"At his introductory news conference 13 months ago, Jim Harbaugh dismissed comparisons between himself and another coach who had come to the 49ers from Stanford.

"There's really no sentence that you could put Bill Walsh and Jim Harbaugh" together, he said. "I have a long way to go and a lot of work ahead of me before any comparison can be made."

Perhaps it's still premature to make comparisons as Harbaugh remains three Super Bowls shy of reaching Walsh's total. But it's now appropriate to place the pair in the same sentence.

Harbaugh was named the Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year during Saturday's "NFL Honors" TV special, becoming the only 49ers coach since Bill Walsh (1981) to earn the 55-year-old honor. Like Walsh 30 years ago, Harbaugh led the Niners to a 13-3 record after they went 6-10 the previous season. Both Harbaugh and Walsh led San Francisco to the postseason after eight straight non-playoff seasons."