49ers coach Jim Harbaugh scored another victory Saturday, and this one was decisive.
The Associated Press named Harbaugh their Coach of the Year. He received 45 votes, Packers coach Mike McCarthy got three, and John Fox got two votes.
We think the honor is well deserved for Harbaugh. He made the most of what he had on both sides of the ball. He took an also ran team and made them Super Bowl contenders. He played to his team’s strengths and hid their weaknesses.
There were many games where he out-coached the competition and he changed a losing culture in San Francisco quickly.
Since we have to complain about something, we can’t believe two people voted for John Fox. His team won eight games and were outscored by 81 points. They collapsed at the end of the regular season. That got Mike Shanahan fired, not Coach of the Year votes.
Jim Schwartz, Marvin Lewis, and Bill Belichick all did great jobs this year and were worthy of recognition, but the voting system only allows for one vote. Harbaugh was the right choice.