At the end of last season, San Franciscans were wondering who would replace Mike Singletary in being the head coach for the below average San Francisco 49er's. Many were hoping that perhaps the departure of Alex Smith may help bring the team back to life or praying that Frank Gore would become the franchise player and San Francisco would become the ground and pound team that Mike Singletary had always envisioned.
Then a man named Jim Harbaugh came along.
The NFL was shocked that they had re-signed average quarterback Alex Smith and many fans began to question the decisions that the new coach was making. However, Harbaugh was shaping the team to what he knew he had to do to succeed. With a lockout still going on, he decided to try and keep the most players together and build the team as a unit. He asked Andrew Luck to coach Alex Smith into Harbaugh's offense in the off-season, but tweaked his offensive a bit to allow for Smith's strengths to shine. The system worked, and the results are showing it. A team that had similar players to that of last year is now finding themselves not only dominating their weak division, but the NFL as a whole. However, why all the turn around? The answer is the coach of the team.
Believe it or not, Harbaugh and Belichek share one thing in common, and that is the ability to understand the strengths of their players and show there maximum potential. Remember when Brady was lost for the season a few years ago? Belichek was able to coach his team to 11-5 with back up quarterback Matt Cassel and made Cassel appear to be extremely great at playing quarterback.
Both also are showing that the NFL is going a different direction in how to make up a winning team. That philosophy is if you do not adjust to your players strengths, you will never appear in a Super Bowl and you will have a higher chance of being fired early in your career as a head coach.
If you do not believe this, focus on the Philadelphia Eagles this year. Andy Ried has always proved to be a good coach, but never the coach that could win it all. The Eagles this year had all the talent that any team would dream of having, but since Reid did not adjust his team properly he is seeing his team being mostly on the losing side of games. Having many Pro-Bowl players on your team does not guarantee play-offs for any team, but having those kinds of players and a great coach will bring you championships (Pittsburg Steelers).
There is also the ill-fated San Diego Chargers. Before a man named Marty Schottenheimer, the Chargers were one of the worst franchises in the NFL. Then Schottenheimer managed to build his horrible team into a good team in this tenure. However, since he could not ever finish up as a head coach, he was fired and replaced by Norv "too little too late" Turner. Turner's history of being a failure as a head coach only made the Charger's hopes for a Super Bowl go down every season and now we are finding them collapsing as a team.
As a result, this season is already telling is something else, coaching matters much more in the NFL than many think. The inability to use your teams strengths and get creative will only lead to losing and therefore for all coaches in the NFL there is one lesson. Adjust or be dominated.
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