The regular season is over and the annual shuffle of coaches and front office personnel has already begun.

Highest profile, of course, was the departure of Jim Harbaugh from the NFL to take over the Michigan job, leaving “experts” proclaiming the 49ers’ job the most attractive one available.

But is it?

San Francisco has plenty of talent along the o-line and defensive front 7, but it’s aging, injured and will never be as good as it was two years ago when the team went to the Super Bowl.

With its best assets depreciating, the 49ers also are facing free agent losses in their defensive secondary that need to be addressed, and must make a decision on Michael Crabtree (the right decision is to let him walk and find a real #1 receiver) and Colin Kaepernick (the new coach better be able to do something with this guy because you can’t win with him the way he is).

Add in the fact that Anquan Boldin and Frank Gore will both soon be eligible for social security and you start to see why the San Francisco job might not be as choice as everyone says.

And consider this:  the new coach of the 49ers gets to play the Seattle, Arizona and St. Louis defenses twice a year.

Fun fun fun.

He’ll also be facing unrealistic expectations from fans and media, who simultaneously have proclaimed that Jim Harbaugh is a great coach who can’t be replaced, but the 49ers roster is also the best of any team with a coaching vacancy (if these things are both true, why was this team a lackluster 8-8 this year?).

All things being equal, wouldn’t you rather take over in Atlanta or Chicago where no one expects you to win the Super Bowl overnight?  Just a thought.

This Week’s Sucked And Won

Drew Brees, QB (NO).  Add three more interceptions to Brees’ already-too-high total and another sub-par game (61.4 passer rating).  This was a microcosm of the Saints’ whole disappointing season.

The NFC South has been a joke all year, but what’s not a joke is how the Panthers are playing right now.  Winners of four in a row, I would NOT want to be the team that has to go to Carolina next week and try to win, I don’t care how bad their record was in the regular season.

Shocking realization of the week

In what may or may not have been his last game as the Jets’ starter, Geno Smith just played the best game of his career (maybe his life), going 20-25 for 358 yards, 3 touchdowns, zero picks and a passer rating of 158.3.  Where’s THAT been all year?

What will it take to beat the Seahawks?  Past history suggests a team that defenses the run exceptionally well, has an o-line that can allow a team to run against Seattle and force them to blitz if they want to get consistent pressure on the QB, and has a quarterback mobile enough to break containment if necessary.  What teams fill all 3 of those criteria?  By my count, the Pittsburgh Steelers look like the only one.  What a great Super Bowl that would be, eh?

This Week’s Great But Lost

Odell Beckham, Jr., WR (NYG).  12 catches, 185 yards and a touchdown.  This kid should be the first receiver picked in every fantasy league in the country next season.  He’s unstoppable.

Bad news for Detroit Lions fans.  Bad news, don’t I mean good news, since the suspension of Ndamukong Suh has been vacated?  No, I mean bad news.  Your team is full of knuckleheads who can’t stop doing stupid things even with something as high stakes as the NFL playoffs looming.  Detroit will stupid its way right into an early exit.  I don’t know exactly how, but I know they will.

Featured image via Getty