It's not the players, it's the coaching:

[Catfish]

For those of you who are still lamenting that we are losing because the players are simply failing to make plays, I submit that it is the coaching that is causing the brunt of the problems.

When Jim Harbaugh went to San Francisco, he took a relatively good and hard-nosed defense, (things that Singletary knew about), and an inept offense that everyone blamed on the lack of a capable quarterback. He gave his quarterback confidence that he would find a way for him to make plays. He then reviewed the playbook and simplified the scheme, not by taking plays away from the scheme, but by simply providing a hot read for every passing play. He took the lemons he was given and made lemonade. His players were best put into a position to succeed. Harbaugh didn't mess with an already tough defense, he merely made the offense capable of succeeding by tailoring it to his players strengths and weaknesses. Now Alex Smith is a very capable quarterback, (something that no one would have said last year).

Whizenhunt, on the other hand, given a similar set of problems, tries to shape his players into ones who can succeed with Whizenhust's scheme. He pounds square pegs into round holes, and tries to reshape his players into fitting his offensive scheme. (It is the same with the defense, they are forced to fit the scheme taught by Dick Lebeau in Pittsburgh). Instead of making lemonade, Whiz forced his players to fit the scheme, and in the process pushes on them so hard that they become misshapen, and play much less capably than they could if they were put into a position to play to their strengths and weaknesses.

The results of the two teams this year is remarkable. San Francisco has the second best record in the League. The Cardinals are near the bottom with a 2 and 6 record after 8 games. The only real difference is that San Francisco removed an offensively inept coach and replaced him with one who was willing to mold his offense to suit his player's abilities. Whizenhunt, in Arizona, has yet to figure that out.

 

[MrYeahBut]

Whiz adapted to some degree to Green's players and had success with them, with his own players not so much. Harbaugh has Singletary's players and it remains to be seen whether he can maintain success over the long term. I hesitate to say Harbaugh's winning streak is beginners luck as it does appear he is an excellent coach on a hot streak, but NFL defensive game planners will get you sooner or later. Personally, I think in the playoffs this year will be very difficult for them to advance and next year it will probably be hard for them to hide Alex Smith as much as they do now.

 

[Paso Fino]

For those of you who are still lamenting that we are losing because the players are simply failing to make plays, I submit that it is the coaching that is causing the brunt of the problems.

When Jim Harbaugh went to San Francisco, he took a relatively good and hard-nosed defense, (things that Singletary knew about), and an inept offense that everyone blamed on the lack of a capable quarterback. He gave his quarterback confidence that he would find a way for him to make plays. He then reviewed the playbook and simplified the scheme, not by taking plays away from the scheme, but by simply providing a hot read for every passing play. He took the lemons he was given and made lemonade. His players were best put into a position to succeed. Harbaugh didn't mess with an already tough defense, he merely made the offense capable of succeeding by tailoring it to his players strengths and weaknesses. Now Alex Smith is a very capable quarterback, (something that no one would have said last year).

Whizenhunt, on the other hand, given a similar set of problems, tries to shape his players into ones who can succeed with Whizenhust's scheme. He pounds square pegs into round holes, and tries to reshape his players into fitting his offensive scheme. (It is the same with the defense, they are forced to fit the scheme taught by Dick Lebeau in Pittsburgh). Instead of making lemonade, Whiz forced his players to fit the scheme, and in the process pushes on them so hard that they become misshapen, and play much less capably than they could if they were put into a position to play to their strengths and weaknesses.

The results of the two teams this year is remarkable. San Francisco has the second best record in the League. The Cardinals are near the bottom with a 2 and 6 record after 8 games. The only real difference is that San Francisco removed an offensively inept coach and replaced him with one who was willing to mold his offense to suit his player's abilities. Whizenhunt, in Arizona, has yet to figure that out.

You nailed it.

 

[GatorAZ]

Yes and no. Coaching could obviously be better but the players have made many mistakes this year from just pure poor decision making. Can't blame the staff for Stucky fumbling vs Washington or Alfonso Smith slipping on a crucial 3rd and 1 in Seattle a few blown calls against the Giants or Jay Feeley missing key FG's. It works both ways to, we could have easily lost the Carolina and St Louis games. I think it has a lot to do with the FO as well, refusing to fix the OL or signing defenders who are comfortable in our system. Whiz is on the hotseat but if he gets canned this year they'll just turn it over to Grimm. If a change comes i don't want it during the season.

 

[DoTheDew]

It's both. If we had great players, or at least a great QB, we'd be winning. If we had a great coach, we'd be doing better as well.

If coaching were the only reason we were losing, Warner wouldn't have been able to take us to the SB. The 49ers are a team that's built to compete without a QB. They have a very talented defense, far more talented then ours, and they actually play smashmouth football. We couldn't get away with that because our defense is no where near as good as theirs. We can't win consistently if we don't keep scoring and our running game, while competitive, isn't good enough to consistently score.

 

[Buckybird]

Yes and no. Coaching could obviously be better but the players have made many mistakes this year from just pure poor decision making. Can't blame the staff for Stucky fumbling vs Washington or Alfonso Smith slipping on a crucial 3rd and 1 in Seattle a few blown calls against the Giants or Jay Feeley missing key FG's. It works both ways to, we could have easily lost the Carolina and St Louis games. I think it has a lot to do with the FO as well, refusing to fix the OL or signing defenders who are comfortable in our system. Whiz is on the hotseat but if he gets canned this year they'll just turn it over to Grimm. If a change comes i don't want it during the season.

It's both. If we had great players, or at least a great QB, we'd be winning. If we had a great coach, we'd be doing better as well.

If coaching were the only reason we were losing, Warner wouldn't have been able to take us to the SB. The 49ers are a team that's built to compete without a QB. They have a very talented defense, far more talented then ours, and they actually play smashmouth football. We couldn't get away with that because our defense is no where near as good as theirs. We can't win consistently if we don't keep scoring and our running game, while competitive, isn't good enough to consistently score.

It's absolutely both...no way it's all coaching.

If the Cards somehow would have made plays here & there to win 2-3 of those 4 games lost in the last minutes people wouldn't be so hard on Wiz. Wiz definately has his warts, but ignoring players not producing is ridiculous IMO. Gutting 6-7 of your better players off the roster along with some talented coaches who went to KC & not replacing them with equal parts has been the downfall. Replace Graves, draft better, replace some coaches & hopefully we can get back.

I guess Bellicheat & Reid all of a sudden forgot how to coach too!!!

 

[Duckjake]

It's absolutely both...no way it's all coaching.

If the Cards somehow would have made plays here & there to win 2-3 of those 4 games lost in the last minutes people wouldn't be so hard on Wiz. Wiz definately has his warts, but ignoring players not producing is ridiculous IMO. Gutting 6-7 of your better players off the roster along with some talented coaches who went to KC & not replacing them with equal parts has been the downfall. Replace Graves, draft better, replace some coaches & hopefully we can get back.

I guess Bellicheat & Reid all of a sudden forgot how to coach too!!!

AND, quit letting guys go after their first contract so they don't have to use draft picks to replace them. Instead they can use those draft picks to address positions where they don't have a good player.

 

[Chopper0080]

AND, quit letting guys go after their first contract so they don't have to use draft picks to replace them. Instead they can use those draft picks to address positions where they don't have a good player.

*cough* Campbell *cough*