Jim Harbaugh: Free kick goal is ‘my favorite rule in football’

Before Cameron Dicker’s successful 57-yarderthe 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.

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

Harbaugh might have been a little hyperbolic there. But it is a situation he has thought a lot about and had his team prepared for.

“It’s the first one we’ve done,” Harbaugh said. “We tried one with the 49ers, I think it was like a 70-yarder. Mr. Dawson. I wanted it so badly, I tried a 71-yarder. But that’s my favorite rule. And Cam Dicker stepped up and hit it. And I thought that was a big (for) momentum — got the momentum back at halftime.”

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

“Pretty much,” Harbaugh said with a laugh. “That’s 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 through it every week, but this week they had gone through it. So (we did) take a time out and just get things dialed in completely.

“But, yeah, I was trying to figure out in my head — where’s that flag? And it was supposed to be on their side of the 50. So this is our chance, this is our moment. And the other option is a Hail Mary ( on that) untimed down. But we have 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 on the spot. So it’s a good job.”

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

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