I agree, but I also don't think they've been coached very well.

It's the same as baseball, man: cost-controlled talent. Eventually, the butcher's bill will come due, and unless they can keep churning out PBers with their first three picks, that defense will decline.

What happens when Iupati wants $60 million and Aldon almost $100?

49ers are not done. Kaepernick has another year of experience, and as long as they have Harbaugh they should be decent to excellent every year.

It's a chickenshit defense scheme. Unless you have incredibly cerebral and athletic players (like a prime Ty Law) or a generational freak like Lawrence Taylor, that bullshit defense is going to get hacked up.

I agree. I was meaning more in terms of the coaching fits IE the DC, DL etc.

I see a lot of that in Seattle's D, and it's fun to watch. It's one of the reasons I was so high on Gus Bradley. I think he's going to build the same kind of team in Jacksonville. Which is funny, because while Carroll is doing fine without Bradley, I still think Bradley stands on his own as head coach material.

Coaches do far more to destroy talent than the alchemy they're lauded for. Give the guys a fundamental base, stop the Greg Robinson shit, and have them attack.

They have the best 3-4 end in football this side of JJ Watt.

If you were to pick the top five LBers in the NFL, the 49ers have three of them, and Ahmad Brooks is a damned good pass rusher in his own right.

It's funny because Fangio received almost G-Rob level contempt when he was in Indianapolis. Now he's considered a great defensive mind. I'm sure all that talent has nothing to do with it.

I don't think the Niners are going away. But it is difficult to sustain this high level of success beyond 3-4 years. Usually even the best teams might have a down year or two and then reload. That still might mean playoff births, but maybe a 1st round loss here and there.

Those Colt defenses early in Manning's career were so, so bad.

The Patriots have been good for a decade plus but they play in a horrible division. Buffalo and Miami have been messes for a decade and a half. The Jets are well the Jets. So when they have been down, they can still win their division.

SF plays in a much harder division with Seattle, a up and coming Arizona team, and St Louis who comes out almost every year and absolutely thumps a good team once or twice.

I don't know. I used to think that, but I think coaching is far more important than given credit for sometimes.

I think it's more about matching talent with the right coaching, which is what the 9ers defense seems to be.

Hamas is right about Fangio, that a guy that gets passed up that many times... probably has some things teams don't think is head coaching material. Roman... the guy strikes me as kind of an X's and O's nerd and his playcalling, while wildly creative, has sometimes been criticized for not being good situational playcalling. That makes me wonder if he'll care about all the soft BS you have to do as a head coach, and if he's fit for all the thinking on your feet that goes with game management. He's one of those guys whose probably cerebral for his own good.

Tomsula... interesting guy to watch. I'm not that familiar with him, but I have a feeling that the hotter candidates for San Fran are not going to be their coordinators, and I think it says a lot that Tomsula is starting to get talked about.

I agree with everything but the bolded. Talib has been having a great season and McCourty was one of the best safeties in the league this year.

All depends on kaep's development.

Their offensive line coach is Mike Solari... who as we all know is a great O-Line coach, but a bit more shaky as a coordinator.