When Bill Walsh left

I was a big fan of Walsh and believe he was the greatest coach in Niner history but he made his share of mistakes in the draft. James Owens was his 1st pick in 1979. Bust. Todd Shell was a #1 pick that was a bust. Guard Jeff Bregal was a 2nd rounder that was a steroid bust. The entire 1982 draft yielded 2 good players , Bubba Paris and Dana Maclemore. So even Walsh had his misses. Keep in mind, there were 12 rounds during much of his tenure. Fewer teams and more picks increased the chances of getting good players. We also have to consider that there was no cap back then and no free agency so if a player was good you could keep him and pay him whatever you wanted. He had no options.

Bill had his draft miscues but his hits like the multiple trade downs to draft Haley, or even drafting Rice as a small school WR were great.

Its always harder to be the 'first' great one. There's no model to emulate and for that Walsh deserves much credit.

Originally posted by amir_tn80:
That loss to the Vikings in 87 playoffs took a toll and shook the entire franchise. I remember how shocked everyone was after that game. The '87 team was way up there with '84 and '89 as far as dominance. I think they were first in total offense and defense.

Such a b******t game. Just chucking trash up to Carter & he comes down with it. Has the game of his life and then fades away into oblivion forever

Originally posted by frenchmov:

Originally posted by amir_tn80:
That loss to the Vikings in 87 playoffs took a toll and shook the entire franchise. I remember how shocked everyone was after that game. The '87 team was way up there with '84 and '89 as far as dominance. I think they were first in total offense and defense.

Such a b******t game. Just chucking trash up to Carter & he comes down with it. Has the game of his life and then fades away into oblivion forever

actually CARTER was the best WR that never happened because he never had a QB..

Originally posted by mitpdub:
Bill had his draft miscues but his hits like the multiple trade downs to draft Haley, or even drafting Rice as a small school WR were great.

Its always harder to be the 'first' great one. There's no model to emulate and for that Walsh deserves much credit.

.. and there was a report that Bill also wanted Steve Dils over Joe Montana..

.. and also thought about trading Joe for John Elway..

Originally posted by amir_tn80:

Originally posted by JoseCortez:
The 1987 season really passed off debartolo after that horrible upset against the Vikings. He was basically putting so much pressure on Walsh after that. It was too much on him.

That loss to the Vikings in 87 playoffs took a toll and shook the entire franchise. I remember how shocked everyone was after that game. The '87 team was way up there with '84 and '89 as far as dominance. I think they were first in total offense and defense.

That was the good and bad of Eddie. He really wanted to win and did everything he could to make that happen. Unfortunately he really wore out Walsh with that mentality, but also without Eddie, I don't think he'd have all those super bowls either. They were a good pair. I hope the Jed York-Kyle Shanahan relationship would be that productive too, and I hope would be more long lasting than the Eddie/Walsh relationship.

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by amir_tn80:

Originally posted by JoseCortez:
The 1987 season really passed off debartolo after that horrible upset against the Vikings. He was basically putting so much pressure on Walsh after that. It was too much on him.

That loss to the Vikings in 87 playoffs took a toll and shook the entire franchise. I remember how shocked everyone was after that game. The '87 team was way up there with '84 and '89 as far as dominance. I think they were first in total offense and defense.

That was the good and bad of Eddie. He really wanted to win and did everything he could to make that happen. Unfortunately he really wore out Walsh with that mentality, but also without Eddie, I don't think he'd have all those super bowls either. They were a good pair. I hope the Jed York-Kyle Shanahan relationship would be that productive too, and I hope would be more long lasting than the Eddie/Walsh relationship.

Yes , he was hard on GOAT Walsh, but remember that was about the time somewhere in there that he was diagnosed with CLL…chronic lymphocytic leukemia….and that really took it out of Bill. Towards the end of his coaching, he started to look really tired and that almost certainly was the CLL. Generally it is "treatable" but it still takes the fire out of a person..

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by amir_tn80:

Originally posted by JoseCortez:
The 1987 season really passed off debartolo after that horrible upset against the Vikings. He was basically putting so much pressure on Walsh after that. It was too much on him.

That loss to the Vikings in 87 playoffs took a toll and shook the entire franchise. I remember how shocked everyone was after that game. The '87 team was way up there with '84 and '89 as far as dominance. I think they were first in total offense and defense.

That was the good and bad of Eddie. He really wanted to win and did everything he could to make that happen. Unfortunately he really wore out Walsh with that mentality, but also without Eddie, I don't think he'd have all those super bowls either. They were a good pair. I hope the Jed York-Kyle Shanahan relationship would be that productive too, and I hope would be more long lasting than the Eddie/Walsh relationship.

Yes , he was hard on GOAT Walsh, but remember that was about the time somewhere in there that he was diagnosed with CLL…chronic lymphocytic leukemia….and that really took it out of Bill. Towards the end of his coaching, he started to look really tired and that almost certainly was the CLL. Generally it is "treatable" but it still takes the fire out of a person..

Good point. I never made the connection between the Cancer and Walsh's retirement. I'm betting the stress of working for Eddie didn't help either. I know he revealed he had leukemia somewhere past the turn of the century, but quite conceivably the symptomology was already there back in the '90's.