Ricky Roma
The Catch
depends on what is meant by "foreseeable end"? 5 years? 4 years? 3 years?
prior to the 2011 season, no one could've expected an instantly successful season. caused based on what the players had shown up to that time, it APPEARED the talent was very lacking. But the 2011 season showed there was already more talent than we thought, and IMO there is enough young talent now.
ok, there is no 'Harbaugh" who'll come in and "instantly" produce a winner, but i'd think in two years it can still be done. I'd give it a 50% chance in TWO years we get back to 0.500 minimum. Obviously the biggest single player is a QB, so if we draft one next year he has a year to 'acclimate'. If we don't draft one, we can get a top OT or top pass rushing OLB (every down LB). These are key positions and hence either one makes a big difference.
Gabbert isn't a solid QB, but he can get us to 0.500. Just adding one solid lineman makes a big difference on offense (run and pass).
Next, we'll need to get a few more productive players out of the next draft. These other guys don't need to be 'star' players, but productive going into their second seasons.
There is no foreseeable end because this is a different situation than what SF faced in 2011. 5 years ago, the Niner franchise was simply in a downturn, but it didn't have a bad culture attached to it. There was still a desire for coaches & players to WANT to be here. When the rumours of Harbaugh being attached to the job, I flat out stated that's the guy for SF - a big name to instantly add balls to this franchise. It wasn't needed, but it gave credibility to the team and the people running it.
Fast forward to today.....if the reports are true that Jed and co. ran out Harbaugh...can you say the same thing? Perception is reality. Who would actually WANT to be here? It'll be the guys looking for second or third chances, or totally unproven commodities or guys simply looking for a cheque or whatever. As with the Harbaugh hire, I remember flat out deflating when news came over the radio with the Tomsula hiring. Again...if rumours are correct, he was Jed's/Baalke's choice all along, even when going through the motions with Adam Gase and such.
If that is true, we may be in the beginning of a Raiders-like run where people are literally steered away from this team because of the ineptitude of the people upstairs. We may start facing that reality within a few weeks.