The 49ers have fired 7 Head Coaches since 2002. They average 2.5 years there. All that cap space and high picks are nice IF you get time to develop them.
You keep parroting this. You're one of the very few who's sticking to this unlikely narrative. And even in the unlikely scenario that BoB was the driving force behind getting Brock (he wasn't), fact remains that he moved on from him with the season on the line. It's also likely no coincidence that BOB's concerns/leaks about the power struggle occur simultaneously to them announcing Brock as the starter. Makes more and more sense that who he started was dictated from somebody in the front office.
That doesn't make sense. He didn't move on from Brock, he just started him for two games! Despite savage looking better before getting a temporary injury. And the leaks were all coming from O'Brien. If he had started savage this week it might make sense but he didnt And even if you say he had nothing to do with Brock you still have to explain the QB situation of the previous two years. It's just a continuation of that
Savage was never going to start against Oakland. More than 80% of players don't make it out of the concussion protocol in time to start the following week. There's a good chance he always wanted to start Savage... and when he was coerced to start Brock, leaks started flowing. That theory makes sense over anything you suggested. And what about the last two years is relevant? Zero resources was invested in the QB position. He was highly justified in moving on from each of those stop gaps once they failed. He moved on from Brock once he failed... but was forced to go back to him due to injury. Again, if you attempt to attribute a cause for the suspicious timing of the leaks, it lines up pretty well with the QB decision.
There were sevearl opportunities to bench Brock if he wanted to before a total trainwreck halfway through game #14 of the season, whether within a single game or in starting a game. If he really wanted to do a power play over ownership and get his preferred QB in place, he could have simply announced he was starting Tom Savage at some point. What is ownership going to do at that point? They have to publicly support it. And then BoB can sink or swim with his guy. You're suggesting BoB preferred to simply fail and blame someone else rather than try to do his best to win. In both scenarios, ownership ends up pissed off at him (whether its designed leaks blaming them or starting Savage without their support), so it's not like he was concerned with that.
I still think the Savage truthers are kind of weird. The guy never showed anything to be given so much credit.
If he was then it is inconsistent with everything else that has happened in franchise history. As such, I don't buy it either.
This was actually discussed during the season. Had Brock not made the comeback against Indy at home, I believe that would have been his last game (or the game after that... which happened to be Denver). They owed it to the team to see if his 4th quarter heroics could have been a turning point. In the end, they were still finding ways to win with him. It was only till his poor play finally started to translate to losses, along with the playoffs in the balance, that a move was made. People forget that they weren't exactly failing enough with Brock, despite him putting up historically awful numbers. And he did publicly announce that Savage would be the starter going forward. And ownership wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but like you said, what could they do. It's unfortunate Savage got hurt... he had the ability to make reads/throws and decisions much faster than Brock ever showed. Also, once a players health has to be weighed into the equation, vs just performance, ownership can certainly influence decisions (see the Cowboys). Again, this stems from the smoke that BoB never really wanted Brock, but decided to get on board after the fact. There's more and more there to support that theory
There's a middle ground between forced and BoB being the one to select him. In my mind, the latter never happened, partly because ownership had enough with BOb's picked guys. Certainly, that's part of the equation and obrien doesn't get a pass for the situation he helped foster.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/t...l-obriens-gutsy-call-to-bench-brock-osweiler/ "I'm just glad I wasn't the one that had to make that decision," McNair said, via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. "I mean, that was a gutsy call. Give coach credit, he made a change and it was for the good of the team. We benefited from it. Now we have three good quarterbacks and we are proud of all of them."
O'Brien might not have been the one that said "Go get Brock" but he definitely had to "okay" the decision. You can argue that he felt he was limited in his options since there weren't that many available but the same applies for management and ownership. They couldn't sit and wait and gamble with the draft, so they were aggressive and got the (at the time) best free agent QB available.
He could have easily started savage this week. Brock started with predictable results. Predictable to everyone except O'Brien apparently. This is reminiscent of Mallet starting. What was he expecting?
people can say what they want about Oz, but to me he looks like when you study last minute for a test and when they hand you the test you just start guessing, combine that with shaky O line play that leads to shakier accuracy that was already suspect to begin with then you have a snowball of dog poop. What I'm trying to say is O.B has to take responsibility for the offense. Looking at other games, they have receivers roaming free in the middle of the field, the seams just standing there. That has everything to do with coaching. it's what kubiak did so well, just had routes that deceived the defense. All this godsey/ ugg game plan offense can eat big fat richard. You don't have crybaby #12, adjust.
You make a good case for why he's unhappy here. Brock doesn't fit his system, yet he's stuck with him. Having said that, what QB should he have changed his system for? What system do you suggest enables Brock to beat the Patriots?
Savage has started exactly one game in his career and lasted like a quarter. Brock just won a playoff game last week and looked pretty good doing it, and is the guy mgmt gave a huge contract to. To say he could have 'easily' started Savage is beyond ridiculous.
And... the 49ers might as well plan on hiring yet another HC after him. Baby Shan has never been a head coach at any level prior... and joining a franchise in total disarray doesn't bode well for those types of first-time coaches. I also feel you're losing a bit of his best assets (his coordinator abilities) by adding extra responsibilities on to his plate. Teams should honestly look to pay coordinators better salaries... to do what they do best. If the 9ers want Shannahan to fix their offense, hire him to do just that.
