49ers CEO fired Chip Kelly and Trent Baalke to 're-establish a championship culture'

We've seen this movie before -- it's called 'Groundhog Day'

On the same day the 49ers lost their 14th game of the season, team CEO Jed York parted ways with general manager Trent Baalke and coach Chip Kelly. Kelly lasted just a year, replacing Jim Tomsula, who was bounced after his only season too.

Of course, from 2011-2014, Jim Harbaugh, who made up for what he lacked in social graces with football acumen, led the 49ers to records of 13-3, 11-4-1, 12-4 and 8-8 in his four seasons. That included three NFC Championship Game appearances and one fourth-down conversion away from winning a Super Bowl.

But differences between Harbaugh and York led to the parting of ways, and what followed was the prompt, downward spiral of a once-proud organization.

This time, however, York intends to set things right.

"I just think it's time for us to re-establish a championship culture," he told TheMMQB.com's Peter King shortly after the organization announced that it had moved on from Baalke and Kelly. "In order to do that, I thought we had to clean house."

The 49ers are in this predicament exactly because of York, who sounded a similar tone when he tried to rationalize Harbaugh's departure as a good thing for the organization.

"We're trying to win a Super Bowl," York said in March 2015. "We haven't been able to do that. And I think what we're trying to do is build a team that focuses on our core strengths. I think we got away from that a little bit. I think we tried to do too much and be something that we weren't. I think you're gonna see us get back to the basics, get back to letting our players go out and make plays. ... You look at our offense last year. It wasn't I think where it should have been. I think we have better talent than what our results showed."

To reiterate: The 49ers were 44-19-1 under Harbaugh and 7-25 in the two seasons since he left. Put another way: It's unclear what York will do differently going forward. The first move would be to hire the right coach, which is what they had in Harbaugh -- and they could have had in Adam Gase if not for reports that Baalke changed his mind at the 11th hour.

But why would a good coach want to come to San Francisco now, amidst all the upheaval and a roster lacking talent?

"People have felt like that before," York said, "and we were able to hire a coach of the year, and GM of the year. And we were able to win a championship."

York's referring to Bill Walsh, who was hired in 1979 -- a year before York was born -- and won Coach of the Year honors and the Lombardi Trophy 35 years ago

So what happened since Harbaugh left?

"What went wrong, I think, was a disconnect at the top," York said. "Not seeing the roster the same way, not being on the same page in personnel. That's why I think it's important to hit the reset button."

And here's York in March 2015, explaining that the 49ers needed a coach "that fits with our core values." When he was asked what would happen if the new guy didn't win a Super Bowl in the first few years?

"Then we're going to have figure out if that's the right fit," York said.