Jim Harbaugh: Free-kick field goal is “my favorite rule in football”

Before Cameron Dicker’s successful 57-yarder, the last time a team attempted a fair-catch kick was the Panthers in 2019. Joey Slye had a 60-yard attempt during a London game.

But before that, 49ers kicker Phil Dawson attempted one from 71 yards in a game against the then-St. Louis Rams back in 2013.

San Francisco’s head coach that season?

Jim Harbaugh, of course — a man who talked about his love for the play after Thursday night’s 34-27 win over Denver.

“It’s my favorite rule in football,” Harbaugh said. “I’ve tried to get one of those like every game.”

Harbaugh was perhaps being a bit hyperbolic there. But it is a situation he’s thought plenty about and had his team prepared for.

“It’s the first one we’ve made,” Harbaugh said. “We tried one with the 49ers, I think it was like a 70-yarder. Mr. Dawson. I wanted it so bad, I tried a 71-yarder. But it is my favorite rule. And Cam Dicker stepped up and nailed it. And I thought that was a huge [for] momentum — got the momentum back going into halftime.”

Given all that, Harbaugh was asked if when he saw the penalty following the fair catch, he thought, “This is my moment.”

“Pretty much,” Harbaugh said with a chuckle. “Pretty much how it went down. And I was really happy, too, because coach [Ryan] Ficken had gone over it this week. He doesn’t go over it every week, but this week, they’d gone over that. So, [we did] take a timeout and get things just completely dialed in.

“But, yeah, I was trying to do the math in my head — where’s that flag? And it was going to be on their side of the 50. So this is our chance, this is our moment. And the other option’s a Hail Mary [on the] untimed down. But just, we’ve got Cameron Dicker. So, that’s our guy.”

A reporter started to ask about another subject, but Harbaugh wasn’t quite done.

“The good thing about the free kick is you don’t have to go back 8 yards from the snap, either,” he said. “You get it right at the spot. So, it’s great work.”

Of course, it was also the first converted attempt since 1976. Especially because it came in a win, it was a moment Harbaugh won’t soon forget.

“It was cool,” Harbaugh said. “That was really cool.”