We've got an interesting update on the coaching front. Chris Biderman is reporting Greg Roman did not travel back to San Francisco with the team following their win over the Green Bay Packers.
Can verify Greg Roman did not travel back from Green Bay with the team in order to interview for a head coaching position. #49ers
— Chris Biderman (@ChrisBiderman) January 7, 2014
Fooch's Note: Chris has updated his info with this post. Roman likely returned to San Francisco by Monday afternoon.
My guess at this point is that Roman went to Minneapolis to interview with the Vikings (or the Vikings were in Green Bay, I suppose). Other openings in the region include the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, but the Vikings are the only team of the three to which he has been connected for an actual interview. There was some chatter he was interested in the Lions job, but there has been no word that they have inquired about an interview.
Obviously we'd like his focus to be entirely on the 49ers upcoming game against the Carolina Panthers, but that's just not the way things work. He has a fairly narrow window right now in which to interview for a head coach job. I imagine that once he completes his interview he'll have plenty of game film to watch on his flight back to San Francisco. Remember that the team handed out iPads on which they can place playbook, game film and other such information.
Although more work can be done face-to-face, I'm not overly concerned about this hurting preparation time for Sunday's game. First, the team has other assistants who are perfectly capable of covering things for a day while Roman is interviewing. Second, we are in a far different technological age. Aside from the time in which Roman is interviewing, he can access everything on his iPad, plus he can more than likely use Internet on his flight if he needs to communicate with the coaching staff while en route. Well, unless he's on United. Then, he's screwed!