SANTA CLARA -- Jim Harbaugh is suddenly generating buzz that his creative coaching resembles that of the late Hall of Famer, Bill Walsh — and that his 49ers are performing much like those great San Francisco teams of old.
Ricky Jean Francois, the outspoken defensive tackle, has no qualms acknowledging the 49ers finally silenced any remaining doubters after Sunday's thrilling 27-20 win against the New York Giants.
"It might change the perspective of everybody now, that we're not just a team that's a joke," Francois said Monday.
"We're a team to actually take serious. Last night I was watching NFL Network and I heard Deion Sanders say he wasn't giving us our props and we weren't a team to take serious.
"But now that we won the game, everybody's taking us serious. Everybody was probably looking at us like, 'They're not that good, they have certain things they need still to work on.' Don't get me wrong, we're not perfect. We're still working on a lot of things — offense, defense special teams — because we've got to make sure every game we win with all three phases.
"To us, it doesn't matter if the league takes us serious."
Six straight wins and the second-best record in the NFL hadn't quite done the trick for some skeptics, who still question whether the Niners truly are among the league's top teams.
Harbaugh's resurgent group is 8-1 for the franchise's best start in 14 years and needs only one more win — NFC West rival Arizona comes to town Sunday — to ensure its first winning record since 2002. Clinching the first playoff berth since '02 also could happen soon if San Francisco keeps winning.
Harbaugh made his message clear a month ago after handing Detroit its first loss: "If the 49ers' success offends you, so be it."
The men he works with every day have taken that attitude from Day, some even sounding an awful lot like Harbaugh.
Whether the win over the Giants will change the outside world's perception of the 49ers, they don't really care.
"It depends on who you ask. Do I think we made a statement?" linebacker Parys Haralson said. "I think we went out and we won a game that shows we're a football team to be reckoned with."
A football team riding a seven-game winning streak.
Alex Smith led his fourth comeback in the fourth quarter this season — and did so without relying on star running back Frank Gore, who was limited because of a right knee injury. The two-time Pro Bowler took part in only one play in the third quarter and was held to zero yards on six carries — his first career game without a yard when he played.
"He'll get it checked on, yeah. Spare no expense checking on Frank," Harbaugh said. "I would plan on him playing, but you just feel like right now, we've got a stable of backs. We've got Frank Gore, we've got Kendall Hunter, we've got fresh legs in Anthony Dixon. This bodes really well for our football team."
Smith, San Francisco's No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft out of Utah, has come into his own at last. He completed 19 of 30 passes for 242 yards and a touchdown Sunday, throwing one interception with two sacks.
For all those years of boos from the home crowd at Candlestick Park, Smith shined in the passing game against the Giants as San Francisco worked to run a more balanced attack.
Harbaugh has believed in Smith from the day he left Stanford and took the job back in January, since arriving from Stanford in January.
Yet as his team keeps winning and making a push for a first-round playoff bye, even Smith is bringing in new supporters for an organization determined to return to its regular winning ways of the 1980s and '90s. A dynasty then, San Francisco won five Super Bowls and went 16 straight seasons with 10 or more wins.
This could be the year for a deep playoff run. Beating the Giants showed that.
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