GRAPHIC BY TAM DUONG JR./THE PIONEER

Four seasons, three conference championship appearances, one Super Bowl appearance, and one new stadium: times were good for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014.

The organization was headed in the right direction after the forgettable first decade of the 2000s.

But as the saying goes, “all great empires fall,” and that time has come.

NFL free agency has caused quite a stir this year; in just two weeks players have switched teams and retired around the league.

The Niners saw their NFC West division foes Seattle, Arizona, and St. Louis get significantly better while watching their own Pro Bowl caliber players walk out the door.

Notable players like Frank Gore, Patrick Willis, Mike Iupati, Perrish Cox, Michael Crabtree, Chris Borland and Justin Smith will not return and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh has left the Bay Area for the University of Michigan.

They all played major roles in San Francisco’s three-year run of dominance.

But the way I see it, the road to NFL supremacy was thrown out the window long before this mass exodus. The fall of this empire is more complicated.

Loss in Super Bowl XLVII
The Niners came into the big game arguably the most talented and athletic team in the league, but still lost to a less-than-dominant Baltimore Ravens squad. If they can’t win against that team, they won’t be able to win in the seasons to follow.

The window to win the championship is small, and 2012 was the only shot San Francisco had to gain that coveted sixth super bowl title.

Change in Kaepernick gameplan
They drafted a dynamic quarterback who set the single-game rushing record for the position with 181 yards on the ground against the Packers in a playoff game in his first full season as quarterback, but then reduced him to a pocket passer.

That’s playing scared. Kaepernick has played the game a certain way his whole life by being an unconventional running quarterback and achieved success at the highest level.
A player has to play the game the best way they know how, forcing him to drop back and throw deep will not cut it.

Relocation to Santa Clara
After 68 years in San Francisco, the 49ers moved 40 miles south to sellout to the Silicon Valley tech community in Santa Clara.

If I was a die-hard fan from San Francisco, I’d be infuriated: they left their loyal fan base for people that would rather eat a steak in a stadium restaurant than be in the seats watching the game.
Ownership is now putting profits over wins. San Francisco isn’t the ideal city for football, but it is a lot better than sun-beaten Santa Clara stadium. Football is not meant to be played in the heat, that’s why it’s a winter sport.

Poor location and no respect to the people of San Francisco who helped create this empire.

Head coach situation
I respect Jim Harbaugh’s ability to develop players, but it’s better he left. He does not have what it takes to be a great in-game coach with his sideline antics, and didn’t carry a winners presence on the sideline, compared to the likes of New England Head Coach Bill Belichick.

New Head Coach Jim Tomsula, who has never been a head coach, is a puppet in charge that will shut-up and listen to everything owner Jed York says. Good luck with that.

Loss to the Oakland Raiders in 2014
Niner fans still have not heard the last of that 24-13 week 14 loss in Oakland to the 2-11 Raiders: one team on the bottom with nowhere to go but up, and the other on a slow train wreck downhill.

This loss came in the midst of an 0-4 skid for the 49ers, when the 49ers were supposed to reign supreme in the west coast for years to come.
But an 0-4 stretch to their regional rivals proves their time has ended.