Jed York on replacing Jim Harbaugh: 'We haven't been able to (win it all).' (Getty Images)
Jed York on replacing Jim Harbaugh: 'We haven't been able to (win it all).' (Getty Images)

49ers CEO Jed York has hitched his wagon to Jim Tomsula, the former defensive assistant with no NFL head-coaching experience. Never mind that 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 to hear York tell it, moving on from Harbaugh was the right decision.

“We’re trying to win a Super Bowl. We haven’t been able to do that," York told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday, via the San Francisco Chronicle. 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.”

Those are some lofty goals (assuming it's the primary reason the 49ers and Harbaugh parted ways; we're guessing there's more to this, if for no other reason than Harbaugh's aforementioned 44-19-1 record), ones that won't likely be reached anytime soon. For starters, Tomsula is unproven, both as a coach and the face of the organization.

The 49ers also lost linebackers Patrick Willis and Chris Borland to retirement, chose not to re-sign starters Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Chris Culliver, and most importantly, didn't think enough of Harbaugh -- arguably the man most responsible for Colin Kaepernick's success -- to keep him around.

Back in December, when York first spoke to the media about the decision to move on from Harbaugh, he explained that the team's off-field issues (including 10 arrests over 32 months) also played a part.

"And that's where you get to the teacher (-type coach) to make sure that you find a way to keep those guys instead of going to the other side, keeping them on the side of the road that fits with our core values," York said at the time.

Okay, fine. But what happens if the new guy doesn'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.

No way this ends badly.