Five minutes of post-game Jim Harbaugh, answering questions for the first time after his 49ers team had lost back-to-back games, and discussing the decision to let Aldon Smith play today...

--JIM HARBAUGH partial presser transcript/

-Q: Did you sense your team was distracted at all after the events of the last few days?

-HARBAUGH: I think our team was ready to play. I thought our team was ready to play 100%.

-Q: The struggles on offense, was it similar to what happened in Seattle? Can you say what you think happened today?

-HARBAUGH: Yeah, we didn't make the plays. There wasn't enough opportunities to make plays. It was a combination of that.

Players not having the opportunity to make 'em and then not making them.

-Q: You ran the ball very well on the first drive. Did you get away from it consciously? Should you have stayed with the run more?

-HARBAUGH: I thought we tried to continue to stay balanced after that drive. And did not have the success moving the ball today. On third down... didn't make plays. Didn't find enough plays.

-Q: Is part of that just not having open receivers?

-HARBAUGH: I'm just saying that, as coaches, what we give them, the opportunity to make the play... and then make the play when it is there.

That's what I was referring to.

-Q: This team hadn't lost two in a row in your tenure. Are you disappointed by the inability to bounce back from a loss like you'd shown in the past?

-HARBAUGH: This game, not winning this game, not being in position to make plays, make it competitive, that's disappointing to all of us. We've got to look at how...

We've got to be real-how we can improve.

-Q: Last week you mentioned coaching. Do you think the coaching was poor this week? Was your coaching poor?

-HARBAUGH: I put us all in the same group. We all look at ourselves to find out where we can get better.

-Q: Why did Aldon Smith play?

-HARBAUGH: It's a decision we made.

-Q: Is he playing Thursday?

-HARBAUGH: We'll address that in time. Rather not address that right now.

-Q: Is there something technically wrong with Colin Kaepernick right now? What's going on?

-HARBAUGH: I don't think that there is something technically wrong that I see.

-Q: Why is he struggling?

-HARBAUGH: I put it really on all of us.

-Q: How serious is Patrick Willis' groin injury?

-HARBAUGH: Don't know how serious right now.

-Q: Do you think the team's energy level was there today?

-HARBAUGH: You can question just about everything right now. We didn't play well enough to win in enough areas, on enough downs, did not win the down enough. Not even close to enough.

They did and they made the plays, offensively, defensively, and we did not.

-Q: What'd you think of the way Andrew Luck played?

-HARBAUGH: Very good, very efficient. They did make the plays. They did make the plays when they had to.

-Q: No excuses, but you're missing Vernon Davis and other guys. Is that an issue?

-HARBAUGH: No excuses means no excuses of any kind.

-Q: How did you think Aldon played?

-HARBAUGH: From what I could see, seemed solid.

-Q: Are you confident your team can re-find it's way?

-HARBAUGH: Yes. We've got no choice, no choice but to find our way.

-Q: There are reports that the 49ers will send Aldon to a rehab facility. Can you confirm that?

-HARBAUGH: There's a process there that we'll apprise you at the appropriate time.

-Q: Did Aldon play because he made practice on Friday?

-HARBAUGH: It was a decision we made as an organization, as a team, that we felt was in the best interests of our team and for Aldon long-term.

Source: Mercurynews