Roger Craig won three Super Bowls as a 49ers running back in the 1980s, playing for Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh. Now Craig thinks the 49ers are heading for another golden age, with another great coach.
Craig told ESPN.com that San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh is a lot like Walsh, and not just because he went from Stanford to the 49ers.
“He’s my kind of coach,” Craig said of Harbaugh. “He makes you accountable. He’s very similar to Bill Walsh that way. He makes you accountable for what you do on and off the football field, but the main thing is he’s a tough coach and he expects you to be professional.”
Craig said he thinks the current 49ers are poised to win multiple titles, as Craig’s own team did.
“I’m going on the record saying the 49ers win two Super Bowls in the next eight years,” Craig said. “They’ll be the winningest team in the next decade.”
In today’s NFL, it’s almost impossible for any team to have the kind of consistent, long-term success that the 49ers had from Craig’s rookie year in 1983 through 1998, when they won at least 10 games every year and won five Super Bowls. But if any team could go on that kind of run, it might just be the 49ers, who have a talented roster -- and in Craig’s opinion, a coach worthy of being compared to the best coach in franchise history.