[washingtonismoney]

Of course, it's hard to know what the counterfactual is. Harbaugh is a very good QB coach overall,* and it's plausible to me that Landry Jones would've been a different, better QB under Harbaugh's tutelage.

*(There's been some doubt about this, but it's nevertheless true. Alex Smith is the most remarkable example. I've always thought it was strange that Kaepernick is used as an example against Harbaugh, with the argument apparently being that he didn't improve last year. This is strange to me, because it assumes that continuous improvement up through whatever glass ceilings there are is somehow the norm.

An honest look at anyone's life reveals that, no, continuous improvement doesn't happen. Improvement, at all, is kind of miraculous, really.

And even in sports we're awfully selective with this standard. Gregg Popovich is hailed as a genius for making Boris Diaw and Danny Green into highly useful role players; no one's criticized him for failing to turn them into Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson, because that would be a really stupid criticism. Part of it is our persistent inability to be rational about quarterbacks and other leader-types -- "BUT IS HE ELITE?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?" "WHY CAN'T HE LEAD?!??!" -- but part of it is just we're not very consistent.)

[washingtonismoney]

Of course, it's hard to know what the counterfactual is. Harbaugh is a very good QB coach overall,* and it's plausible to me that Landry Jones would've been a different, better QB under Harbaugh's tutelage.

*(There's been some doubt about this, but it's nevertheless true. Alex Smith is the most remarkable example. I've always thought it was strange that Kaepernick is used as an example against Harbaugh, with the argument apparently being that he didn't improve last year. This is strange to me, because it assumes that continuous improvement up through whatever glass ceilings there are is somehow the norm.

An honest look at anyone's life reveals that, no, continuous improvement doesn't happen. Improvement, at all, is kind of miraculous, really.

And even in sports we're awfully selective with this standard. Gregg Popovich is hailed as a genius for making Boris Diaw and Danny Green into highly useful role players; no one's criticized him for failing to turn them into Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson, because that would be a really stupid criticism. Part of it is our persistent inability to be rational about quarterbacks and other leader-types -- "BUT IS HE ELITE?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?" "WHY CAN'T HE LEAD?!??!" -- but part of it is just we're not very consistent.)