Stanford Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh, the season's hottest sporting prospect, has agreed to a five-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers according to Adam Schefter. While this could end up being a very good thing for Georgia Tech, it wouldn't be quite so great for the Atlanta Falcons.
↵Consider the Baltimore Ravens, coached by Harbaugh's brother John. They've produced three straight winning seasons since bringing Harbaugh aboard after two losing seasons in the three years prior. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, come on. Jim Harbaugh put together possibly the third best team in the nation despite Stanford's academic requirements. The Niners don't have SAT standards, y'all.
↵For the Falcons, this would mean drawing the NFC West would no longer be a quick three or four wins. The Birds have gone 12-6 against the NFC West since the division was formed in 2002, which may be off by a game either way because it's Friday afternoon and I'm not double-checking this no matter how many emails you're about to send me about journalism this or journalism that.
↵The point is the NFC West has sucked, but now it reportedly has a successful coach taking over a talented team -- and a coach who actually wants to be in the NFL, unlike Pete Carroll.
↵For more 49ers, join Niners Nation.