Tomsula in dire need of team leaders

SANTA CLARA — I hate to be right about certain things. Sometimes, it is more fun to be wrong.

For example, I never thought the Warriors could win their first 24 games of the season. It was fun to be wrong about that. I also predicted that the Giants would go overboard financially to sign free-agent pitcher Zack Greinke. It was fun to be wrong when they decided to sign two other good-but less-expensive pitchers.

However, it is not fun to have been right about the 49ers in terms of what might happen with new coach Jim Tomsula.

When the 49ers made Tomsula a rookie NFL head coach last winter, I opined that the decision would work only if (A) the team won big right out of the gate; or (B) enough respected veteran locker room voices stayed around to support and stick up for Tomsula, a longtime 49ers assistant, in

case things got off track.

We all know that (A) didn’t happen. And now we are seeing the consequences of the (B) scenario, which might have been inevitable after linebacker Patrick Willis and defensive lineman Justin Smith each decided to retire within a few months after Tomsula’s hiring.

Willis and Smith were probably two of the three most esteemed 49ers among their peers over the past several seasons. The third was running back Frank Gore, who left via free agency for the Colts. I was thinking about this last Sunday when the 49ers looked so listless in Cleveland, with the helpless Tomsula unable to jolt them out of their stupor. It made me wonder how the outcome might have been different — at least in that particular game and maybe in other games — if those three players had been there to support their coach and rattle their teammates’ attitudes.

Because right now, when you look at the 49ers’ room, where are the leaders who can do anything like that? Joe Staley, the veteran offensive tackle, was man enough to stand up after Sunday’s game and call out everyone (including himself) for not showing up and playing hard. So did linebacker Ahmad Brooks. Not to insult either man, but their voices weren’t as impactful as Willis or Smith or Gore.

Tomsula is a very decent human being, from all accounts. From the way Tomsula speaks about his players, it is clear that he respects and admires them. But there are times when you wonder if maybe he’s too nice a guy and whether the players ever cringe in anticipation of his potential wrath.

Early in my time covering the NFL, I learned how that dynamic can affect a team. I was living in Ohio and covering the Cincinnati Bengals, coincidentally the 49ers’ next opponent.

In 1978 and 1979, the Bengals were coached by a smart, congenial man named Homer Rice. At his first team meeting, Rice addressed the players about discipline and attitude.

“Gentlemen,” Rice said at one point, “I want you to know that I do not believe in motivating through fear.”

As soon as the coach said those words, one Bengals starter told me, he turned to a teammate and whispered: “We’re screwed.”

This player knew that certain players need to fear for their jobs in order to produce. Rice was fired after winning just eight games in his two seasons. After I moved west and watched how Bill Walsh taught the 49ers how to win by making them fear losing, I bought into the concept.

Wednesday, I asked Tomsula directly if he might be too nice a guy when relating to his team. “No,” he said. So I asked him to describe the meanest thing he’d ever done or said to any player.

“Well, I’m not going to get into personal things,” Tomsula replied, gesturing toward the locker room. “But I handle those things in there. I’m not going to handle those things out here. … Too nice? I don’t think that’s near correct.”

Fair enough. Yet we all can see that something is still dreadfully amiss with the 49ers — and, yes, ownership and the front office must answer for that. But so must the coaches and players. Tomsula claimed Wednesday that the locker room is developing new leaders.

“There’s a core of young guys that you’re really excited about,” he said. “We keep talking about them, that you see that in them and it’s growing. … If there’s something we’re building, that’s what we’re building. Those guys, those people. And, that’s why I have a lot of faith in the locker room. I do.”

So is Tomsula trying to encourage specific players to speak up more often?

“I don’t think you can force those things,” Tomsula said. “I think you provide an environment for it to grow and foster. … So, I’m not forcing anybody. And people lead in different ways. Some people are very verbal. Some people are not. So, to me you can’t fake it either. You have to be who you are. But, we do have some guys that you see it growing.”

Which guys? Tomsula won’t say. But the defensive backfield seems to have some candidates: Eric Reid, Kenneth Acker and Jaquiski Tartt. Who else? Linebacker NaVorro Bowman. Defensive lineman Quinton Dial. And on offense, perhaps lineman Daniel Kilgore or tight end Garrett Celek.

The plain truth is, right now, the 49ers are without that sort of leader’s leader full of gravitas. This fact has deflated Tomsula, possibly beyond saving. But whether or not he returns. the 49ers locker room needs a gravitas upgrade. It would be swell if that began before Sunday’s kickoff against the Bengals.