If you’re a San Francisco 49ers fan who heard the Los Angeles Chargers news, you may be saying, “It finally happened.”
And those are the coaching changes. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman has been relieved of duties, and the search for a replacement is on.
Since this is a San Francisco 49ers site, you might be asking, “Ok, why are we talking about this here?”
Because the Chargers’ head coach is Jim Harbaugh, who previously held the same title with the 49ers, and the offensive coordinator under him during that tenure was none other than Roman.
In Harbaugh’s first year, 49ers fans were shocked at how much better the offense could be. This was after a year of Mike Singletary, Jimmy Raye II, and whoever else Singletary could find willing to work with the team. So better is a bit misleading; it showed how bad the 49ers were.
Regardless, Roman had fans. Players seemed to respond to him as well, giving him nicknames like the “evil genius” and “mad scientist.”
That didn’t mean the 49ers were the greatest offense in the league, but competence was better than what fans had been subjected to. In the middle of the second year, Roman helped develop an offense on the fly for Colin Kaepernick, who took over for Alex Smith midseason. The offense utilized the pistol formation — something Kaepernick was familiar with in college — and the read option.
It looked good, despite the cracks.
Those cracks came as the games went on. Blunders like the option pitch. Larger blunders like the Super Bowl loss in the 2012 season, when the final four offensive plays made that season’s Great Disappointment. Fans may remember Kaepernick’s failed fade more than the power outage.
Harbaugh continued to back his guy as the pitchforks came out.
Despite Harbaugh’s backing, Roman continued falling out of favor with the fans and the general manager’s daughter. I’m not kidding, then-GM Trent Baalke’s daughter Cass posted this following a brutal Thanksgiving loss to the Seahawks.
Was Roman a reason for the 49ers mutually parting ways with Jim Harbaugh? Who knows. All there has been are rumors. Rumors that the coaching staff was ready to move on from Colin Kaepernick, rumors that Jim Tomsula did Jim Tomsula things. Nothing concrete.
Regardless, Roman was trending downward. Whether that’s a fault of Kaepernick or not is up to you. If you think Roman has been scapegoated for the Chargers’ season, it’s not the first time the scapegoat card has been thrown his way. That same narrative has been told for several teams: he’s been let go by the Buffalo Bills midseason (after a game where his offense scored 31 points) and resigned from the Baltimore Ravens following a wild-card loss.
Which brings us back to the Chargers. Harbaugh steadfastly backed Roman when fans were turning sour on his offense in San Francisco, but clearly didn’t have as much patience in Los Angeles. Would this have changed anything had Harbaugh done this back in 2012? Who knows. One of the issues with the 49ers’ offense wasn’t the playcalling (oh, it was bonehead at times, mind you), but the terrible clock management made it so that Harbaugh could make the final play call. I doubt that system changes if the 49ers showed Roman the door.
But those of you pleading for the 49ers to get Roman out before Harbaugh’s untimely exit—ahem, “mutual parting of ways”—now you get some closure. Jim Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator has been let go.
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