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.