I don't know about Helton

but for some reason I always got the impression that Harbaugh's teams play tight against good competition, including in SF. I like him as a coach, though I think that he's nuts, but he's probably wound too tight for the big game atmosphere.

The one year in SF that they made the Super Bowl they were able to overcome some stuff because they needed to open it up on offense with Justin Smith hurt on defense. Prior to that, they would seemingly just try to keep it close and win with defense, and they did the same formula the next two years as well.