Disappointment. Disgust. Anger. Depression. I think every 49er fan felt all of these emotions today. After 3 straight games of atrocious play from Dilfer, everyone expected Alex Smith to return and lead us to the promised land, or at least a halfway competent offense. And then reality set in. Smith played valiantly through the injury, a truly gutty effort as he was wincing in pain and left his arm hanging limply at his side unless absolutely needed. Clearly there is some injury update to come on Smith, Gore, Walt Harris, and others I'm sure. This team cannot catch a break, on or off the field. [UPDATE: Raj Mathai says that Smith and Gore are both expected to play next week.]
The most troubling thing about today's game is it's hard to pinpoint what the problem was. The play-calling was typically inconsistent. There was a complete lack of discipline on all sides of the ball. Line play was better but still shoddy, especially when trying to open running lanes for Gore. The lack of a pass rush allowed Brees to pick apart the secondary, which had its first truly terrible game of the season. And what's apparent from his post-game press conference is that Nolan doesn't have any answers.
In any case, the calls for Nolan's head are getting louder. But unless we go winless the rest of the year (unlikely but a real possibility) Nolan will have one more year to fix this franchise. Right now, he needs to keep that team together. Rod Brooks (KNBR) said afterward that the locker room was quiet but unified. They absolutely need to get a win otherwise that is going to fall apart. Here's to hoping we can begin to get healthy against the equally hapless Falcons next week.
(Link dump to come tomorrow morning)
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