See, I told you. Good news for the Niners: Mike Nolan was brought back, and the first thing he does is oversee the hiring of a proven offensive mastermind in Mike Martz, recently let go by the Detroit Lions. Martz isn't exactly on a hot streak, leaving a team that began the season 6-2 and finished 7-9. But in his defense, 7-9 is an improvement over the 3-13 Lions of the year before. Plus, he was coaching a completely immobile Jon Kitna dealing with a terrible offensive line, and mediocre running backs in Kevin Jones and Tatum Bell. He'll have more raw talent to work with in San Francisco, as he has already made clear (check out today's article in the Chronicle).
Martz, the wizard who put together the Greatest Show on Turf a few years ago in St. Louis, said he wants to make Frank Gore the centerpiece of the offense. What a relief. See, it isn't that hard to be a coordinator, is it? Give the ball to your best player most of the time. The Niners didn't figure this out until the last few games of the season, when they started throwing the ball to Gore in the flat instead of just giving it to him to run up the middle for a yard and a half. What happened? They weren't great, but the offense improved and they won a couple games. Same thing happened in San Diego. Once Norv Turner stopped trying to be cute and just started getting the ball to LT, the Chargers stopped sucking and pulled away in the AFC West. I am deleriously happy that Martz understands this.
With Martz in charge of the offense, the Niners really aren't that far away from being a decent team. They need a better offensive line, first and foremost. If they can shore up the line and give the quarterback more time, it will go a long way towards bettering the offense. I'm not terribly worried about the QB position. Granted, Alex Smith took a huge step backwards this year, but I'm not ready to give up on him. Like I said, he had no time to throw, the play calling sucked ass-balls, and he played hurt half the time. So he'll get better, and if he doesn't, Shaun Hill gave us reason to believe he could also be the #1. The competition in camp (provided we re-sign Hill) will improve the play of both QBs.
I'd like a better wide receiver, but again, I'm not terribly worried. I liked what I saw out of Arnaz Battle this year; he could be a low-end playmaker. Darrell Jackson could be a nice possession receiver, if he would just stop dropping the damn ball, which he did towards the end of the year. Start using Vernon Davis and Gore more in the passing game, and presto: Gore will have more room to run.
On defense we have the Rookie of the Year in Patrick Willis, and Manny Lawson will come back. The D was not bad this year, all things considered, and it'll be better next season. So all in all, with the hiring of Martz, I think there's hope that we can contend.
There has to be.
