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The San Francisco 49ers face the Arizona Cardinals in their season finale, and the whole thing is quickly reaching surreal levels. Jim Harbaugh is expected to head to Michigan, with a press conference reportedly scheduled for Tuesday. NFL media are saying the Oakland Raiders remain in the mix, but whatever the case, the world can say with 99 percent certainty that Jim Harbaugh is coaching his last game with the 49ers.
That has made for a rather surreal atmosphere at Levi's Stadium. There will be plenty of little moments throughout the game, but it is fitting that it started with Jim Harbaugh dodging media in coming out on the field.
Jim Harbaugh comes out of the midfield-suite tunnel (behind visitors bench) before #49ers finale pic.twitter.com/UEqORDh4lD
— Cam Inman (@CamInman) December 28, 2014
49ers CEO Jed York spoke with FOX Sports reporter Laura Okmin, and followed that up with an interview with NFL Network reporter Alex Flanagan. In between, he dodged Bay Area media, which did not exactly please them.
"Nope." - #49ers CEO Jed York, when asked by beat writers if he had a sec, before walking off w/NFL Network. pic.twitter.com/lraHj1bMCb
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) December 28, 2014
After his interviews, York met briefly with Harbaugh near midfield, and that apparently ended with a back slap and bro hug.
Jim Harbaugh and #49ers CEO Jed York chop it up pic.twitter.com/IZpelXuuZ8
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) December 28, 2014
According to people on hand, the cheers for Harbaugh have been quite loud, and I'm sure this will last for much of the game. When things wrap up, it will be interesting to see what kind of reaction Harbaugh gets from the fans and his own players. And then there's the post-game press conference. I'm looking forward to that more than the game itself.
Oh, and according to Jed York, he and Harbaugh have not discussed the Michigan job.
49ers CEO Jed York tells me he's seen reports of Jim Harbaugh taking another job, but tells me he hasn't discussed the MI job with Harbaugh
— Alex Flanagan (@Alex_Flanagan) December 28, 2014
That's certainly possible, but this was the first thing that came to mind.