By Art Spander
SAN FRANCISCO -- It didn't rain. Two thirds of the seats had people in them. And the 49ers won. And you thought sportswriters only emphasize the negative.
Let those guys in Detroit pick on the Lions. Which they've done. And they will do. "Three wins in three seasons," one of the Detroit scribes moaned in the elevator at Candlestick Park.
The 49ers are better than that. But not good enough for the postseason. They keep making you wonder if and when they'll reach that pinnacle.
Alex Smith, who's supposed to lead the offense, got a bit defensive Sunday when someone wondered why San Francisco started slowly against Detroit.
"It wasn't like we were inept or anything," mused the quarterback.
Not when compared to the Lions. They are inept.
They also have the worst defense in the NFL, ranking 32nd of the 32 teams, allowing 31 points and 396 yards a game. So when the Niners finished with 310 yards and a 20-6 victory, questions had to be asked. That they will remain unanswered is just part of the equation.
The question about the lack of fans is easily solved. No matter that the "paid attendance" was listed at 69,732, there were no more than 45,000 -- and maybe around 42,000.
That's understandable for a game between the now 2-13 Lions and the now 7-8 Niners held two days after Christmas. Even if it was the home finale.
The Niners won't be back at Candlestick until August, and what changes will have been made, what players added or subtracted, we'll have months to learn.
San Francisco's last game of the season-which-might-have-been is Sunday at St. Louis against the 1-13 Rams. The word "inept" also is applicable in their case.
Although Smith suggested the Niners offense Sunday wasn't as bad as it appeared, San Francisco's defense won the game, as it has won a few games over the last three months.
There were three interceptions and three fumble recoveries, enough turnovers to stagger even the Patriots or Colts and certainly enough to be the ruination of a team already close to ruination, even if it doesn't give up the ball.
"Hopefully," Niners coach Mike Singletary explained, "they (the takeaways) will be the trademark of any defense we have. You can't really achieve things that you want to achieve as a defense unless you take away the ball. That's when teams turn around. It really makes a difference.
"You can look at any game we won this year, and there's a pretty good chance we won the turnover ratio."
When you look at this one, you are no nearer deciding whether Alex Smith will be the essential quarterback, whether he can win games and not just keep the Niners from losing them.
Was the sputtering offense, two field goals and no touchdowns in the first half, Alex's fault? Or the fault of the offensive line? Or the fault of the play calling and decisions of coordinator Jimmy Raye? Or any combination thereof?
Frank Gore did run for 71 yards, and became the first Niner ever to rush for 1,000 yards or more for four straight years. Vernon Davis did catch three more balls, one of those for his 10th touchdown reception, a single-season Niner mark for tight ends. Yet, there are problems.
"Could it be because of distractions of the holidays?" Singletary asked rhetorically of the offense before halftime, "or are we still in a funk because we're not playing for a playoff position? It might be a number of things, but we picked up in the second half."
Smith was less discontent. He completed 20 of 31 for 230 yards and a touchdown, and didn’t have an interception, solid if not outstanding. No apparent mistakes, which always works for a quarterback at any level.
"I didn't think it was a slow start," said Smith in rebuttal to someone's query, "anywhere except on the scoreboard. We were doing some things, moving the ball, kicking two field goals. We didn't convert on fourth and one and missed a field goal (the kicker was just-signed Ricky Schmitt). If you convert one or two of those, it's a completely different game."
But they didn't convert one or two of those.
The Niners' first touchdown, in the third quarter, was a play perplexing enough for Singletary to say he would have those involved, Smith and Davis, come to a room for a bit of conversation. On third and goal from the Detroit two, Alex swept right and seemed destined for the end zone. But just as he arrived at the line of scrimmage, Smith tossed a moon ball to Davis in the corner.
"I need to find out if Vernon needed another touchdown, something like that," Singletary said. "Because Alex came to the sideline, and I scratched my head, and he knew what I was going to say. He said, 'Coach, be nice, be nice.'"
Will Singletary? "It depends what the answer is. If the right answer is, 'Vernon really wanted one,' I can live with that."
For now, Singletary and the Niners will have to live with a win over the Lions. Sure, virtually everybody has one of those, but it's still acceptable, even mandatory.
