NFL Q&A: 49ers great Randy Cross
Hammond: A few months back you had some thoughts on the direction of the franchise and the direction they’ve gone in. What in your mind needs to change? Is it coaching? The quarterback? It seems like there’s something that’s not clicking in the Bay.
Cross: Well, it’s sad cause the reality in sports is, when it comes to coaching you get that once chance to get “that” guy and snatch that golden ring. Eddie got Bill Walsh, and was lucky enough to have George Seifert their and took over from what Bill did. I think the Niners were lucky and ecstatic that they got Jim Harbaugh but for whatever reason guys didn’t think they were getting enough credit, guys didn’t get along—they found a way to get him to Michigan.
They’re a different team if he’s still there. That’s reality. I don’t care what anybody says. Some guys don’t retire, some guys don’t walk away, some guys don’t quit and they don’t sign away in free agency. The difference was when Harbaugh went in there, Scot McCloughan and (Mike) Nolan during those years, had drafted the line of scrimmage so well—and Trent Baalke was apart of that deal but they haven’t had the same success restocking. You might win a Super Bowl with an average quarterback but you sure as hell can’t win a Super Bowl without a great head coach.
Hammond: Chip Kelly, your thoughts on Chip in San Francisco. Can he succeed and I guess, “fall in line” with the NFL system and be successful?
Cross: Well—he has a lot of—you know you gotta give him credit, he’s got some cutting edge thoughts when it comes to sleep patterns and conditioning, nutrition and stuff that he did at Oregon that wasn’t all embraced at Philadelphia. It probably should’ve been given more of a chance, let’s see how he does when he’d dealing with adults.”
“It seemed like in Philadelphia he had a “my way or the highway” mentality and in the NFL, it just doesn’t work that way. They’re adults, this is a work environment. It’s not the dictatorship of college football. If he can learn from that experience in Philly but we won’t know that for another year plus.