Lights Out for Pittsburgh - and Candlestick

Cletus and Jim-Bob try to call their friends back
home at Buffalo Wild Wings to find out what happened.

It was the best of times (a comprehensive thrashing of the Steelers) and the worst of times (two embarrassing power outages at decrepit Candlestick Park).

Congrats to the 49ers, and a big "F You" to the mouth-breathing, bandwagon-jumping Steelers fans who flooded Twitter and the blogosphere with their classless comments about "what happens in the dark" in San Francisco.

What happens is this: you fly out here on a Southwest Airlines non-refundable "want to get away" discount fare, spend all of your holiday money stuffing fresh crab down your gullets at Fishermen's Wharf, enjoy beautiful blue skies in December and GET YOUR ASSES KICKED. Then, you go back home to a long Pennsylvania winter.

Enjoy.

Off-Topic: College Football, the Big East and the Aztecs

Times Square welcomes the
San Diego State Aztecs to the Big East.

I figure that, after over a year of posting about the Niners, I'm entitled to at least one off-topic post. This is it...

Listening to the local sports talk yahoos this morning ripping on the fact that college bowl season starts this weekend with offerings like the New Mexico Bowl and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl got me fired up. If you don't want to watch the damned games, then don't. It's a free country, and everybody has a remote control for their TV.

But I know that I'll be doing everything I can to watch every snap of the New Orleans Bowl, even though I've probably never watched a single play from any of the previous incarnations of this game. Why? Because San Diego State is playing in this game, and this is about as good as it gets for the Aztecs' football program since I graduated from that school in 1992.

Am I happy about this? About settling for bowl games that occur over a week before Christmas? Hell no. And neither is SDSU. After decades of having every attempt at improving their programs thwarted by their neighbors to the north (in order to protect what USC and UCLA perceive to be their fertile recruiting grounds), the Aztecs have decided to join the Big East for football to finally grab a seat at the BCS table.

Will it work? I don't know. There's a good chance that conference alignments and their BCS automatic bids will have changed so much by 2013 that the Aztecs will never play a Big East game. Plus, the football-only move has required the rest of the sports to leave the Mountain West Conference and step down to the Big West Conference (yes, the Aztecs will be members of both the Big East and Big West conferences -go figure).

But now, the Aztecs finally have their foot in the door. And it's about time. Ever since USC prevented SDSU from joining the Pac 8 when it expanded to 10 teams back in the '70s, the Aztecs have been playing with the deck stacked against them.

As SDSU wallowed through the muck and mire of the WAC and Mountain West conferences, schools like USC and Texas grabbed blue-chip recruits like Reggie Bush and Ricky Williams (who both played high school ball less than a ten-minute drive from the SDSU campus), while SDSU had to search high and low to find whatever they could. SDSU had to go all the way out to Lousiana to recruit the greatest Aztec* of them all, Marshall Faulk, and even then, it was only the guarantee of letting him be a running back (as opposed to being converted to a defensive back) that brought #28 to Montezuma Mesa.

So for all of you pompous and arrogant jackasses chortling about how ridiculous it is for teams like SDSU and Boise State to now be playing football in the Big East, SCREW YOU. We've been kicked and beaten down long enough, and now we finally have an invitation to your party. And if I were you, I'd be a little bit scared. Despite never having a decent conference affiliation or big TV contract, we've managed to build a state-of-the-art on-campus arena and sporting complex that regularly hosts NCAA tournament games. Our men's hoops team, in a rebuilding year, is knocking on the door of the top 25 (with 9 straight wins against Pac 12 opponents) while playing in front of one of the best student sections in the nation.

And by the way, did I mention this all takes place in SAN DIEGO? If I'm an 18-year-old blue-chipper and I have my choice of, say, Norman (that's in Oklahoma, from what I've been told) or San Diego with the same prospects of playing for a BCS bid, I'm picking the city that has beaches and sunshine. And that's the dirty little secret that the Pac 12, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, etc. have tried to keep by knocking SDSU down every time they've picked themselves up from the mat after another major conference beatdown.

Now, SDSU will finally have some money and a major conference affiliation. The sleeping giant has awoken.

Aztec for Life.

*Okay, it's a toss-up between Marshall and Tony Gwynn.

It's Never Easy in Arizona

Yesterday was "Turn Back the Clock" day. To 2010.

It's never easy in Arizona for the 49ers. Yesterday's 21-19 loss to the Cardinals was a culmination of missed opportunities by the offense, too many big plays given up by the defense and one momentum-killing screwup by the officiating crew that resulted in a 14-point swing on the scoreboard.

Heading into next Monday's showdown with the Steelers, the 49ers now find themselves in a dogfight with the Saints for the NFC's #2 seed. At stake is a bye week during the first round of the playoffs and home field advantage during the divisional round, which the 49ers will desperately need to have a decent chance at defeating New Orleans in the postseason before traveling to Green Bay.

So, Wha' Happened on Sunday? Three things, and then some perspective:

1. The offense stunk in the red zone. We've known this most of the season (which is why David Akers is on pace to obliterate the single-season mark for most field goals). The 49ers haven't found a single go-to playmaker when they get inside the 10 yard line as previous red zone performers like Vernon Davis and Braylon Edwards (prior to joining the 49ers) have failed to produce when it matters most. And the running game has been virtually nonexistent in these types of situations (running Frank Gore on 2nd-and-goal = 100% failure).

If the 49ers are going to be successful in the postseason, they'll have to find a way to punch the ball into the end zone. There is no way the defense can contain the Saints' and Packers' high-octane offenses enough to settle for field goals. If things don't improve, I can easily see the Niners in a 14-6 hole after two possessions against the Saints in their first playoff game since the '02 season.

2. The defense missed their best player. I don't know how long Patrick Willis is going to be sidelined with his hamstring injury, but it's not a coincidence that the 49ers surrendered the most big plays in a game since the OT loss to the Cowboys while their best player was in street clothes. For a team that relies on field position, special teams and defensive dominance to win, Willis is clearly the MVP.

Hopefully, Willis will return to the lineup soon to patrol the middle of the field while wreaking havoc on opposing ballcarriers. Without his presence, the defensive unit just looks a little lost.

3. The officiating crew really, really, REALLY hosed the 49ers when they bungled replay challenge prior to the 49ers' third field goal attempt. 

We all know the story, so I won't bore you with the details. But somebody needs to explain why coaches and officials are allowed to wait until the last possible millisecond to throw their red flags and stop gameplay. If you can't figure out if you should challenge the preceding play before the offense gets into their set positions, you probably need to find another line of work.

In this instance, the officials waited until AFTER the ball was snapped to blow the play dead. Unfortunately, by that point, the 49ers had already unveiled their surprise fake field goal attempt (which would have likely resulted in a highlight-reel touchdown for Jonathan Goodwin). When the crew reviewed Ken Whisenhut's hairbrained challenge of Kyle Williams' third-down catch (which couldn't be reviewed because of a glitch in the replay system - go figure), the air had already been taken out of the Niners' sails.

You knew what was coming next. Akers misses the 50-yard attempt and the Cardinals, with decent field position for the first time all afternoon, were in the end zone less than a minute later. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we like to call The 14-Point Swing, courtesy of the officials' incompetence. How Jim Harbaugh managed to stay on the sidelines without putting a choke hold on anybody from Al Riveron's crew demonstrates that the guy has a great deal of self-control during the heat of battle.

So what does it all mean? The Twitterverse declared the 49ers season over following the game, and this morning's newspaper columns are littered with observations about the team's lack of improvement and diminished efficiency on offense.

Look, here's the deal - the Niners weren't very good yesterday and they lost by 2 points on the road against a surging divisional opponent (the Cardinals' only loss during their last six games was in San Francisco). It's difficult to win on the road. Just ask New Orleans and Baltimore, who were boat-raced in St. Louis and Seattle earlier this year. Hell, the Saints barely escaped Tennessee with a win yesterday during a game that went down to the final minute. Shit happens - that's why no team has run the tables since the insufferable Dolphins in 1972. RELAX, people.

Yes, the offense has to figure out a way to score touchdowns instead of field goals, or this will be a very short playoff run in January. That will undoubtedly be Harbaugh's top priority heading into the final stretch. But Willis will be back and the fake field goal fiasco was an anomaly. The Niners still have complete control of their playoff positioning as the #2 seed.

Jim Harbaugh and his squad will determine if yesterday's game will either be remembered as the day the 2011 season fell apart or forgotten as an insignificant bump in the road during the 49ers' return to the league's upper echelon. Next Monday, they can take a giant step towards the latter by crushing the Steelers at home in front of a national audience.

My money's on Harbaugh. I've learned my lesson.

Reason #572 I'm Glad I'm Not Going to Games

Don't be like these idiots.

The Wave.

C'mon Niner fans - you should know better. That was absolutely embarrassing.

Back in the '80s, when doing stupid stuff like The Wave was popular, 49er fans would not stand for that nonsense. People even brought "No Wave" signs to games at Candlestick. The only time the words "wave" and "Candlestick" will ever belong together is when we finally get to wave good-bye to that decrepit old stadium.

If this is what happens when the 49ers win the NFC West, I'd hate to think what we're in for during the postseason.

I bet the mouth-breathers in Niner Noise were the morons that started The Wave on Sunday.

Dear NFL: Thanks for Nothing

The Niners' new stadium, courtesy of everybody
except the NFL.

Update: the NFL is chipping in $150 million. Not exactly chump change, but far less than what the Niners were likely expecting...and deserve.

The good news: the 49ers and the city of Santa Clara announced that they have secured all of the funds needed for the construction of the new stadium.

The bad news: apparently, the league is contributing a grand total of ZERO dollars to this project.

Look, I can understand the NFL's reluctance to give the 49ers the usual financial assistance if they weren't going to share a stadium with the Raiders. But refusing to give a single dime to the 49ers tells me once again that this team is not a priority to a league that rarely recognizes anything that happens west of the Mississippi.

Kudos to Lil' Jed and the rest of the organization for working with Santa Clara, B of A, US Bank and Goldman Sachs for getting the rest of the money needed for the stadium, and shame on the NFL for keeping their wallets tightly closed when one of their oldest franchises asked for a little help.

My only concern with this deal is that, since the NFL doesn't have a large financial stake in this stadium venture, they won't be motivated to have Santa Clara and the 49ers host any future Super Bowls. And from what I've seen from the way the league treats the 49ers organization over the past decade or so, that wouldn't be much of a stretch.

Scheduling Shenanigans

"Yeah, keep smiling, Baalke - I'm gonna kick
Lil' Jed's ass for agreeing to this schedule."

As a follow-up to my last post, check out what SFGate's Eric Branch wrote about the Niners' December schedule, specifically when the Steelers (another team granted "most favored" status by the league offices) roll into town in a few weeks:

"After traveling three time zones to play on Thanksgiving, however, San Francisco's remaining schedule presents some similar challenges.

"The Steelers, for example, will have 10 days to ready for their Monday night meeting in San Francisco after they host the Browns on Dec. 8. After playing the Steelers, the 49ers will have four days to prepare for a Christmas Eve visit to Seattle, where the up-and-down Seahawks beat the Ravens two weeks ago."

Yep, that sounds fair.

Season OVER

Brothers don't shake hands, brothers hug!

Actually, no - it's far from over. But judging by the overreaction from last night's loss to the Ravens, you'd think the 9-2 Niners are in a complete freefall. Their offense stinks. Their defense can't get off the field and make plays when it counts. The 49ers are pretenders.

Not exactly.

The much-hyped battle between the Brothers Harbaugh went down pretty much as expected. Teams don't travel across the entire country for a Thursday game and beat a quality opponent with only a couple of days to prepare. The NFL isn't built that way. In fact, no team had been forced to travel through three time zones for a Thursday game in at least 30 years. And make no mistake - if the situation was reversed, the Ravens would have been soundly beaten in Candlestick Park. It's NFL 101.

Bottom line: the Niners were mostly awful on offense (they were completely unprepared for the Ravens' blitz packages), and this was only a so-so performance by the defense. Yet, the game was tied heading into the 4th quarter, despite the Niners leaving 10 points off the board in the first half due to a questionable penalty and a bad decision to chuck the ball into the endzone that resulted in an interception.

The 49ers will live to fight another day, and they'll most likely learn from this experience and be a better team because of it.

But let's get back to this whole Thursday night thing for a moment. Quite simply, the 49ers were used by the league. There is no way that game is scheduled for national TV on Thanksgiving night if anybody with a last name other than Harbaugh was coaching either of these two teams. The league wanted to sensationalize the two brothers squaring off against each other and get as many eyeballs as possible to watch during the time slot that's usually reserved for tryptophan-induced food comas.

When the schedule was created, I doubt anybody in the league offices figured the 49ers to be anything but sacrificial lambs - they were going to lose against the Ravens no matter where or when they played them. Why not march them out to slaughter and make a big story out of it? But a funny thing happened between April and September: the 49ers got good. Real good. Suddenly, a throw-away, guaranteed defeat had playoff implications for both teams as the one-loss 49ers were chasing the undefeated Packers for home-field advantage in the postseason.

The league shortchanged the 49ers by forcing them into an unprecedented road trip that resulted in a competitive disadvantage against a quality opponent. It's doubtful the 49ers of the DeBartolo years would have graciously agreed to a Thursday-nighter across the country. They would have known the game would basically be a forfeit under these circumstances, and they would have demanded a change in the proposed schedule. Let's hope the next time something similar occurs and the league offices want to flex their muscles, Lil' Jed and co. are willing to fight back.

This isn't just sour grapes the day following a tough loss. I've always believed that the Thanksgiving games create an unfair advantage for the host teams, specifically the Cowboys and Lions every year (even though the Lions have been too awful for it to matter during most of the last four decades). I was digging through my archives and found the following paragraph I wrote prior to Thanksgiving in 2003 - oddly enough, the Dolphins faced the Cowboys in Dallas that season as well. I'll wrap up this post with my words of wisdom from eight years ago:

"...this game gives an unfair advantage to both of these teams every year.  The Cowboys and Lions get to stay home and play a game on three days’ rest.  Their opponents have to travel while barely having enough time to pack for the road trip.  Case in point: the Dolphins battled the Redskins this past Sunday night on ESPN.  It was nearly midnight when the contest ended.  Meanwhile, the Cowboys were relaxing at home and getting a good night’s sleep.  Less than 72 hours later, the Dolphins will board a plane (during the worst travel week of the year, no less) while Dallas goes through their final game preparations at team headquarters.  It doesn’t take a genius to see that when the teams take the field on Thursday afternoon, Dallas will be much more rested and refreshed than Miami.  Finally, it should be noted that the Cowboys and Lions always have a 10-day break before their next game while their opponents will be facing them on seven (or even six) days’ rest.  Fair?  Hardly."

Niners-Giants Postmortem

Alex Smith silenced many of his critics with his
performance against the Giants.

Another great win for Harbaugh's crew yesterday...

This may have been Alex Smith's finest moment as a professional quarterback. For several years, observers have pointed to the '06 Thursday night victory in Seattle as the benchmark for Smith's potential. As the 2011 season has unfolded, we've seen Smith air it out several times (most notably against the Eagles), but each of those occurences were due to necessity (i.e. trailing by 20 points in Philadelphia) and not design. Yesterday, for the first time in his career, the focus of the offensive gameplan was put on Smith's shoulders - and he delivered. I never thought I'd say this, but is it too early to consider a contract extension for #11?

Alex wasn't the only Smith who had a monster game - Justin Smith added another chapter to his standout season by playing another excellent game. It's easy to point to his third-down tackle and fourth-down swatted pass to seal the game for the 49ers, but Smith was an unstoppable beast (as usual) for the full 60 minutes. He's been playing at a high level since his first season in Cincinnati, but anchoring the interior line of one of the best defenses in the league for an 8-1 team means his days of quiet anonymity are over. Add Justin Smith to the list of the league's defensive name-recognition stars.

Speaking of breakout stars, get ready to add Navorro Bowman to that list. The Niners' linebacking unit was already formidable with one Patrick Willis - now they have two.

• I was among the many doubters when Trent Baalke was named GM, but nearly every acquisition he made this offseason, from the draft to free agency, has contributed to the 49ers' success thus far. First-round pick Aldon Smith is on track for rookie of the year honors, and third-rounder Chris Culliver has cracked the starting lineup. Free-agent cornerbacks Donte Whitner and Carlos Rogers are exceeding even the most optimistic expectations, and a healthy Braylon Edwards should become a potent weapon in the passing attack as the second half of the season progresses. Individually, none of these transactions were very noteworthy, but together, they've managed to improve several weaknesses from the 2010 squad.
• Perhaps the biggest acquisition was the addition of David Akers, who has been absolute money, already nailing five field goals of 50+ yards. When the Niners' offense sputtered outside of the red zone during the first half yesterday, Akers calmly nailed a 52-yarder (his second of four field goals) to tie the game at 6-6, then executed a perfect onside kick to catch the Giants offguard.
• Akers' excellence is just one aspect of a vastly improved special teams unit, led by Brad Seely. While the Niners' offense may be pedestrian and average at times, opponents are simply unable to match up with their defense and special teams. If you need to win at least two of the three phases of a game (offense, defense and special teams), the Niners provide an excellent opportunity with their standout special teams and defense. 
• Hands-down, Jim Harbaugh is the coach of the year. I'm a believer. I've joined the cult of Jim and I'm drinking the Kool-Aid from a firehose.
• The 49ers were legitimate before yesterday - they shouldn't have needed a victory over one of the league's precious New York teams for the national media to finally recognize them as an elite team. East-coast bias is alive and well in the NFL.
• Tom Coughlin seems like a fun guy to play for, doesn't he? If you want to know how Mike Singletary would have reacted if he successfully coached the 49ers, just take a look at Coughlin. The entire Giants squad plays in fear of screwing up - and, inevitably, that's just what they do.
• By the way, that was a nice day for your teams, wasn't it, New York? Both the Giants and Jets were soundly beaten in front of a nationally televised audience. I'm sure that won't stop the media from slobbering all over them throughout the rest of the season, though.
• Great to see Roger Craig and RC Owens get inducted into the 49ers' hall of fame. Craig was the most versatile running back of his era, and Owens provided plenty of excitement during the Niners' early days as he and Y.A. Tittle connected on several late-game "Alley Oop" game-winning passes.
• One more word about Craig - if Floyd Little is in the NFL Hall of Fame, how can the man who anchored the ground attack for three Super Bowl teams, who became the first player to gain 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same year, and who was one of the most feared weapons in Bill Walsh's West Coast offense be kept out of Canton? Craig redefined the position and deserves a yellow sportsjacket to go along with the nifty red one he picked up this past weekend.
• Finally - how about that NFC West? The entire division completed an undefeated week for the first time since the Falcons and Saints were hanging out with the Niners and Rams in the only division that was completely screwed over in the 2002 alignment.

Taking Care of Business

Happy Frank = 49ers Victory

Yesterday's 19-11 victory over the Redskins in Washington went about as expected yesterday (that's a good thing). The 49ers avoided any of the traps or letdowns associated with road trips to the east coast in a workmanlike performance over another outmanned opponent.

It's also encouraging to see Niner fans appearing outside the Bay Area again. A friend of mine sent me a photo of an entire family wearing Frank Gore jerseys this past weekend - in San Diego. And then, there's this passage from Gwen Knapp's column this morning:

"...looking over the crowd Sunday in Washington, one could see a huge contingent of San Francisco fans. The team took over the place, raiding the fridge, grabbing the remote, turning up the thermostat until the regular occupants could barely breathe."

That's good stuff right there.

So here are the 49ers, with the second-best record in the league while sitting atop the NFC West with an unprecedented 5-game lead. Not much to complain about, other than the questionable officiating yesterday and a lack of delivering the death knell to the Browns and Redskins in the 3rd quarter when the Niners had a chance to do so during the past couple of weeks. Even Lil' Jed has learned to keep his mouth shut after the fan violence during the preseason debacle against the Raiders.

But there's one thing that's probably irritating all Niner fans right now: a presumed lack of national respect.

Yes, Jim Harbaugh has received plenty of attention and accolades for instantly turning the 49ers into a major contender in the NFC. But when given the chance to be "flexed" onto the Sunday Night Football schedule this week against the Giants, NBC decided to roll with (yet another) AFC matchup featuring the Patriots and Jets (again). So instead of showcasing one of the league's better stories this year in a marquee game against a New York team, we'll see fat, loudmouthed Rex Ryan and the punk-ass Jets square off against Tom Brady and the defenseless Patriots. How exciting it will be to listen to another pregame interview with Darrelle Revis while anticipating what color hooded sweatshirt Bill Belichick will wear! It's really a shame these two teams don't get the exposure they deserve, isn't it?

This was the one legit chance the 49ers had of being on Sunday Night Football this year (the Steelers and Ravens games are Monday and Thursday night contests and the rest of San Francisco's schedule is against the dregs of the NFC West), and instead of giving them a chance to be showcased, NBC is going with the same old tired formula with two teams that we see almost every week.

But there's a positive side to being snubbed by Sunday Night Football, too. Jim Harbaugh has already proven himself to be a master motivator, and this perceived lack of national respect will certainly come in handy the next time he has to fire up his troops, a tactic that Bill Walsh often used as he molded the 49ers of the 80s into one of the league's premier dynasties.

Maybe history is repeating itself, after all.

Putting A 20-10 Win Into Perspective

I'm #2! I'm #3! I'm #2 again!

It wasn't pretty, but it was a win. Following yesterday's 20-10 walk-through with the Browns, the 49ers now find themselves with the second-best record in the league and a mind-blowing four-game division lead after only seven games have been played.

If you're like me, you started getting very concerned when the Browns finally found the end zone in the fourth quarter yesterday to narrow the Niners' lead to one touchdown. During the Nolan and Singletary regimes, the team would frequently fold in these situations because they could never close out a game. But Jim Harbaugh's 49ers keep finding ways to close out games (with the lone exception of the Dallas OT loss) by either protecting leads or delivering come-from-behind victories. So naturally, the 49ers killed some clock, tacked on a field goal and notched their sixth win of the season.

While short on style points, the win over the Browns reminded me of last week's flashback to the 13-3 victory over the Packers in Green Bay in 1981. A superior Niner squad effectively dominated an overmatched opponent in a game that was never really in doubt, despite a shortage of points on the scoreboard. No, it wasn't 45-14. Or 48-3. But it was a workmanlike performance coming off a bye week during a season when many other teams in similar situations have failed.

And now, we're already talking about the 49ers clinching the NFC West before Thanksgiving. I'll take it.

Random Notes:

• Is it just me, or does it still look like there's a bunch of empty seats in the upper deck of the stadium? Every time the TV camera panned to the "Ring of Honor," I saw mostly unoccupied seats. My guess is that, while fans are back onboard the 49er bandwagon, nobody is willing to shell out money to see the Cleveland Browns on a beautiful fall afternoon in the Bay Area. If I'm going to reach into my pocketbook and drag my ass out to any game at Candlestick this year, it will be for a playoff game and not for some random contest against a team as drab and boring as the Cleveland Browns or any of the 49ers' NFC West rivals.
• How many times did Frank Gore pass Roger Craig as the second-leading rusher in franchise history yesterday? Seemed like that the first two times he accomplished this feat, he immediately lost yards on the next carry while the Niner offense bogged down in the second half.
• After watching Stanford's OT thriller against USC on Saturday night, it's easy to understand how Jim Harbaugh has become the king of football here in the Bay Area. He revived a moribund Cardinal program in the Pac 10 (now 12) and has turned a dysfunctional 49ers organization into one of the teams 2 or 3 best teams. Two of the best stories this year in collegiate and professional football are direct results of the impact he has made as a head coach. Amazing.
• As if the 6-1 record and 4-game divisional lead weren't ridiculous enough, now comes word that the Niners may open their new stadium a year early in 2014, even though finances haven't been approved. As always, I'll believe it when I see it.

And the 49ers' "MVP" Is...

Not this guy.

I usually dig Scott Ostler, but he's way off base here.

It Was 30 Years Ago Today

Special thanks to these guys
for the vintage Sporting Green scans.

Time to get things started again after last week's bye...

So, what do you remember about the 49ers' 13-3 victory over the Packers during the 1981 season? I can tell you where I was on that day - watching the game on a little black and white TV in my dad's garage. And the game was played in Milwaukee County Stadium (back then, the Packers split their home schedule between Milwaukee and Green Bay).

The game itself wasn't very exciting - at the time, Green Bay, coached by legendary Packers quarterback Bart Starr weren't much of a threat in the NFC Central, probably because Starr wasn't a legendary HEAD COACH. They had a decent offense with Lynn Dickey, who would end up passing for nearly 4,500 yards a couple of years later, and receivers like Chargers exile John Jefferson and future Hall-of-Famer James Lofton. But for the most part, the Packers of the 70s and 80s were stuck in neutral, between the Lombardi championship years of the 60s and their Holmgren/Favre resurgence in the 90s.

Meanwhile, the 49ers were coming off their 45-14 beatdown of the Cowboys with a chip on their shoulder after being slighted by the national media. They were still trying to prove they weren't a fluke, and while this victory over the Packers was short on highlights, it was one of the first signs of the 49ers becoming a methodical machine on the road, as they pounded Green Bay into submission by the beginning of the 4th quarter.

And that's probably the one word I could use to describe this game: methodical. They slowly and surely took the home team and crowd out of the game while imposing their will on an inferior opponent. Over the next 17 years, we'd see this time and time again, but back in October of 1981, the 49ers were just starting to unveil their blueprint for road dominance. While the 49ers surely didn't take the victory for granted, this became the first of dozens of "ho-hum" road wins  against the league's soft underbelly that the fans would come to expect during the Walsh, Seifert and Mariucci eras.

On this day, the 49ers marched into town, took care of business, and that was that. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, it was payback time for another long-time tormentor with the Rams coming to town.

Next week: The 49ers battle Los Angeles with an assist from The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band.

Everybody's Talking About It, Why Shouldn't I?

"Waaah, waaah, waaah - you shook my hand too hard
and you said a naughty word!"

The Jim Harbaugh - Jim Schwartz altercation following yesterday's impressive come-from-behind victory in Detroit has now been dissected and discussed by every sports media outlet for the past 20 hours. Except "Adios 49ers." Until now.

Here are my quick thoughts:

Schwartz had it coming. Anybody who's checked out his fist-pumping theatrics on the sidelines this year knows he'll stick a victory in any opponent's face. For the first time this year, it was the Lions who ended up on the short end of the stick against a superior team with a head coach who's maniacally wired just as much as Schwartz. If you're going to dish it out, you better be able to take it as well, "protocol" be damned. Otherwise, you just end up looking like the sore loser and poseur that you are.

The Lions as a team had it coming, too. I can't remember a mid-October game with so much posturing and celebrating after routine plays as the Lions were doing on Sunday afternoon. I know Detroit has been awful for several years/decades/centuries, and they have every right to be excited. But, when you disrespect an opponent by flapping your gums about how you're going to hurt their quarterback while trying to punk them on the field after every play, you better expect to get it all thrown back in your face when you can't walk the walk.

I suppose it would be easy to tell the Lions that they should "act like they've been here before," but when your last NFL title was nearly 55 years ago and you're one of only four teams who have never played in a Super Bowl, maybe that's asking too much. So instead, my advice to the Lions is to just shut your mouths and play hard. Maybe - MAYBE you'll have the good fortune of seeing the 49ers again in the playoffs. If you manage to win your wild card game in the first round.

Pure Mockery

Yep, just another road victory in the Eastern time zone.

Now that the 49ers have stormed out of the gates with a 5-1 record while playing their best football since 2001, a lot of folks have asked me how I feel about dropping my season tickets and running a blog that rips the organization for their incompetence.

Basically, Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers are completely mocking me with each victory as they force-feed an extra-large helping of crow down my throat every week. That's a good thing. I'd rather be the jackass who was wrong about this team's fortunes than the naysayer who was correct. I'm cool with it - it's kinda funny, in a way.

But if you ask me about missing the experience of going to Candlestick on gameday, I'll tell you that I'm perfectly content to flip the game on at 1 o'clock and turn the channel the moment the game has ended.

• I don't miss the traffic getting in and out of the stadium. 
• I don't miss navigating my SUV through the parking lot to squeeze into a space made for a Mini Cooper. 
• I don't miss looking at my ticket stub and seeing a price tag of nearly $150 per seat. 
• I don't miss the dumbasses that chant "Niiiiiiiners, Niiiiiiiiiiners" up the escalator heading into the stadium. 
• I don't miss 10 dollar beers or the awful stench in the Hofbrau bar at halftime.
• I don't miss the stadium PA trying to force excitement with that goddamned "DEFENSE" cheer. 
• I don't miss the mouth-breathers in Niner Noise trying to turn every TV timeout into a re-inactment of "Drumline." 
• I don't miss the trolls that would carry several bags of trinkets and garbage who sat in our row and refused to budge an inch to let us into our seats.

Quite frankly, I don't miss that shithole at all, and I doubt I ever will.

It Was 30 Years Ago Today...

Fred Dean's presence was immediately felt
during his first game as a 49er.

First off, I have to continue giving props to the 2011 49ers for not giving me much to write about the last 10 days or so. Two impressive victories will do that - and I couldn't be happier.

Before getting into this week's flashback to the 1981 season, I wanted to mention that Al Davis, who helped broker the deal to get the Morabito family to sell the 49ers to the DeBartolos during the mid-70s, may end up helping the Niners in death as well. With Davis out of the picture, a major hurdle in the Niners' proposed new stadium may have been significantly reduced.

While there was little chance Davis would ever agree to share a stadium with the 49ers in the South Bay (and thus pave the way for the NFL to kick in money from their stadium fund), there's a very good chance that the new Raiders regime will reconsider all of their options for a new facility (both in the Bay Area and Los Angeles).

Whether Niner and Raider fans would be happy sharing a stadium in a "neutral" location is a completely separate discussion/argument. But for now, the Yorks' path to their fancy new stadium just became a little bit clearer.

Now let's get back to the 1981 season, when the 49ers announced their arrival to the rest of the league with a Week 6 45-14 trouncing of the Dallas Cowboys at Candlestick Park. I have to admit it's kind of odd to be talking about this game after watching the current 49ers clobber the Buccaneers by a 48-3 score this past Sunday. Maybe there are more parallels to the 1981 season than I previously thought.

So here we have the 1981 49ers, sitting at 3-2 after a dominating performance against the winless Redskins in Washington, hosting America's Team. Just one year earlier, the 49ers walked into a buzzsaw in Dallas while being humiliated by a 59-14 score. Adding insult to that defeat was a devastating knee injury to Paul Hofer, who was a huge fan favorite during that era. Hofer was done for the season, and only managed to play a handful of games during the '81 season before suffering a similar injury that finished his career.

During the previous decade leading up to this mid-October contest, the Cowboys dominated the 49ers while crushing San Francisco's postseason dreams three times in a row (1970-72), including an improbable come-from-behind victory during the '72 playoffs when Roger Staubach tossed two touchdowns in the final minute of play. When it came to facing the Cowboys, the 49ers were snakebitten. The Cowboys were the class of the NFC. The 49ers, on the other hand, weren't even an afterthought on the NFL landscape.

At the stadium that day, I remembered being in awe of the Cowboys' mystique and everything they represented. Although Staubach had retired, they still had their Doomsday Defense, Tony Dorsett and Tom Landry. They ALWAYS won. And they were all business on the field - almost robotic.

I hated them. And I hated how they tore up Paul Hofer's knee the year before. And I hated how they arrogantly dismissed opponents like the 49ers, who they treated with disdain as unworthy opponents.

I hated the Dallas Cowboys.

Anyhow, the game started, and I was just hoping the 49ers could keep it close and not embarrass themselves. After all, the Niners had a nice little start to their season, and if they could just refrain from wetting the bed, I'd be satisfied with a 3-3 record heading into the heart of the season. Who knows? Maybe the 49ers could avoid their first losing season since an 8-6 aberration during Monte Clark's lone year as head coach.

What ended up happening on that day was something that nobody in the crowd (and sidelines) could have possibly imagined. The 49ers raced out to a 21-0 lead. Even Paul Hofer got in on the action, diving into the endzone for San Francisco's second score of the day. After a Ray Wersching field goal extended the lead to 24-0, the Cowboys finally got onto the scoreboard to narrow the margin to 24-7 at the half.

Were we excited? Hell yes. The stadium was going nuts, as 10 years of pent-up frustrations were unleashed with joyful whoops, hollers and high-fives after each score. But we all knew the game was far from over. If anybody could come back and ruin this day for the 49ers and their fans, it was the Cowboys. It HAD to be the Cowboys. It would only take one score for that awful feeling of dread to start creeping in from the back of our heads.

But not on this day. Things were different. Not only did the 49ers have a long-haired skinny quarterback throwing darts to Dwight Clark, Freddie Solomon and Charle Young, we now had a rapidly improving defense led by three rookie defensive backs, ball-hawking Dwight Hicks and shithouse-crazy Hacksaw Reynolds. And on October 11, 1981, Bill Walsh unwrapped his newest toy: future Hall-of-Fame defensive end Fred Dean, acquired earlier that week in a trade with the Chargers.

Dean's presence was immediately felt as the Cowboys had no answer for his pass rush. Dallas quarterback Danny White was harassed throughout the afternoon. The Cowboys were taking their licks on both sides of the ball. Suddenly, the 49ers had a defense that was just as lethal as their "West Coast" offense.

Early in the third quarter, Joe Montana connected with Dwight Clark on a 78-yard gallop for a 31-7 lead. That sealed it - we knew the final outcome of the game was a foregone conclusion. But the Cowboys still had 20+ minutes of gameplay left to continue taking their lumps, and these 49ers weren't about to let them off the hook. When Ronnie Lott took one of White's passes back to the house to make it 38-7, the rout was officially on and the Cowboys were toast. Candlestick erupted in the first of many "Can you believe this?" moments of that season.

Still, the 49ers weren't done. Bill Walsh remembered how Dallas piled on the 49ers a year earlier, and now he was returning the favor. An Amos Lawrence(!) touchdown made it 45-7 before Dallas closed out the scoring on a Benny Barnes fumble return. The victory was complete and absolute. Dallas was humiliated and the 49ers had shocked the NFL.

45-14.

There are numbers and scores that I'll always remember. 45-14 is one of them. This was the day that the 49ers became "THE 49ERS" - the team that would dominate the NFL for the better part of the next two decades. This was the day that Candlestick became the place to be on football Sundays. This was the day that the 49ers and their fans began exorcising the demons that had haunted them since their days in the old AAFC. This was the day it all began.

Not everybody was convinced yet, especially outside of the Bay Area. Despite the dominating performance, not a single highlight from the game was shown during halftime of Monday Night Football the following evening. Clearly, the NFL establishment wasn't ready for the 49ers.

But on that day in mid-October, the 49ers served notice that THEY were ready for THEM.

Next week: the 49ers travel to the land of Lombardi seeking a rare fourth-straight win.

It Was 30 Years Ago Today...



The Sporting Green wasn't always green.

Before we start in on this week's flashback to the 1981 season, I want to take a moment to praise the 2011 49ers for their performance this past Sunday in Philadelphia. As far as I know, that's biggest road comeback victory in franchise history. The only bigger comebacks that have been identified have all been at home, most notably the 21 and 28 point comebacks against the Bengals and Saints. I'm still waiting for confirmation, but if the 49ers ever erased a greater deficit on the road, it must've happened during the early NFL or AAFC years.

For the past several seasons, the 49ers have had opportunities to win games like last week's, but they've always failed to close the game out. Last week, the 49ers succeeeded thrice: by driving for the winning score, stopping the opposing offense, and subsequently running out the clock. On Sunday, the Niners did something that hasn't happened very often during the past decade: they added another chapter to their lore.

And now, this week's flashback: Week 5 of the 1981 season. I doubt this matchup was greeted by much more than a collective yawn by the rest of the league: the 2-2 49ers facing the winless Redskins in Washington. Little did anybody know that this game would feature two teams with Hall of Fame head coaches that would claim the NFC Championship over the next four seasons, including three Lombardi trophies.

The Niners raced out to an early 7-0 lead, on a Ricky Patton 16-yard dash into the end zone (if you would have told me that Ricky Patton, who led the team in rushing yardage that year with a whopping 543 yards, actually had a single run of more than 10 yards during the '81 season, I'd request another Jaegermeister and challenge you to a duel).

That's when things got interesting, and when the 1981 49ers started to kick things into gear. Shortly thereafter, Dwight Hicks picked up a fumble - in midair (I think Carlton Williamson laid the hit on the Redskin receiver) - and returned it 80 yards for another touchdown. 14-0. Keep in mind, that this kind of thing NEVER happened to the 49ers up to that point - if anything, it would have been the Niners who popped the ball into the air and into the waiting arms of an opposing defensive back. We couldn't believe our good fortune!

Suddenly, the 49ers smelled blood, and the game was basically over by halftime with a 24-3 lead following a Johnny Davis 1-yard plunge (now THAT's the Johnny Davis I remember) and a Matt Bahr (subbing for the injured Ray Wersching) field goal.

I remember watching this game with my family on TV and thinking "What happens now? We rarely have a lead at halftime, and now we're in the midst of a blowout? What do we do? Make a sandwich?" We were stunned - this was how the OTHER half - the teams that played us every week - felt. Not us. But I remember liking it, and wanting more...

Of course, Dwight Hicks wasn't done. In the third period, he picked off an errant Joe Theismann pass for another touchdown to put the game away at 30-3. Despite a couple of late Redskin touchdowns, the victory was definitive and a message was sent to the rest of the league: "We Are Legit - we are coming after YOU." And Dwight Hicks cemented his place in Niner history as the first defensive player to record two touchdowns in a single game.

Still, despite the highlight-reel big plays, the Niners weren't much more than a blip on the NFL's cultural landscape. They'd have to prove themselves against the establishment before anybody would take them seriously. And with America's Team rolling into town the following Sunday, they wouldn't have to wait very long.

Next Week: The 49ers make a statement against the Cowboys - and a dynasty is born.

Glad to be Wrong

As bad as the first half was, the second half was good. Well done, Niners -and Alex Smith, too. Obviously, my motivational halftime post lit a fire in the visitors' locker room...

Gotta check the records, but that 20-point deficit may well be the biggest road comeback in team history.

Second-half adjustments - I had forgotten what those were until today.

The Return of Alex Smith

That was a first-half performance of Singletary-era caliber.

Alex Smith has three plays: throw the ball at the receiver's feet, throw the ball two feet over the receiver's head and take a sack/fumble the ball.

Time for the Red Zone Channel...

It Was 30 Years Ago Today...

Freddie Solomon, taking
it to the house.

Sure, there's a lot of negativity on this blog (I prefer to call it "constructive crticism" - to each their own), but that's because Niner fans expect so much more from this franchise than what has been delivered since the Yorks took things over.

I'm going to try out a new feature on the blog as we look back at the 49ers' first championship season in 1981. Why the 1981 season? Well, for starters, this year marks the 30th(!) anniversary of that unbelievable season. And since nobody expected much from that team, today's most optimistic Niner fans can probably find some parallels between the current squad and the '81 team that came out of nowhere to capture their first of five Lombardi Trophies (for the record, aside from the fact that both had first-time head coaches hailing from Stanford, I see no comparison between the two).

So let's start off with Week 4 of the 1981 season, a 21-14 home victory over the Saints. While the game itself wasn't very exciting, it is notable for four reasons:

1. This was the last time the 49ers played a home game as just another mediocre team with a largely disinterested fanbase. Two weeks later, the Niners hosted the Dallas Cowboys and pounded America's Team by a 45-14 margin. From that point on, the Niners were on their way to the top of the NFL ladder, a position they wouldn't relinquish for over 15 years.
2. As far as I can tell, this was the last Niner regular-season game that failed to sell out - I tried to confirm on the internet, but couldn't find anything definitive.
3. Following a loss in Atlanta the previous week, this game would mark the beginning of a 12-1 run throughout the rest of the regular season.
4. Some rookie named Ronnie Lott picked off an Archie Manning pass and returned it for a touchdown, the first signature play of his Hall-of-Fame career.

What else can I tell you about the game? I was one of the 40,000 or so fans at Candlestick that day, and aside from the Lott touchdown, I don't recall anything out of the ordinary. The Saints were coming off a dreadful 1-15 campaign in 1980, but I remember thinking that the 49ers would have their work cut out for them since it took a record-setting 28-point comeback to beat them the previous December.

A look at the box score shows a rushing touchdown by short-yardage specialist Johnny Davis (that six-yard score may have been his longest run of the year), and a 60-yard hookup from Joe Montana to Freddie Solomon (which I'm guessing was probably a ten-yard route followed by a 50-yard scamper into the end zone). Rookie cornerback Eric Wright also snagged an interception off of Manning, and my main man Paul Hofer continued his abbreviated comeback season with a handful of carries.

That's really about it. Back then, we were just happy to see the 49ers pick up any win, even against the Saints. We weren't thinking about the Super Bowl, or even the playoffs at that point. We were just hoping the Niners were taking another step to respectability. Within a month, however, all of that would change...

Next week: Dwight Hicks and the defense sends a message in the nation's capital.

New Stadium Unveiled...Again

This time, we really, really, REALLY mean it, OK?

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw a story on espn.com this afternoon about the Niners "unveiling" their new stadium plans.

To whom, exactly, did they unveil these plans to? As far as I can tell, the 49ers have put on the same dog-and-pony show several times over the past few years. And decades. Don't believe me? Here's another one.

My best guess is that Lil' Jed read "The Secret" and thinks that if he throws the notion of the 49ers building a new stadium out to the universe, eventually it will actually happen.

By the Numbers

This is for sale on the internet.
Seriously.

With a very talented Eagles squad looming on the horizon for their next matchup, the Niners have to start performing better on the offensive side of the football. Here's this week's look at the numbers:

Total Offense: 213.7 yards per game (ranked 32nd - that's dead last in the league)
Passing Offense: 144 yards per game (ranked 28th)
Rushing Offense: 69.7 yards per game (ranked 30th)
Yards per rush: 2.5 (ranked 30th)
Sacks allowed: 11 (ranked 27th)

Total Defense: 306.3 yards allowed per game (ranked 7th)
Passing Defense: 243.7 yards allowed per game (ranked 16th - a big improvement)
Rushing Defense: 62.7 yards allowed per game (ranked 3rd)
Sacks: 7 total (tied for 16th)

Good News/Bad News Dept.
Good News: Alex Smith ranks 13th in the league with a 91.3 passer rating and 4th in the league with a 68.9 completion rate
Bad News: Smith ranks 22nd in yards per attempt, 28th in passing yards per game and 31st in longest completion
Good News: Vernon Davis was a big part of the offensive attack against the Bengals and now leads the team with 179 receiving yards
Bad News: Davis' total ranks 42nd in the league for total yards. No other Niner has passed the 100-yard mark in total yardage for the season (Joshua Morgan is 2nd on the team with 80 receiving yards, placing him at 114th).
Good News: If you watched last Sunday's game, you witnessed NFL history.
Bad News: The reason why history was made against the Bengals is because it was the first time an NFL game resulted in a 13-8 final score.

Monday Morning Link Farm

I think I've written enough about yesterday's game, so here's what others are saying about that thrilling 13-8 victory over the Bengals. Like I always say - when you face the Bengals on the road in front of nearly 42,000 fans (and 28,000 empty seats), you are in for an epic battle...

• Breakout performance by Vernon Davis
• Gore a bystander
• Game Grades
• 49ers don't blow it - and that's a compliment
• Vick's hand not broken
• Let the Vick speculation begin
• Defense dominates
• Niners unable to challenge nullified TD catch
• Right-side woes for offense in first half
• Niners have to play ugly to win
• Harbaugh first Niner coach to win home and road debuts
• David Akers to the rescue again

Live Blog: Niners-Bengals

This ain't Super Bowl XVI. Or XXIII.

Alright folks, enough of the hype - it's time to finally play the NFL's marquee matchup of the day. I'm trying the live blog thing because that's what everybody else is doing...and here we go.

1st Quarter

• San Francisco's defense hasn't lost a step since last week - they're getting carved up through the air.

• Cincinnati's opening drive results in a field goal and 3-0 lead. I can't recall Alex Smith ever putting together an opening drive like Andy Dalton just did in the third game of his NFL career.

• It only takes two plays for Alex Smith to hit the turf. The 49ers' offensive line can't protect the quarterback, even when they are holding.

• And, here we are at our first 3rd-and-long situation...and Smith throws a ball to the back of Frank Gore's feet. Punt #1 coming up.
• Niners' defense makes a stop - and a nifty return by team MVP Ted Ginn is wiped out by an illegal blocking penalty. 
• There are a lot of empty seats at Paul Brown Stadium - hope Lil' Jed is noting that a brand-new stadium won't guarantee sellouts if the team is always lousy. 
• Alex Smith remembers that Vernon Davis is still on the team and lofts him a nice pass. Vernon Davis forgets that the object of the game is to advance the ball forward, but at this point, I guess that would be nit-picking... 
• 3rd-and-5...false start. The offensive line continues to shoot this team in the foot.  
• Smith's incomplete pass to Crabtree sums up his leadership of the Niners' offense...indecisive and inaccurate. I think he had passed the line of scrimmage, too.
• Even Andy Lee is having a rough start as he shanks his second punt of the game.
• A false start by the Bengals on 3rd-and-long...wow! So many similarities between these two league juggernauts.
• 1st quarter ends with the Bengals leading 3-0. I don't think I can handle three more quarters of this. Roger Goodell should be forced to watch this game with the York and Brown families without any bathroom breaks.

2nd Quarter

• The quarter opens up with Andy Dalton being chased around the pocket before tossing a pass 5 yards shy of the first down. Again, the similarities between these two heavyweight offenses are staggering.
• The ball bounces off Vernon Davis' chest...
• Nobody can burn timeouts early in the game like the Niners can. 
• If you follow @CLEATUSonFOX, you are my enemy.
• Another 3rd down passing situation - and Alex lofts a nice pass for Yao Ming. Unfortunately, Joshua Morgan is the intended receiver and he forgot to bring his ladder into the huddle. Another inaccurate pass results in another punt.
• The Niners and Bengals are doing everything they can to give the Red Zone Channel producers an easy day.
• Niners start the next defensive series with an offsides penalty. These are the little things that make the 49ers a bad team. Of course, they also have plenty of big things (like their ownership and quarterback) that also make them a bad team.
• The defense holds and the offense gets the ball with another long field in front of them...
• I'd pay good money to see the robot in Real Steel destroy Cleatus.
• Nice work by the offensive line on first down, getting into the backfield before Frank Gore touches the ball. And yes, I'm being sarcastic. 
• Of course Alex Smith would run a bootleg on second and long, and of course Nate Clements would nearly knock his head off, and of course Chilo Rachal would be called for holding on the play. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011 San Francisco 49ers.
• Jonathan Goodwin pulls up lame. If he can't go, somebody is going to have to step up in his place and let the opposing nose tackle into the 49ers' backfield.
• Aaaaand, another false start by the 49ers' crackerjack offensive line.
• Aaaaand, another 3rd-and-long sack. Lee's punting out of his own end zone. Hope he goes back to the bench and describes it in detail in case the offense wants to know what an end zone looks like in this stadium.
• Good to see Ahmad Brooks get loose for a bone-jarring sack of Andy Dalton. I like the schadenfreude of watching other quarterbacks get clobbered.  
• Meanwhile, in an alternate universe where fans get to root for good quarterbacks, Tom Brady has just thrown his third TD pass of the first half while nearing 200 passing yards. 
• Nice 3rd-down completion to Davis - who walks off the field with a slight injury. Only 25 more yards to reach midfield!
• Only 30 more yards to reach midfield after another false start penalty. The 49ers' offensive line is clearly spooked by this rabid Bengals crowd.
• Delanie Walker once again reminds Alex Smith that his hands are attached to his arms and not at the end of his legs. 
• Here we are at the two-minute warning - and the offense is still 10 yards shy of crossing midfield for the first time today... 
• Some guy named Crabtree just jumped about 8 feet into the air to grab an errant Smith pass.
• 3rd and 2? Harbaugh dials Jimmy Raye, who tells him to run the old bell cow up the middle. The play results in a loss of a yard and the 49ers will close out the half without crossing midfield. Against the Bengals. The Cincinnati Bengals. Yes, you read that correctly.
• Booing? Really, Bengals fans? REALLY? I seem to have forgotten about your lofty expectations for your team.
• When the other team's fans are booing their home team after shutting you out for the first half, what does that say about YOUR team?
• I need to re-think this whole "live blog" thing - I'd be better off live-blogging paint drying.

3rd Quarter

• After a first down, Smith tosses another laser to a receiver's feet. I guess I took all of those years watching DeBerg, Montana, Young and Garcia hit receivers in stride for granted.
• While waiting to see if the Niners lost this fumble, I should point out that Goldstar has plenty of discounted tickets available for the next home game against the Buccaneers. We have a strong candidate for the first 49ers blackout in 30 years.
•  Some guy named Crabtree just dropped a third-down pass that would have given the Niners a first down past midfield. Instead, it's another punt and the 49ers' offense has yet to reach the 50-yard line after 35 minutes of gameplay.
• The winner of this game is going to look back on today and realize THAT'S when they blew their chance to draft Andrew Luck. 
• Attention: do not adjust your TV set. The 49ers have crossed midfield after some guy named Crabtree caught an 8-yard pass.
• A nice pass to Davis puts the 49ers in a 1st-and-goal situation. Here comes three Frank Gore runs - but not before a timeout is burned!
• Whoops - spoke too soon - Joe Staley gets manhandled and allows a sack.
• Some guy named Crabtree grabs a touchdown pass in the endzone - but not before he stepped out of bounds. Not only is touchdown taken off the board, but it's a 5-yard penalty. It's never easy with this guy.
• Three straight penalties. 
• How bad is it when THE ENTIRE OFFENSIVE LINE is called for a false start? How is that even possible? Wouldn't that be a "true start?"
• After running approximately 17 plays following first-and-goal, the mighty Niner offense settles for a field goal. 3-3.
• Dare I mention the possibility of overtime, thus giving both teams an opportunity not to win this game? 
• Frank Gore's blocking about as well as he's running these days... 
• And the 3rd quarter ends with the Giants and Reds tied at 3.

4th Quarter

• Jim Mora Jr. "coached" Steve Young? Where, in the Twilight Zone? I don't recall #8 playing defense.
• Holding, offsides, false start. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. 
• Well, the GOOD news is that Frank Gore will retire as a Niner. The BAD news is it won't happen for another three years. 
• Double Live Gonzo! Nugent makes it a 6-3 game. The Niners desperately need to get some runners on base. 
• What happened. I was folding laundry. Seriously. I see the Niners have a first and goal, so naturally Gore runs for one yard. 
• Kendall Hunter shows some explosive speed and dashes into the endzone - TOUCHDOWN!  So why isn't Frank Gore doing this? Seems kind of strange that the holes open up for Hunter and not for Gore, right? And yet, that's what we've been hearing - there are no holes for Gore, but #32 finds one on every carry.
• And now, it's up to the defense to protect a late lead again. So far so good as Carlos Rogers picks off an Andy Dalton pass. Unbelievably, it's the first turnover by the Bengals this season.
• Maybe those holes aren't opening up for Hunter, either.
• I was just about to write that the offense now has a chance to put this game away - and they promptly run twice for zero yards, setting up another 3rd and long. 
• Ah, yes - the old "run the reverse to the tight end for negative yardage" trick, which nearly takes them out of field goal range. 
• When given the opportunity to close out a victory, the 49ers' offense failed to pick up a single first down. Or a single yard.  
• Now, they're burning timeouts - they can't even line up for a field goal after an injury stoppage. Ridiculous! That is bad coaching. Plain and simple.
• David Akers bails out the offense and coaching staff by nailing a 53-yarder. 13-6.
• Apparently, I jinxed Tom Brady - he's thrown 4 picks since I mentioned him during the 2nd quarter. I should start blogging about the Steelers and Packers, too.
• And the game is back in the hands of the 49ers' defense. This is where they were torched last week, and two quick completions by Dalton put the Bengals into Niner territory at the 2-minute warning. 
• Make that three straight completions. Bengals nearing the Niner 35. 
• Make that four straight completions. Unfortunately for Dalton, the last completion was to a guy in a Niner uniform as Reggie Smith dives for the pick. 
• The play, naturally, is under review. NFL action - it's fan-tastic! After review, the interception is upheld.
• And now the Niner offense tries to burn a timeout, but they get a "too many men in the huddle" penalty. This is the second time this quarter that the offense has been caught unprepared following a lengthy stoppage in play. Somewhere, Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary are saying "I told you so - it's not as easy as you think, trying to get these idiots to get their act together."
• With ball control being the main objective, the Niners choose to keep Hunter in the game instead of the ol' bell cow Gore. When's that contract up, again? 
• This will be the longest eight seconds in the history of the league. Just get this awful game over with so I can follow all of the excellent games going on right now on the Red Zone Channel! 
• Nobody can over-think a situation like Jim Harbaugh. I guess that's a pleasant change--up from the strategy of "under-thinking" that we saw during the Singletary era. 
• Safety. 13-8.  Yes, this game is still going on. 
• The ensuing free kick mercifully ends this tedious contest. The Niners escape with an ugly win and their reward is to spend the upcoming week kissing York family ass in Youngstown. Despite this lackluster effort, San Francisco's chances of stealing a win in Philly next week look a little better after Michael Vick suffered a broken hand earlier today.

Meet Me in Youngstown

I don't think Tony Bennett ever sang songs about
this particular city...

The Niners are planning on spending the entire week on the east coast prior to back-to-back games in Cininnati and Philadelphia. This is a frequent occurrence around the NFL, but the 49ers' choice of a temporary hometown is a bit questionable: Youngstown, Ohio - the home of the DeBartolo (and, by extension, the York) family.

Why Youngstown? It's not exactly a metropolis, and there are plenty of other options that would seem to be more feasible between Ohio and Pennsylvania. But no other city would provide Lil' Jed and his cronies a chance to play big shot and show off their fancy toy to all of their neighbors.

Maybe I'm just being cynical (go figure), but it seems like the Yorks are putting themselves ahead of the team in what looks to be a passive-aggresive move to show the entire organization that they are always the top dog within the 49er empire.

And now, some links:

• Good quarterbacks go from elite to otherworldly when facing Niners
• Where have all the faithful gone? (My answer: they're still here; just not giving the Yorks their money anymore)
• Shhh - don't tell anybody, but Alex Smith suffered a concussion last week
• Smith practicing, but Crabtree remains a no-show
• Great America theme park sold to clear way for 49ers' proposed stadium
• Despair quick to set in for fan bases of 49ers and Raiders
• 49ers come up small with game on the line
• 49ers offense still hiding in its shell

Your Daily Dose of Sunshine

This former 49er fan
has more than 3x the
amount of passing yards
than Mr. Alex Smith.

The first two weeks of the NFL season have seen an unprecedented amount of scoring. In addition, the league's QBs have already passed for 15,771 net yards (that's roughly 250 yards per quarterback per game).

So how does the Niners' signal-caller stack up against the league average? At over 120 yards less per game (the 49ers are averaging 128 net passing yards per game). I think Tom Brady equaled Smith's entire output in one half of football a couple of weeks ago.

Through two weeks, the 49ers' offense is 29th in passing yards and 26th in rushing. Who would pay to watch more of the same offensive ineptitude we've seen for nearly a decade? And while the rushing defense remains exceptional (the team leads the league in averaging 54.5 yards allowed per game), the pass defense is still abysmal, ranked 25th at nearly 300 yards allowed per contest.

When your offense averages 207.5 yards each game while your defense is giving up 345.5, simple math indicates that you aren't going to win too many games. At this rate, Ted Ginn will be the team MVP.

Everybody is assuming the 49ers will handle the Bengals this week, but keep in mind that Cincinnati's offense has managed to move the ball and put points on the board while playing on the road. Their defense has been adequate, too. Sure, their opponents were Cleveland and Denver, but when comparing offenses, the 49ers rank below both of those teams.

Don't assume anything, and hope for the best. A 2-1 record heading into a clash in Philadelphia the following week would provide enough cushion in the NFC West to absorb a (likely) loss to the Eagles on the road. But a loss in Cincinnati would not only be a missed opportunity to pick up one of the 8 or 9 wins needed to claim the divisional crown, but an indicator that the Niners will play themselves back into the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes.

Update: Braylon Edwards is out "for a little while" following knee surgery. But don't worry - Michael Crabtree's back!

Random Thoughts on the Day After

Naturally, the first topic of conversation regarding yesterday's pants-soiling at the hands of Tony Romo and the Cowboys is Jim Harbaugh's decision to keep the points on the board following a penalty during David Akers' 55-yard field goal in the 4th quarter.

Defending Harbaugh's choice is asinine - there was no downside to taking the penalty. The 49ers would have gained 15 yards on the penalty and at the very least had three more plays to chew up the clock. You have to figure that they would've run Frank Gore twice, which would pick up four yards, and even if they let Alex Smith throw on one of the downs, worst-case scenario is that the 49ers would be lining up for a 36-yard field goal. Given Akers' ability to nail a 55-yarder a few minutes earlier with no winds at Candlestick on Sunday afternoon, I'd say that's about as much of an automatic as you can get. Of course, there's always the (slight) possibility that the Niners might have been able to string together a couple of first downs to burn more time off the clock, or even punch the ball into the endzone, which would have sealed the victory.

Speaking of Frank Gore, through two games, he's averaging about 2.5 yards per carry. At what point do the 49ers stop making him the focus of their offensive gameplan? I'm not sure if it's Gore's age, history of injuries or the general ineffectiveness of the offensive line, but handing the ball to Gore for minimal yardage reeks of the Jimmy Raye era. And if you take away the occasional big runs that Gore has popped over the past 2-3 seasons, you can see that 2.5 yards is about what you can expect each time he touches the ball. That's not a formula for offensive success. Rather, it's setting yourselves up for failure.

Back to the passing game - how is it that rookie QB Andy Dalton can toss 3 touchdown passes in his second career game and fellow rookie Cam Newton passes for over 400 yards in each of his first two starts, yet we're still seeing the same dink-and-dunk passing attack from Alex Smith? At this point, everybody else is doing it - why can't we? At some point, Alex is going to have to start throwing deep balls - don't forget, during his most "successful" campaign (the "Norv Turner" season), Smith was able to connect on long passes to Antonio Bryant and the rest of the receiving corps. I haven't even seen Smith take one deep shot yet this year.

And let's talk about all of this "good news" and "silver lining" nonsense that I've been reading and hearing regarding yesterday's game. There is no "silver lining" when you blow a game that you should have won against a banged-up and (quite possibly) overrated opponent at home. If anything, yesterday showed that Harbaugh still has no faith in his quarterback, the 49ers' offense is still dreadful and those free-agent defensive backs that were signed off the scrapheap are as bad as their former teams' fans told us they were.

Finally, I'd like to address the 49ers' latest gameday campaign - the "Red Out." Did fans really need a reminder to wear red to the game? How many other colors do Niner fans wear? Hell, even the seats at Candlestick are red. Making a big deal about Niner fans wearing red makes about as much sense as telling Packer fans to wear green or Raider fans to wear black. We get it. Duh.