49ers Fall to 0-5

The 49ers fell to 0-5 with their loss Sunday night against the Eagles, marking the team's worst start in over 30 years (since 1979). It was a combination of stupid penalties and costly turnovers that ended up doing the Niners in, in another game that was well within their grasp.

Again, I tell you, this team could just as easily be 3-2 as they are 0-5. The only 2 games in which they really looked bad from start to finish was in KC and in Seattle to start the year. Even that game in Seattle, they really had control through the first part of it, until coming completely unraveled in the 2nd half. Sunday night's game vs. Philly was basically the Niners season in a nutshell to this point. Some excitement, they got up early with a Smith to Crabtree connection for 6 as the Niners ate up about 8 minutes in their opening drive. After that though, it was really all down hill. The 49ers turned the ball over 5 times, 3 by Alex Smith and 2 by Frank Gore, and they only caused one on defense. Just goes to show you how much talent this team has. They lose the TO battle by 4 against a solid team, and still only lose the game by 3 points. You take away one of those turnovers, most notably the Alex Smith fumble on that roll-out to the left in the 2nd half that was taken in for a score by Quintin Mikell. That put Philly up 24-10 in the 4th quarter and it was ultimately too much for the Niners to overcome. Even though Alex Smith came out after getting chewed out by Singletarry, and looked about as good as I've seen him look in San Francisco for that scoring drive when he found Vernon Davis, they just couldn't quite pull the comeback.

I don't really have much more to say about this game, and the Giants are getting ready to take on the Braves in a potential elimination game, so I'm going to focus on that for now. Any shot of a 49er playoff appearance is now out the window, even their players are starting to express frustration publicly. Both Takeo Spikes and Nate Clements both stated they thought the 49ers had no shot at making the playoffs now and the season was basically done, and although it sucks they're bringing that attitude, they're basically right. Even at 1-4 it would have been tough for them to comeback and make it to January. Now, I hate to say it, but the best thing for them in this case may be to keep losing. Obviously, they're still not completely out of it, but they'd have to go 10-1, or at least 9-2 in their remaining 11 games, and that's like mid-2000's Patriots' good, and the Niners' are nowhere near that. I still think they need to roll with Alex Smith for the rest of the year at QB, or at least for another 5 or 6 games, cause they need to know for sure that they need to move on, and although it's looking that way, the 49ers, again, are a few breaks away from being 3-2. Close doesn't cut it in the NFL though, and the simple fact is, Alex isn't winning. Give him till the rest of the year to prove he still can't, then they can officially cut ties, knowing they gave him plenty of chances, and some.

Raiders/Stanford Next Post: We'll get to the Raiders loss in our next post (or maybe we'll just skip it, who knows). With all the typing I'm doing between here and our other site, The Giants Baseball Blog, with the Giants in the playoffs and all, It's pretty demanding. Do check out the Giants site for our playoff coverage though if you want to hear about something else besides some losing football teams! I also plan to touch on the Stanford Cardinal football team in our next post as well!