A long time coming

The San Francisco 49ers clinched the NFC West with a 26-0 win over a bad and beat up St. Louis Rams team yesterday and it's been a long time since Niner fans have been this happy. The celebrations seemed a bit less fruitful than some may have imagined, considering it's been seven long, sad years since this franchise tasted a playoff birth, but it comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed coach Harbaugh this season. His style is much different than any coach who has ever stalked the sidelines in San Francisco and he has goals that have not been met. Making the playoffs is obviously the first step to the Superbowl, but he also recognizes that just getting a ticket to the dance is not enough; not for these players, these coaches and definitely not for these fans. Harbaugh was calm and collected, as usual, after the game and gave us the same speech he has been giving all season. "We left a lot of plays on the field and we need to improve." This coming from a first year head coach who took over one of the proudest franchises in all of sports, when the team was down and out, playing some of it's worst football in franchise history. He stepped in with a very short amount of time, because of the NFL lockout, and got this team to play hard, to play with heart and to think of the team first, of themselves last. He is hands down the coach of the year and I am more impressed by his ability to coach under adversity than I am with his win loss record.


Sunday December 04, 2011 was also a historic day for 49ers running back Frank Gore. He passed the late great Joe Perry and became the franchises leading rusher. More importantly, Frank Gore is the face of this franchise and you can't find a face that better defines what this franchise has been through since he was selected 65th overall in the 2005 NFL Draft. He was one of the great talents coming out of that draft, but was injured so frequently that many scouts and teams were unwilling to take a chance, but San Francisco did. Frank has played for losing teams in each of his 6 previous season and has rarely made a fuss about it. In fact, he was criticized by many for crying after a tough loss his rookie season. The man played injured, he has played hurt and he has never asked for anything other than an opportunity to play and his primary goal is to be the best teammate he can be. I have a great deal of respect for Frank Gore and yesterday was yet another example of his dedication and team first mentality. It has been a long time coming, but this man was patient and now he has a chance to do something special once the playoffs begin.

Congrats to the Niners, to the players, the front office, the ownership group that I have been extremely critical of and most of all, congrats to the greatest fans in professional football.