Perhaps the time that Jim Harbaugh spent with Pope Francis taught the Michigan coach a bit about kindness towards others.

One offseason ago, Harbaugh was setting the recruiting trail aflame with his antics and massive gestures towards prospects. This year, however, he seems to be taking an “Eat, Pray, Love” approach.

While Harbaugh’s been living the life of The Most Interesting Man in the World, he drew criticism from an unexpected place. Former Auburn running back Brandon Jacobs, who spent one season with Harbaugh in San Francisco, shared a few strong thoughts about his old coach while joining Tiki Barber and Brandon Tierney on CBS Sports Radio’s Tiki and Tierney.

“Going somewhere where they don’t have route conversions into certain coverages was just absurd,” Jacobs said about the 49ers under Harbaugh. “They’re just running routes in the defense, getting people killed. Size and strength is what they had, and that’s why they won. Let’s be real. They had great assistant coaches, but Jim didn’t know what he was doing. Jim had no idea. Jim is throwing slants into Cover-2 safeties, getting people hurt. That guy knew nothing, man.”

Instead of fighting back, Harbaugh has taken a page out of The Pope’s playbook.

It’s understandable the Jacobs might have a beef with Harbaugh after carrying the ball just five times for seven yards in his lone season with the franchise. His comments seem a bit odd, though, considering the success he’s had as a head coach at both the college and professional levels – Harbaugh has a career record of 78-33 in college football and a 49-22 record in the NFL.

This whole story is just a bit weird, but it does provide some much-needed entertainment for the offseason.