickland, the CB is?  Well, he’s making $7.8 million this year.  Have you seen Alex Smith play yet?  Well he’s on the cap for $11 million.  Vernon Davis is living large at $3.4 million…for a tight end…who doesn’t catch or do block all that well.  Michael Lewis is making $4.2 million and is a total liability in coverage.  Isaac Bruce…yes, Isaac Bruce is making $4 million this year.  A special team’s ace, Tully Banta-Cain is making $3.2 million.

Now, why do I mention this and omit names like Patrick Willis, Frank Gore and Nate Clements?  They are all productive players at reasonable contracts considering what they give you.  Now, I’m sure you could point to the $10 million they have in cap space, but why would you do that?  What’s the point of having cap space yet having almost 40% of your available cap space tied up in guys Smith and Strickland? 

Cap space is a tricky thing because the salary cap is quite complex and when you boil it down, the most valuable players are the ones that are performing at a starter quality level for cheap contracts.  That’s why free agency can either be a great thing or ruin a team for years…look at the Cowboys and the Giants…the Giants are loaded with cheap players that fit their system and no single player, aside from probably Plax, Eli and Osi, are killing their cap.  Then look at the Cowboys who, in 2010, are projected to be over $15 million above the salary cap (the possibility of an uncapped year that year is beside the point) and have no defensive depth and a logjam of playmakers on offense.  Which team do you think will be sitting pretty for the near future and which one is going to fall off a cliff?

The Patriots have made a dynasty out of being smart.  They have some big contracts like Brady, Seymour and Moss on the books, but look at last year’s big players…Matt Light is dirt cheap for a LT, Ty Warren and Wilfork are BARGAINS, they milked Asante Samuel for everything he was worth and it paid off.  You draft smart and pay smart, chances are good you’ll be a highly successful team.  If you don’t…well, you get a 27-60 record since Mooch was fired.

Sure, there’s more that went into this proud franchise’s decay, but really, can you think of anything that has had a greater impact than these three things?  This was a process, a melange of bad ideas and bad management that, unfortuately, left a good guy and good coach like Mike Nolan shouldering the blame.  Should he take the fall all by himself?  Maybe, he mishandled some things and could’ve done a few things better, but how can you fully blame him considering the cards he was dealt? 

The blame goes on 49ers management…this is why their team sucks, and this is why they’ll suck until they get someone who knows how to run a football team in there.  Then again, I hate the 49ers so who gives a fuck?