Jim Harbaugh Hot Seat Warms for 49ers, Raiders In Play?

Thanksgiving was not a happy day for the San Francisco 49ers, and it was even less happy for under fire head coach Jim Harbaugh, who is on the hot seat despite being successful in every season so far with the Niners as head coach. With a Super Bowl appearance and playing in the NFC Championship last season, one would expect that Harbaugh’s position would be safe even with San Francisco in tough for making the playoffs out of the NFC West this season, but with expectations extremely high in San Francisco there have been rumblings all season that there is a good chance Harbaugh will be let go with anything short of another appearance in the Super Bowl.

Now after losing at home to the Seattle Seahawks on Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving home game played at new Levi’s Stadium, there is more of a hot seat than ever for Harbaugh. Niners owner Jed York apologized for the team’s performance in a 19-3 loss on Twitter and now the burning questions are really going to start when the team inches closer to missing the playoffs week by week in the NFC where the landscape is indicating that the recent contenders in the conference will be watching from home in January.

Tim Kawakami believes that this is the beginning of the end of the Harbaugh era in San Francisco, a marriage between owner Jed York, general manager Trent Baalke and Harbaugh that is nearing a bitter end come the offseason unless the Niners can turn things around in dramatic fashion.

"“The only logical reason: York wanted to prepare 49ers fandom for major changes ahead, and let’s all assume that York’s main focus is on Harbaugh’s future.After the 19-3 Seattle domination was over, the 49ers players were booed, Harbaugh was solemn and the 49ers’ owner himself underlined the potential intrigue ahead for this 7-5 team, now on the brink of playoff doom.“Thank you 49ers faithful for coming out strong tonight,” owner Jed York said over his Twitter account in the last minutes of the game.“This performance wasn’t acceptable. I apologize for that.”Why would York issue this statement right then?York and general manager Trent Baalke set this up, intentionally or not, by tacitly suggesting that this was an all-or-nothing season for Harbaugh.That inflated the conversation about Harbaugh’s future, that trickled into the locker room, that created a sense of doubt about this team if it faltered and now Seattle has opened up the divide for everyone to see.The 49ers are falling short and that probably means Harbaugh’s time with the 49ers is ticking down."

With Harbaugh nearing his seemingly impending fate in San Francisco and reports that Harbaugh’s family wants to stay in the Bay Area, expect the Harbaugh-Raiders narrative to continue to grow as December nears. When Oakland and San Francisco play next week in Oakland, expect the storyline to hit peak levels as with all eyes on Harbaugh, there is a guarantee that the rumblings involving Oakland and the best head coach in the Bay Area since the 00’s to take over.