On one side you have Jim Harbaugh, the coach of the San Francisco 49er's. He is a former NFL quarterback, and has has success both as a college coach and in the NFL. His team was one game from the Super Bowl last year, and were one of the favorites to make it this year. The 49er's defense is one of the best in the league and they have a running game that also ranks toward the top. Their weakness was supposed to be Alex Smith the quarterback. He was more of a game manager, and was rarely counted on to win games.
Smith suffered a concussion in the first half of week 10 against the St. Louis Rams and backup Colin Kaepernick came in to seal a victory. Alex Smith missed the next game and Kaepernick had a great game throwing for 243 yards and 2 td's. He also brought a running dynamic which Alex Smith didn't possess. Alex Smith never got his job back and the 49er's offense has been more explosive ever since. This quarterback change was viewed as a bad move by many experts but Jim is laughing all the way to the Super Bowl.
On the other side you have John Harbaugh, the coach of the Baltimore Raven's. He never played in the NFL, and before being named Raven's coach in 2008 he was never a head coach on any level. He was a defensive backs coach for the Eagles before landing the Raven's job. The Raven's have been built on their defense and running game, much like his Jim's 49er's. The Ravens Joe Flacco has always been criticized for not being consistent and turning the ball over too much. He has been pretty solid is big games, but the team hasn't been able to get over the hump.
The Raven's also lost a leader to injury when Ray Lewis went down with a torn bicep. Ray Lewis wouldn't lose his job like Alex Smith had because of injury. He came back and lead this team through the playoffs, and to the Super Bowl. He announced this would be his last season and since then the team has been playing like its their last season as well. Going into the playoffs they weren't given much of a chance to win. Houston, New England and Denver were the favorites to represent the AFC. Joe Flacco has played like a man possessed and the defense has made big plays to get them to this point.
These brothers have had very different careers as players and coaches. One of their teams were favorites to get to the Super bowl, while the others was a long shot. One of the brothers have an older, more experienced team, while the other one has a young and explosive team. One of them has a championship caliber defense, while the other has an aged, struggling defense. These brothers have a lot of differences but the one thing they have in common, they are in the Super Bowl.
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