Trent Baalke talks Chris Borland availability, Jim Harbaugh's future (sort of), more

Trent Baalke made his regular appearance on the Damon Bruce Show on Monday, and this one went a little longer than normally, with 20 minutes of discussion. You can listen to the whole thing HERE.

Baalke actually seemed to provide some real insight into Chris Borland's availability for Saturday, saying he might be a long-shot to play on Saturday. Last night, there were rumors the 49ers may have signed Desmond Bishop. Matt Barrows has since confirmed the news.

Other than that, Baalke and Bruce went back and forth on the team's future, with Baalke not willing to dive into speculation about Jim Harbaugh moving forward. This is not surprising, but it does keep coming up. Here is the full transcript.

On Seahawks loss:

Obviously you don't feel good. Proud of the way our team went up there and competed. They give it everything they had. Had a couple things work against us, but that happens. The guys fought and we just came up a little short.

On being eliminated with two games remaining:

I think there's a lot of things that go into it. The season just hasn't gone the way we expected, the way any of us expected. It hasn't been for a lack of effort. I think our coaching staff has worked tirelessly. I think our players have worked tirelessly. Some seasons, some games didn't go our way, and we need to take a look at every aspect. To kind of regroup and find a reason for...I don't want to say failures...we're a 7-7 team and that's what we are right now.

On record considering all the injuries:

I think if ask the players and you ask the coaches and you ask myself, I don't want to speak for everybody, but there's certainly a level of disappointment. But the one I'm confident in is, we've got two games left, and this is a very prideful group. They're pros in every aspect, and feel very confident that we'll get by this, we'll move forward, and we'll move forward with a purpose. And that purpose is no different than it has been every week this season, every week since we've been here, and that's to go out and win this weekend. We got a good football team coming in here this Saturday, it's never easy when you get eliminated, but once again, you fall back on the pride of the group. But I think if you talk to them man-for-man, there's gonna be no let-down, no quite from anybody in this organization.

On using final two games for evaluating reserves (maybe Bruce Ellington):

I think the best thing I can tell you is we're going to approach these games no different than we approached any game this season. We're gonna approach these games to win. This isn't to see who can or can't play. This is to find out a lot about our makeup right now. Like I said earlier, very confident in this group. We're not giving up on this season at all, even though the playoffs are out of reach at this point. There's a 9-7 goal, and in order to get there we need to win on Saturday, and that's what we're looking at.

On Nick Moody penalty:

Well, everyone in the press box heard what I thought of that call, but you know, the NFL came out today and said they got it wrong. But that is little...for us, in the heat of the moment, you looked at it and thought it was a good hit. The NFL agreed with us after the fact, but you know, those things happen. It's all part of the game, you don't want it to happen, and I think what you're going to see from that, and you saw a lot of comments today about it, is are they going to make those plays reviewable. And that's certainly something that's been discussed league-wide in the past. And something that we're going to continue to discuss, because penalties like that do impact the game. We saw it last year when we were in New Orleans, we saw it again yesterday. Those are big plays. Those are momentum-changing plays. Those are plays that can certainly determine the outcome of a game. So, there is going to be talk, I'm certain of that. And we'll see where that talk leads to.

On Seattle getting to be more physical than 49ers:

Well, you know, that's not something I'm going to touch certainly, but, those are bang-bang plays. Whether I agree with the calls or not has very little relevance at this stage. Once again, if those calls can be questioned, if those calls can be reviewed, because they impact the game. There again, in that drive alone, there were 30 yards, two first downs gained by penalty for Seattle. Games have...if you look at it historically, the officiating, you gotta play past that. We were unable to last night, but once again, very proud of the way our guys continued to battle.

On if he is proud of way Jim Harbaugh has coached this season:

You know, Damon, we keep going back, I'll say this, Coach works his tail-end off, as do all of these coaches. To take anything away from the effort that's put in, I don't know if people truly understand the amount of hours that go in to preparing a football team to play. That the players put in, that the coaches put in, they work their tails off. Sometimes the game plans are successful, sometimes they're not. This year we've been on the short end seven times, and you're not going to hang all that on game planning. Sometimes it's just not in the cards. But, I do know this, he's a good football coach. We have a lot of good football coaches here. They work hard at what they do and proud of the effort that they put forth.

On if Harbaugh is kind of coach they want moving forward (Fooch's update: he ended the question by suggesting the drama was the reason for the underachievement, thus the opening of his answer):

I don't know that if you talk to every man in the locker room, that they would agree with that, if any would. The guys in the locker room are focused on winning, as is Coach, as am I. At the beginning of the year, Coach and Jed met, they discussed, and they agreed to table things until the season ended. And that's where we've left it. It continues to be a topic because people like yourself continue to bring it up. But at the same time, I can assure, the only thing we're focused on right now, and Jim and I met again today, the only thing we're focused on is figuring out how to win on Saturday.

On whether they get along, and why media pits Harbaugh and ownership if that's fabrication:

Well, you're part of the media, so you should be able to answer that. I can't answer that. But I come to work in the morning, I'm focused on on thing: how we're going to get this football team better. And Jim is no different, nor are the coaches, nor are the players. We're not as caught up in this as you guys may make it seem, I guess. We're focused on winning. At this level, that's all you can be focused on, because if not it makes it awful difficult to win.

On having two physical locker rooms and division it might cause:

Damon, once again, these guys are pros. The two locker room thing, I don't know where you're getting this strong division from. There's guys that keep some of their gear in the old locker room, only because it's more conducive and a better location for some of them, to the meeting area, as well as the practice field. But there's not two locker rooms on game day, or two locker rooms during the week.

On half the team showering, dressing in one and half in another:

I wouldn't say it's half the team. There's certain position groups that prefer to be over near the meeting area because they're in meetings an awful lot more than the other ones. But I don't think that is the cause of us being 7-7.

On losing home field advantage at Levi's Stadium:

I wouldn't agree with that. I think any time you move in to a new facility, there's a period of time that you're getting used to that facility, and getting used to a lot of different parts of that facility. Our fans are trying to get used to it. In the old stadium, at Candlestick, there was no place to go, so they were in their seats. Now you've got the club spaces, and you've got TVs inside. And depending on the weather there is an opportunity to get out of the elements, whether that be the sun or the rain. And would we like to see them stay in their seats more? Certainly we would. We'd like it to be the best home field advantage in the National Football League. I think right now, there's growing pains that go with the new facility. And that's not only for the players, the coaches, myself. I used to enjoy the drive to Candlestick because it gave me a chance to unwind. Now, you don't get that 40-50 minute drive. So all of us are learning about the facility itself, and the stadium. But I think over time it will prove to have the value that Candlestick had.

On if team part ways with Harbaugh and fans wanting explanation:

It's really not even worth going there at this time. Once again, as we've said many times, when the season ends, decisions are going to be made. And that's when that conversation's going to take place. Jim and I sat here this morning and we basically talked about just that, and we also talked about what we needed to do from a roster standpoint to get ready to play Saturday. And that's really the focus. The focus is on getting ourselves prepared to win a football game. And although there may not be as much at stake, and some people may wonder why you're putting that much effort into it; because we're professionals and we're very prideful in what we do. And we want to go out and win a football game. And the only way you can do that is get complete focus on it.

On it feeling like a decision has already been made:

Once again, who is reporting that and why?

Maiocco, Schefter, Jay Glazer, and so forth reporting it:

What we talked about is what we are going to do with the roster. As you saw up there, we sustained a lot of injuries, and when you do that, you have to make decisions, and you have to make them quickly because of the situation, especially on a short week, we play Saturday, not Sunday. Our focus is on, what are we going to do to get 46 guys on the roster to go compete and give us the best chance to win on Saturday.  So I know you want to take this to the next level, and what's going to happen at the end of the season, and I'm trying to tell you in a very nice way and focused way, that our focus is on one thing, getting ready for San Diego. Period.

On Frank Gore, Carlos Hyde availability:

We're going to monitor both of them through the week. Obviously that's not going to...being a short week it doesn't help us, but at the same time I know they both want to play. And they're both going to do everything in their power to get ready to play. So if there's a will there's a way for those two guys, and we'll see as the week unfolds.

On Chris Borland availability:

They hit us on some things in the third, and that's, what can you say. That running back is as good as there is in the National Football League. He does a heck of a job, and he's hard to bring down. Having Chris out of there certainly didn't help, but at the same time, I thought Nick stepped in there and played hard. And did a good job for his first time being in live action on the defensive side of the ball. He's been strictly a special teams player up to that point. Chris is going to be, that one is probably, not to give away any trade secrets, but that might be a long-shot there.