SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- There was never any doubt that sweeping change was coming to the San Francisco 49ers after a dreadful 2016 season. The only question was just how far those alterations would reach.
The answer was emphatic. The Niners are blowing it all up and starting over. The team announced Sunday, after a 25-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, it is firing general manager Trent Baalke and coach Chip Kelly. Presumably, that means most of their respective staffs will turn over as well.
In other words, the 49ers’ football operation is about to go through a much-needed and complete reconstruction. Make no mistake, while the 49ers have been down the past couple of years, they haven’t really been rebuilding. Instead, they’ve been patching holes in hopes of resurrecting the success they enjoyed just a few years ago.
So now, as CEO Jed York and executive vice president Paraag Marathe embark on the search for the solutions to fixing a once-proud franchise, the focus has to be on finding an outside voice with new ideas to lead the entire football operation.
Baalke filled that role since 2011 and was something of a Niners lifer, having joined the organization in 2005 as a scout. Before Baalke, it was Scot McCloughan, who also had been with the organization since 2005.
For more than a decade, homegrown football people have led the Niners, people ingrained in the Niners' way of thinking. But the only success the franchise enjoyed came when the team ventured outside of its bubble and hired the eccentric Jim Harbaugh as head coach. Kelly was an outsider as well, but hardly had a chance to right the ship in less than one calendar year.
Harbaugh led the Niners to three straight NFC Championship Games before a power struggle ultimately left Baalke on top. Baalke won in part because the Niners were more comfortable with him. Harbaugh had a knack for thriving in uncomfortable situations.
But if there was a lesson to be learned from the Harbaugh malfunction and ensuing fallout that have left this team looking for a head coach for the fourth time in as many years, it’s this: New blood is needed.
That Kelly, who went 2-14 in his lone season, was included in the firings was a bit of a surprise, though it stands to reason if the 49ers want to bring in a football czar, he might want to hire his own coach. It also means the Niners are at least willing to explore things outside of the status quo.
The path of least resistance would have been to keep Kelly and promote assistant general manager Tom Gamble. Relieving Kelly of his duties with three years left on his contract would seem to indicate the Niners aspire to look beyond Gamble, who has been with the 49ers for nearly a decade.
It’s also a tacit admission that the Niners are ready and willing to do more than just a patch job and begin the total rebuild that’s needed to get them back to respectability.
It could also mean a willingness to make a splash. Stanford coach David Shaw is right up the street in Palo Alto, and though he has thus far been reluctant to make a move, perhaps he could be persuaded by the opportunity to take over a team with the chance to have ultimate power without having to uproot his family. It doesn’t hurt that the Niners had success the last time they turned to a college coach from Palo Alto.
Maybe more likely, the Niners will look to hire a strong general manager from a winning culture such as Green Bay’s Eliot Wolf, Seattle’s Trent Kirchner, Atlanta’s Scott Pioli, Kansas City’s Chris Ballard and the like, and let him bring in a head coach he can work with.
Of course, the 49ers will have to put together a strong sales pitch for any candidates they want for either job.
The 49ers' roster is mostly barren. There’s no franchise quarterback; heck there’s a chance they won’t have any quarterback under contract as the offseason begins if Colin Kaepernick opts out of his deal. They also don’t have many players to build around, save for defensive end DeForest Buckner. It’s a team that needs help at all of the most important positions.
Beyond that, rational candidates will look at what’s taken place over the past few years and wonder about the unstable situation. If a team is willing to change coaches so freely, who is to say the next person will get enough time to actually implement a plan?
On the plus side, if the Niners are going to pay Kelly about $18 million to leave, part with Baalke with two years left on his deal and they’re still paying former coach Jim Tomsula, it would suggest that they’re willing to fork over the dough for legitimate candidates. They also are expected to have an exorbitant amount of cap space, perhaps in the $80 million-plus range, this offseason and will have the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft.
By firing Kelly and Baalke, the Niners are at least willing to admit the sins of the recent past. It’s a step in the right direction. But to truly get back on the right track, the next step must take them outside of their comfort zone.