San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York says after the departure of Jim Harbaugh that the franchise’s only focus is to win Super Bowls, and that York himself should be held accountable by the fans if the 49ers fall short.
“It’s up to us to make sure we compete for and win Super Bowls,” York said. “That’s our only goal. We don’t raise division championship banners, we don’t raise NFC Championship banners. We raise Super Bowl banners. And whenever we don’t deliver that, I hope that you will hold me directly responsible and accountable for it. And we look forward to getting this thing back on track.”
General Manager Trent Baalke echoed those sentiments.
“We accomplished a lot of good things,” Baalke said. “A lot of good things. The ultimate prize in this business is Super Bowls. We all know that, we all understand it, it’s what we sign up for going into it, and we didn’t reach that goal of a victory, but we got very close numerous times, and Jim was a huge part of that. He’s moved on and there’s no doubt he’s a heck of a football coach and he’s going to enjoy success at his next stop where ever that may be.”
Harbaugh didn’t win a Super Bowl during his tenure with the 49ers, but he came a lot closer than any other 49ers coach since York and his parents took over the 49ers from York’s uncle Eddie DeBartolo Jr. If York can’t find a coach who can win a Super Bowl, he absolutely should be held responsible.
But the reality is, there’s only so much fans can do to hold owners responsible. York will own the 49ers as long as he wants, and the fans can’t do anything about that. All fans can do is hope that the coach York and Baalke just ran off doesn’t turn out to be the best coach York and Baalke ever hire.