Opening comments:
"We don't have any injuries to report. The only thing we had was [FB] Bruce Miller had a thigh contusion and got him out there, they rubbed it out and got it loosened up and he went back in there."
Obviously there's a lot of stuff out there, reports, about your future. Have you talked to ownership? Do you know what your future is?
"I have not talked to ownership. Haven't had any conversations of the such. Wouldn't expect to until the season is over. What I would like to say to everybody is: I'm not going to make this about Jim and Jim's job status here today. OK? I've got a group of guys here, players that just won a football game. They've been through a very tough season. They've stuck together and went and won a game in overtime and they fought like crazy. Today is all about those players. My job status and anything going forward there can be handled throughout the rest of the week."
Did you have to address any of that with your players to get them in the frame of mind to play?
"Zero. Nothing."
Just for the record, do you have a meeting scheduled with ownership tonight or tomorrow?
"I do not. So, I'll have to talk about the players."
What did today say about the character of your players in a game that for all intents and purposes is meaningless, the way they fought to the very end?
"That's what has excited me with the multitude of questions I've gotten about the team and the guys. A lot of you aren't there to see it in practice, but that is one really good group of players. The intangibles in that locker room are where the San Francisco 49ers want to be. There is a core group of individuals that this game is really important to them. The 49ers organization is extremely important to them and their fan base is extremely important to them and the game of football is extremely important to them. They get along really well. They enjoy working together and they are growing together. So, what you saw there in the fight and the way they work, that's what we see Monday through Saturday with that group of guys."
Would you say that their effort today reflects well on the coaching staff?
"I really believe in this coaching staff, the guys that are here. They are very good people. Again, when you go through tough seasons, which we all do or have if you've coach in this thing, what happens is you start getting one-offs and spinoffs. The season pulls at you. What we see all the time in the media is the breaks in the dam. There are no breaks in that dam, whether it be players or coaches."
You had a chance to kick a 55-yard field goal in overtime. You went with a punt instead. What went into that thinking? Did K Phil Dawson's maximum--?
"We probably could have. But, kicking that way with the wind, we had talked about that before the game. So, I didn't want to do that."
What's your evaluation of what you saw with QB Blaine Gabbert, especially this game, but just the last several weeks?
"Well, my opinion of Blaine Gabbert is two-fold. The first thing that I say about Blaine Gabbert is the way he works and the way he goes after it. His skill level, I think is there. He's the kind of guy you want to go to work with every day. Secondly, I will say he has still got a high ceiling. He's not maxed out. So, he's a guy that can continue to improve."
What'd you see from RB DuJuan Harris today?
"He ran like heck. I don't know how many yards he had, but catching and running. That's the thing I'll say too is here this guy comes in two weeksago. The personnel department did a nice job with [RB Shaun] Draughn coming in. We've had guys come in, talented guys and the right kind of guys. Last week he was running the ball he had been working for three days trying to learn the offense and the alerts and all that stuff and worked hard at it. Again, this week, getting after it, you saw him more in the passing game. So, hats off to him and his efforts."
It seemed like LB Ahmad Brooks had some time on the bench after his penalty. What was the thinking there and was anything said to him?
"Just calm down."
Do you miss not having a game next week or are you ready for this season to end and what have you enjoyed most about coaching this team despite the record?
"Well, what I enjoyed most about coaching, to me football is people. Everybody makes the game and talks about football and the game and all that kind of stuff. It's the people that make up the game and there's a lot of good people at the San Francisco 49ers."
Will you miss not having a game to coach next week?
"Yeah, you do this to coach."
What does that mean to you to finish off the season on this winning note?
"Well, my first initial reaction to that is it's what we talk about in games all the time. Starting fast and ending strong is good, but everything in the middle counts too. That's the way we approach it. But, these guys, again, just the journey and the way they've stuck together and the way they've worked through. I mean, heck they were getting blasted before the season started. It was last June they were getting hammered. Talked about how bad they were going to be and this and that. They really just kept fighting and working together. So, it's a really good group."
Is this organization and this team in a better spot now than when the season started?
"Oh, I think so. That's my opinion. Yeah."
How so?
"Well, it's the growth, the growth of the guys. Again, lessons learned. We always talk about the sword being sharp on both sides. So, you've got to make sure that you know what you're doing."
I was just going to say, a lot of young guys auditioning today. That seemed to exemplify itself in the way the hitting was going on out there. A lot of hard hits. A lot of emotion.
"Yeah. I don't know that we had anybody in there playing that hadn't played most of the year. We've had our struggles in different areas that we've had to keep cleaning up and work through. But, these guys, they work hard. They work at it. It's important to them."
Do you deserve a chance to come back for a second season and see this process through?
"Well, you're a coach. You always think that. How you think about that and those things, that's irrelevant."