The ship be sinking in San Fran

When it comes to the 49ers, the ship be sinking. And it be sinking fast.

With the 49ers now 3-10, and having no quarterback to speak of, you could say that Mike Nolan is in serious trouble. He's been getting hammered by local papers for weeks, and now it seems that the fans are starting to chime in as well, as the NSFW video above makes clear. But that's not all. There's now a Fire Mike Nolan site and for Sunday's home game, a group of irate fans hired a blimp that will fly over the stadium and have a lighted sign on it that reads "FIRE NOLAN."

Alex Smith also ripped Nolan in this Tuesday Mercury News article, claiming that Nolan went behind his back and made it clear to teammates that he was using injuries as an excuse for his poor performance. Smith was suffering from a lingering third-degree shoulder separation and tendonitis when he chose to shut himself down. And that was after Smith got a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, who told Smith his injuries were much worse than he'd thought they'd be. It should be noted that Nolan didn't want Smith to get a second opinion. Way to be coach.

Smith is now known by some players in the locker room as "The Lion" in reference to the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz. That's fantastic work by Nolan, who has been tied to Smith since they both arrived in 2005.

I realize people play hurt all the time in the NFL, but putting a quarterback out there who's trying to recover from a severe shoulder injury and tendonitis - both of which are only getting worse - is just stupid. You're lucky if you can lift your hand above your head after separating your shoulder, let alone throw a football with any accuracy.

I haven't been the biggest fan of Smith during his time in SF, but I'm behind him on this one.

Any coach that systematically looks to turn his team against the hurt starting quarterback - who he is inextricably tied to - doesn't deserve to have a job.

I have the sense that once everything leaks out about Nolan's time in SF after he's fired, he'll never coach another NFL team again.

And that's fine by me.


Thanks to Mac G's World for passing the Nolan rap along to me.

-WCK

We'll miss you Coach

Today is a sad day here in the Bay Area. The 49ers and football have lost one of the greatest - if not the greatest - coach in NFL history, Bill Walsh. Walsh was also a Bay Area product through and through. He was born in Fremont and attended "Speed City" - San Jose State University.

I was too young to witness The Catch, but I saw another version of it. My catch was Montana to Taylor in Super Bowl XXIII. Cincinnati has yet to recover.

As you all know, Walsh spawned a million prodigies like Mike Holmgren and Dennis Green. And he even coached Tony Dungy. He also left us with the West Coast offense, which has become an absolute staple of pro football. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any question in my mind that Walsh left the biggest imprint in football history.

If you don't believe that, then read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. In it Lewis details the clash between Walsh and Parcells that changed football history. It also shows how Walsh could even make mediocre talents very good players.

I'm not going to say Montana stunk, but he owes a lot of his success to Walsh.

The 49ers and the Bay Area faithful pretty much owe everything to Walsh. Thanks again for all the great years, Coach. We'll miss you. God speed.

-WCK