In celebration of the 49ers remarkable turnover this season, Niner Noise has reviewed each position and handed out grades.  Today also marks the one year anniversary of the hiring of Jim Harbaugh.  Who would have thought the 49ers would be in the playoffs as a second seed and winners of the NFC West a year ago from today?

The 49ers season of revival in 2011 was engineered by Harbaugh as he brought in the right coaches, kept the rights one from the previous regime, and installed the offense, defense and special teams.  No matter how good the coaches or the system a team sets up, you have to execute everything on the field when it counts.  The 49ers at all positions this season accomplished this.  A perfect storm of the right coaches, players peaking with career seasons that included players already on the roster, along with the free agents signed by the 49ers, came together to catapult them back into the playoffs.  Here is a look back at the 49ers 2011 season:

Quarterbacks season reviewed by Eric Melendez

Wide receivers/tight ends season reviewed by Jason Bertolucci

Offensive line reviewed by Matt Hamm

Defensive backs reviewed by Mike Zamora

Defense front-seven reviewed by Michael Hart

Special teams reviewed by Jared Quan

Click read more to view the running backs season review:

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The 49ers got absolutely punked on the front line this Thanksgiving in the “Harbowl”.  Probably the only team that can stand up to the 49ers physically upfront kicked their butts.  I’m not going to spend a lot of time going into the obvious, the short week, the flight across the country, you know the complete and utter unfairness that was this game?

Back to the point here, Fullback Moran Norris was active for the game, I saw him warmup in fact, I verified it online and TV from many sources, it’s a fact.  Did you see him out there?  Nope, that’s because the 49ers only real competent FB on the roster is emerging rookie Bruce Miller.  Aside from his TD catch in Washington and his near TD in Arizona he hasn’t been somebody talked about too much (except for the growing fan base including myself that just wants to see the end of Moran Norris).

The fact is Miller has been brilliant, everyone wants to key on the fact that he is an obvious upgrade to Norris as a receiver, rusher, and overall athlete that much is a given.  But what Miller has brought to the running game has been understated to say the least.  Miller gets to the second level as fast as any FB in football (yeah I said it!) he’s a physical player and his transition from college defensive line to pro FB has been almost seamless.  Did you see Frank Gore or Kendall Hunter hit the second level vs the Ravens?  Did the backs really help out that much in pass protection?  Think the 49ers miss Miller now?

I’ll take a look at the right side of the OL after the jump

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Before 49er fan should get upset about the offensive line breakdowns, Alex Smith’s missed throws, Braylon Edwards and his dropped passes, all the penalties stop.  Remember this, it was a short week, the 49ers had to go across the country and play a very good team with a physical defense.  Preparation was limited and the offensive line had some injuries on the right side.

I may sound like a homer right now but the cards were definitely stacked against the niners on turkey day.  If the Ravens had traveled to San Francisco I really can’t see the team getting dominated in the trenches like it did on Thursday Night.

Now the 49ers did get crushed at the line of scrimmage and Smith didn’t play very well that I’m not denying.  After the jump I’ll highlight what went right and why a loss like this can help the team in the playoffs.

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