SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- These winter days between the end of play and the first blush of minicamp are hibernation time in the NFL.
Not so for the San Francisco 49ers.
They have capped a year of constant turmoil with a flurry of activity. In the past two months, the 49ers have flirted with rehiring Bill Walsh, lost four assistant coaches, hired four more, saw their head of scouting resign in a huff, read that their team was all but sold and that their owner was under investigation until Thursday for a possible assault charge.
Once the masters of the tightly controlled, spotless public image, the 49ers have been making news, and most of it hasn't been good.
"It has been a difficult year," said team president Carmen Policy, who has been putting out fires non-stop since moving to the Bay area from Youngstown, Ohio, last summer.
"By far, these are the biggest changes I've seen," said quarterback Joe Montana, who has seen the team undergo several transformations in his 13 years.
Policy believes the worst of the uproar is in the past and that the result will be a rejuvenated organization. Others believe that unless a healthy Montana returns next season, the 49ers' period of transition will continue.
Whatever the future holds, the 49ers clearly have made a break with the past. Finally -- and ironically at the same time they were contemplating welcoming him back -- the 49ers are completing their post-Walsh transition. Though Walsh, who not only coached the team but oversaw the operation, left in 1989, the real transformation of the 49ers began in 1991.
"Eddie knew the changes were coming," Policy said. "That's why he insisted that I come out here. He wanted me to come in 1989. He felt that the minute Bill left that everybody in the organization was operating kind of on separate islands."
Without Walsh keeping tight control, transition has seemed chaotic at times.
"When Bill took over, he was always able to control things," Montana said. "But some of it, you can't control. When you start having success, changes happen."
Many changes were postponed because of the team's run at a third straight Super Bowl. The 49ers held onto older players longer than they might have. They kept the staff intact for that push toward NFL history. They even drafted, coach George Seifert conceded, specifically for the following season rather than for the long term.
But since the NFC championship game loss to the New York Giants on Jan. 20, 1991, change has come fast and furious.
"I look at why they're going through these things, and I think it's because they're bringing in outside people and it takes away the focus," said Los Angeles Raiders safety Ronnie Lott, one of the victims of the 49ers' year of transition. "They had always built from within. When you do that everyone understands what the problems are and how to do things.
"Now they have to get back to where they were before, and it's going to be a hell of a task. They've let go players that understood the philosophy. They've lost coaches who knew the system."
The 49ers also have lost some of the aura of invincibility. They've faced such touchy situations as the DeBartolo investigation, Tim Harris' arrest on suspicion of drunken driving and last year's misguided logo unveiling.
"I think all that is something that a lot of organizations are going through," NFL television analyst John Madden said. "I think a lot of it is economics and scrutiny. . . . And you can't stay up all the time. Something always happens and that something is happening to the 49ers now."
Some problems have been outside the 49ers control, such as Montana's injury and the story about the team's possible sale. But the team can only blame itself for some of the uproar. Policy regrets the way Lott's departure, which he views as the harbinger of change, was handled.
"The Ronnie Lott situation and the whole concept of transition -- it was all part of the storm clouds," Policy said.
The clouds have not yet parted. The latest jolt has been the decimation of the coaching staff. In particular, the departure of assistant coaches Ray Rhodes and Sherman Lewis, who followed Mike Holmgren to Green Bay, have left some players upset. Both were well-liked, well-respected assistants and both were black, a fact that can't be overlooked in the unprogressive ranks of the NFL. Even Holmgren was startled that he was able to hire both coaches.
The 49ers made attempts to keep both, but the offers were either too little or too late.
Wide receiver Jerry Rice was surprised by the loss of Lewis, whom he described as ideal for the job. Another 49er said some black players perceived that Lewis was passed over and resented it.
Lott, no longer within the fold, didn't hide his views.
"I was shocked and depressed they let Sherman Lewis go," Lott said. "When a black person is qualified to take over a job, you have to wonder why he didn't get it. Both he and Ray Rhodes represented an enormous amount of experience."
The company spin on the departures is to downplay their impact, pointing instead to the benefits of new blood.
"I think we're going to be stronger," Policy said. "There has been an infusion of new people with new ideas and ambitions. I believe we'll be rejuvenated."
The 49ers are not willing to compromise their standards, despite the period of transition. Policy says missing the playoffs again is "intolerable." The team plans to sign a few key Plan B players and focus heavily on next month's draft to fill weak areas. DeBartolo has said trades are possible.
Rice and running back Harry Sydney, both without contracts, said getting players signed and into camp early this summer will be critical. Seifert is happy at the prospect of an added exhibition game in London to give the staff extra time to work together.
"All eyes will be on us to see if the dynasty is crumbling," Sydney said. "Everybody has to get involved, come to camp in shape and make what they're doing the No. 1 priority."
The 49ers players gained confidence from their end-of-season burst. Many of them say the 49ers went through their transition last season, learning to play without Montana and Lott and pulling back to 10-6, after bottoming out at 4-6.
"We saw what we were capable of," running back Tom Rathman said.
And thanks to the late-season rebound, the rest of the league isn't ready to write off the 49ers.
"If they're in transition, it's not much of one," Giants general manager George Young said.
New York Jets general manager Dick Steinberg agreed, saying the 49ers' state of flux pales next to the nine teams who hired new coaches during the off-season.
"Is this the collapse of the 49ers? I don't think so," Steinberg said. "When the season starts, there'll be a dozen teams that have a shot, and the 49ers will be in the upper echelon."
The 49ers players also are confident in the organization's stability.
"I don't think we have that much to do," Montana said. "If you overreact to change, you might make things worse. There are always changes taking place. It's the natural progression of football."
Others point to Montana's rehabilitation as the key.
"If Montana is back like he used to be, that makes transition a heck of a lot easier," Madden said. "If he's not, they're just one of the good teams. If he is, then they're the best."
In a year of constant questions, one of the biggest still looms on
the horizon.