By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

SAN FRANCISCO — Alex Smith and Vince Young have crossed paths
on several occasions at NFL functions. They’ve offered each
other some encouraging words during the difficult times, like
after each lost his starting job.

The once highly touted quarterbacks’ NFL fates have taken a
similar bumpy road, and now they’re both back behind center,
ready to square off Sunday when Young’s Tennessee Titans come to
San Francisco to take on Smith and the 49ers.

“That’s how we are as quarterbacks. We stick together,” Young
said. “I have much respect for Alex. I saw him a while back and
he always has inspiring words for me, and I give him the same
inspiring words when I see him. I know what he was going
through, and I’m pretty sure he knows what I was going through.
We both were being very patient and just waiting for when coach
makes that move. And when we get in there, we want to make the
best of it.”

Young watched last season as Kerry Collins led the Titans to a
13-3 record, then worked his way back to starting just last week
when coach Jeff Fisher made the anticipated switch after
Tennessee’s awful start.

For Smith, same thing. He started the year behind Shaun Hill
before coach Mike Singletary made a change at halftime in
Houston on Oct. 25.

Both QBs are resurrecting their careers, or at least have
started the process.

Through their ordeals and during the slow road to their
comebacks, they’ve learned patience and how to stay within
themselves and not do too much. There’s a different perspective
that’s developed from all those weeks on the sideline.

Smith missed all of last season after reinjuring his surgically
repaired throwing shoulder three days before the season opener.
He was set to be the backup to J.T. O’Sullivan.

Smith would rather not compare his situation to what Young went
through, though he knows it’s an interesting topic this week.

“It is really about what each of us can do to help our team
win,” Smith said. “In the end that’s all that matters,
especially from the quarterback position. That’s all anyone is
going to remember about this. … Every situation, especially
for early draft pick quarterbacks, they are all different. Every
circumstance is different from the next and I don’t think that
you can judge any two alike. With that, you still have ups and
downs that you have in common as well.”

There are several interesting parallels between the two. Young
was the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2006, when he was
drafted third overall. Smith was the No. 1 draft pick a year
earlier. Smith has thrown 23 touchdowns and 33 interceptions,
and Young’s line is identical. Young’s longest completion is 73
yards to Smith’s 75-yarder.

Young led the Titans (1-6) to a 30-13 rout of Jacksonville last
Sunday to snap an eight-game losing streak dating back to Dec.
21 with Collins as the starter.

Smith, who hasn’t started a home game since Oct. 28, 2007, and
hasn’t won at Candlestick Park since the ’07 season opener, has
the task of getting the San Francisco offense back on track
after two lackluster performances. The Niners (3-4) have lost
three straight after a 3-1 start, falling 18-14 to the Colts in
Indianapolis last week.

That game was Smith’s first start in more than two years.

“I thought Alex did very well. I was very pleased to see him
make some throws,” Singletary said. “I was very excited and
anticipated this game for him because I knew the rush was going
to be coming at him. I knew that it was just a situation where
he wasn’t going to sit back there and be comfortable and he got
outside of the pocket a few times and he made some good
decisions.”

Smith and the offense will have to deal with the Titans’
now-healthy secondary and constant pressure. Tennessee had four
sacks against the Jaguars – and this team regained some swagger
by finally winning.

“It can help a lot,” defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said.
“That’s one of the main things we were just missing through six
weeks was confidence. Guys stepped up and playmakers made plays
on Sunday, and that’s the way it should be.”

The 49ers, who still consider themselves a playoff team, are
determined to get things turned around immediately.

“We do need a win. We must win,” tight end Vernon Davis said.

Not that Singletary is sending that kind of message.

“It’s very frustrating to have lost the four games that we
have,” he said. “When you do the math, it just comes down to
winning the games that we need to win in order to win the
division. That’s our first goal. I’m not going to lose my mind
and say, ‘If we lose the next two, we’re done. We might as well
pack it up and go home.”’

Singletary and Fisher have their own connection. They were
drafted the same year by the Chicago Bears in 1981, Singletary
in the second round and Fisher in the seventh.

Titans linebackers coach Dave McGinnis worked with Hall of Famer
Singletary in Chicago and he’s talked about Singletary to his
linebackers. Not that it provides any advantage going against
Singletary’s stingy 49ers in the Titans’ first visit to
Candlestick since their 1999 Super Bowl season.

“When you’re playing somebody for the first time perhaps under
new systems, you have to spend the extra time to get to know
them,” Fisher said.

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