by Daisy Barringer

Trent Baalke will remain the GM and York’s not going anywhere either. Sigh.

Congrats! You did it. You survived one of the most brutal years of San Francisco 49ers football in the history of the team. And though you probably thought about stabbing yourself in the eye with a fork many, many times, you somehow refrained. You refrained when Jed York and Trent Baalke fired Harbaugh in what will be regarded as one of the most boneheaded front office decisions to ever be made. Then you refrained when Jim Tomsula was named as the new head coach/puppet. Then, when we lost half of our good players to early retirement, not-as-early retirement, and free agency, you held the fork right up to your eyeball, but still managed to keep from plunging it in. And finally, when our franchise quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, showed he probably doesn't have what it takes to be an elite player in the NFL after all, and was benched in favor of Blaine Gabbert (!!!), you decided to use the fork to eat your feelings instead; after all, just because the Niners suck doesn't mean there isn't actual entertaining football to watch.

Ultimately, all of that makes-you-want-to-stab-yourself-in-the-eye insanity resulted in a 5-11 season and last place in the NFC West. In fact, yesterday's win over the Rams is the only thing that kept the Niners from going winless in the NFC West since 1978. Unfortunately, it would have been better for the team to lose out to all of its division opponents and get the No. 4 draft pick, but Tomsula showed his ineptitude right up to the very last minute and got the W.

Two hours later, he also got his walking papers.

And minutes after that...a subtweet from Jim Harbaugh. Looks like there may be real substance to the rumors about Tomsula working behind Harbaugh's back after all. And, if that's the case, I hereby withdraw all of the sympathy I've had for Tomsula, who I continuously felt was unfairly put in a position for which he was never qualified.

Regardless, firing Tomsula will not save this team. Trent Baalke must also go and Jed York needs to quickly fade into the shadows and let someone else run this team — someone who knows what he';s doing and can repair the damage that has been done not just to the current team, but to the 49ers' reputation. Because as it stands right now, this team is a laughing stock. And it's not fair to the current players who bust their asses, many of whom thought they were signing with championship caliber team. It's not fair to the legacy of the 49ers greats. And it's definitely not fair to the fans and season ticket holders who spend money on merchandise, concessions, tickets, and SBLs.

Unfortunately, Jed York has announced that Baalke will get at least one more year to prove his worth and Jed's head is too far up his ass to recognize that he's the most despised person in the Bay Area and is terrible at his job. Which means Baalke and York have to find a coach who is okay with their problematic leadership. Which means no qualified candidate is going to want the job. Which means, next year's probably going to suck as much as this one did. Perhaps more.

Jed says he knows the fans want a championship team. That he wants that too. That we can trust he's going to do everything he can to get us back to that place. That we deserve more and are going to get more. Well he's right about one thing; we do deserve more. But Jed York is not capable of getting us there. And the fact that he thinks he is capable is how the 49ers organization wound up in this position in the first place.

It's hard to be faithful right now. I don';t blame the fans for not wanting to go to Levi's Stadium or even watch the games at home. I don't blame them for refusing to wear their red and gold gear or for finding another team to follow. This is a dark time in the 49ers era. And York's press conference this morning proves it's going to remain that way. I wish I had better news. I wish I could find one positive note on which to end this final column of the season. But I can't. Except that as badly as the 49ers front office screws up and as many games as we lose, I'll always be here to hold your hand through it. Go Niners.