Only time will tell. Belichick endured some slumps along the way. I suspect both Harbaugh and Belichick share an extreme aversion to answering questions from the press, perhaps because they can’t think on their feet outside the realm of football strategy. The difference is (and here’s where it gets weird) that Belichick talks little and says nothing, while Harbaugh talks a lot and says nothing. However, I’ve seen them both in a more relaxed setting and they actually come across somewhat personable. At any rate, very interesting article about the process.

Not the case here, in spite of the yahoos pretending Smith is a hack.

Do you think they watched the Saints game? The Packers game at Lambeau?

Example 1: Bellicheck names Tom Brady (who I always thought was a epic steal as a 6th round pick) as starter, even after Drew Bledsoe, their all-pro QB, who had taken them to a Super Bowl returned to health. Further, if you recall, Bledsoe had to come into the AFC Championship game that year and lead the Patriots to victory over the Steelers, in Pittsburgh. Only to have Brady named as the Super Bowl starter and the rest is history as they say. Oh, and by the way, the Pats had just signed Beldsoe to a 10 year deal that March.

Second is the Pittsburgh Steelers and Coach Bill Cowher. In 2004, they drafted Ben Roethliseberger (think what you want of him, he wins, period) and he started as the #3 QB on the depth chart in camp. By the third game, injuries and ineffectiveness of Tommy Maddox and Charlie Batch forced him to finish the game. He started the next game and went 13-0 for the remainder of the season, even though Maddox returned to health and had been very successful the prior two seasons.

Now do I think that Harbaugh and Kaepnerick are as good as Bellicheck, Cowher, Brady and Roethlisberger? No, not yet. But there is some potential there. And the potential is there for sure. The lesson here is simply if you think that your replacement is “THE GUY”, then you go with them, and get all in behind them. Cowher prior to that time waffled amongst way too many QB’s and did not achieve his greatest success until he went with and stayed with Roethlisberger. The fact that the Niners can even be mentioned in this conversation says something. The Patriots and Steelers were definitively the big kids on the block from the 1994-95 season to the 2011-12 season. In the 18 AFC Championship games, the Steelers or Patriots played in 8 and 7 of them respectively, only playing against each other twice. In other words, 13 of those 18 (72%) of them had one or the other playing for the title. Oh, and the results in the Super Bowl in that time frame amongst those two teams? Nine Super Bowl appearances (50% of games played), five wins (28% of games) total. Since Brady and Roethlisberger took over as starters, 8 apearances out of 11 Super Bowls played (73%) and 5 wins (45%). As I said, time will tell, but a pretty good measuring stick.

It was not difficult for Harbaugh to make his decision. I would guess he made it last Sunday. But Harbaugh loves to obfuscate. That’s part of his personality.

Possible he pretended to dither to confuse the Rams. Maybe he did it to make life less painful for Alex Smith. Most likely he did it because he hates the media and takes pleasure in watching the media folks squirm and carry on with no real information.

No, it wasn’t a tough decision for the coach. But playing with the media folks, and fencing them verbally, is his entertainment. Dr. Cohn, don’t buy into that game.

After the season he’s got all that bonus money coming up in the Spring, so I doubt that he’ll be resigned. I’ll be interested in seeing where he ends up, but I don’t think he will bring back anything to the Niners in a trade.

I’m not a big fan of A. Smith (my comments on this blog after the 49ers lost the NFC championship game can attest) but I’m not convinced Kaepernick is the answer. He literally sprung onto the league two weeks ago and no one’s had a chance to gameplan for him. Once-around-the-league syndrome, like with new baseball pitchers?

He’s only 3 years younger than Smith, which is amazing since Alex has been around forever. And that interception vs New Orleans on the muffed snap…that was a terrible decision. How many others are waiting in the wings when the heat comes on, as it will in Dec and January? I do hope I’m wrong.

Also, Harbaugh has zero goodwill in the press. Think that doesn’t matter? If the team goes through a slump (think Bill Walsh 1985-1987) he’ll get the Jeff Tedford treatment times ten and be out of a job.

Now, for the decision on starting Kaepernick: the whole premise of your column, aside from critiquing Harbaugh’s style with the press, is that Harbaugh has decided that Kaepernick is the sole starting quarterback of the 49ers. But what if Harbaugh hasn’t decided that? What if he is telling you the truth about what he is thinking? It seems to me that you have not given that possibility much thought. Of course, if you did, if you just opined on what your heard as opposed to what you thought you heard or wanted to hear, your column might run the risk of being polite and boring.