[SSW]

Some good things that came out of the final game of the season for the Niners:

1) The win allowed the Niners to end the season on a positive note at 8-8, instead of 7-9.

2) The win allowed Harbaugh to end his career w/the Niners as the only other head coach without a losing season since Seifert left in 1996.

3) The win ended Harbaugh's career w/the Niners with a record (including the post-season) of 49-22-1. Pretty cool, I think, to end his record w/the Niners with 49 wins.

4) With 144 rushing yards, Gore was able to end the season w/a total of 1106 rushing yards; his 8th 1000+ yard rushing season in his 10 years w/the Niners.

5) With 81 receiving yards, Boldin ws able to end the season with a total of 1062 receiving yards; his 7th 1000+ yard receiving season in his 12 years w/the Niners.

Some things to think about following the final game of the season:

1) Where was the Kap who showed up in this game all year?

The fans were led to believe that the reason Harbaugh chose Kap to supplant Smith, a little over 2 years ago, was because Kap was a QB who could run, avoid sacks, pass deep and make something out of nothing, but that QB has been all but non-existent this season -- except in this game. What happened?

2) Will the Niners stick it out w/Kap or try to find a replacement?

I think the answer will depend a lot on who the Niners select as the new head coach. If Harbaugh remained, there's no doubt that he would have stuck w/Kap because he was Kap's mentor; he drafted and picked Kap to start over Smith after all.

However, Kap still has some glaring weaknesses as a QB and the question will be whether the Niners can improve his ability to read defenses, audible and find his receivers quickly enough, as well as pass more accurately and with more "touch" (instead of throwing the heaters that his receivers had trouble hanging onto this year).

The Niners have an easy out of Kap's BIG contract and I would interpret it as a vote of "no confidence" if the Niners sign one or 2 starter eligible QBs in the off-season. If they do, I think Kap will be on a short leash during training camp and pre-seaon and might get benched, if the "backup's perform better than he does, under the new regime and offense scheme.

3) Gore is a FA next year and there's no guarantee that he'll be back.

Assuming the Niners keep Hyde and Miller, I don't think the Niners will make a strong play to keep Gore. It all depends on how much Gore wants and how much the Niners are willing to pay. At 31 going on 32, Gore still has at least 2-3 solid seasons ahead of him. He's had 8 1000+ yards rushing seasons and his average 4.5 yards per rush has been pretty solid. So, if the Niners don't try to keep him, I doubt he'll have any trouble finding another team to pick him up.

4) Crabtree is also a FA next year and I don't think he'll be back.

Crabtree has generally unperformed as a WR with only a single 1000 yard receiving season in his 6 years with the Niners. His injury last year and the anemic offense this year didn't help but even Boldin was still able to amass over 1000 yards receiving despite the Niners' weak offense this year.

So, I don't see the Niners making a strong play to keep Crabtree "unless" they don't think they can find an acceptable alternative to him in the FA market or via a trade.

5) Thankfully, both Boldin and V. Davis will be back next year to anchor the offense.

Boldin had a solid season this year (again despite the weak offense), but V. Davis all but disappeared. He only had 245 yards receiving in 14 games this season, when he's averaged about 600 yards receiving over the past 9 years. Not sure if this was due to using Davis more as a blocker for run/pass plays (because of the weakness in the offensive line), some change in the use of the TE in the offensive scheme, or some injury or other individual problem.

Whatever the case, the Niners need to get V. Davis more involved in the offense again next year, as he was in the past 3 years when the Niners were much stronger offensively.

It will be interesting to see what the Niners do about all this (and other things) during the off-season.