This One Is on the San Francisco 49er Players

For seven games we in the local media have had a lot of fun—and a lot of easy columns—at Jimmy Raye's expense.

We've ridiculed the 49ers ancient offensive coordinator for his conservative game plans, his over-reliance on the two back offense, his reluctance to put his quarterbacks in the shotgun, and for his stubborn refusal to admit that the team cannot run, not even a little bit, against eight man fronts.

Not to say we've been using Raye as a scapegoat or anything, but if "Pin the tail on Jimmy Raye" was a carnival attraction for San Francisco fans and sportswriters, we'd all be even poorer than we already are, and Raye would be one seriously sore fella by now.

That's why it's so important to understand that Sunday's disappointing 34-27 home loss to the previously 1-6 Tennessee Titans had absolutely nothing to do with Raye and even less with his boss, head coach Mike Singletary.

The game plans were sound, the execution was not.

Or to put it another way, "It's the players, stupid."

It's fashionable across the league for coaches to publicly take the blame for losses. Philadelphia's Andy Reid, to cite one example, has a stock answer after setback, where he says, "This one's on me, I have to put the players in better position to make plays."

Singletary, however, does not believe in this approach.

"We have to play smarter, we have to execute better," he said.

And since Singletary doesn't play anymore, by "we" he means "they."

Indeed Singletary and Raye finally arrived at the same conclusion that the rest of us had made by mid-September, that fullback Moran Norris is the football equivalent of the Grim Reaper.

Norris was only on the field for seven snaps on Sunday as the 49ers stuck mostly with the two tight end package with Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker, or a three receiver look that started off with Michael Crabtree, Isaac Bruce, Josh Morgan, and ended with Crabtree, Jason Hill, and Brandon Jones.

Quarterback Alex Smith dropped back 51 times, often out of the shotgun, and the team only had 18 designed running plays.

It was a game plan built to take advantage of the worst pass defense in the league and as both Singletary and the players would say afterward, it was mostly successful.

Then again, coaches and players gushing about yardage after committing four costly turnovers (which the Titans gleefully turned into 24 points) gives off that, "well aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, what'd you think of the play?" vibe.

Smith again brought back the memories of "Bad Alex" with his second half performance, in which he had a third quarter fumble and two killer interceptions on consecutive series in the fourth quarter.

Once again Smith - who had a first half interception as well—showed that hasn't progressed to the point where the team can count on him to be an asset.

He stared down his receivers, held the ball too long on some of his drops, forced the ball into coverage numerous times, and just wasn't very accurate on throws that weren't check downs.

Smith was solely to blame for at least two of his interceptions and was partially responsible for all four turnovers.

"They gave a lot of looks," he said. "They play a lot of different coverages. You're going to see an assortment of pressures and coverages and all kinds of stuff, things that are unorthodox and that not a lot of other teams do. They're unique."

The first six teams on the Titans schedule certainly didn't find Tennessee's secondary all that flummoxing, so you have to wonder how much Smith's head will be spinning when he plays someone of note.

Of course the defense bears some responsibility in this affair as well. They never came close to confusing the utterly-confusable Vince Young, and their heralded run defense wasn't nearly as stout enough to stop the speedy Chris Johnson.

Give both Johnson and his offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger a lot of credit. They quickly surmised that running up the middle against the 49ers trio of nosetackle Aubrayo Franklin and inside 'backers Patrick Willis and Takeo Spikes was going to be rough sledding, so they made the adjustment to attack the edges.

Lo and behold, they found outside linebackers Parys Haralson and Manny Lawson far more accommodating and by the time he was done, Johnson had rampaged the Niners to the tune of 135 yards (and two scores) on the ground and another 25 from three receptions.

When staked with a 20-17 lead after a 15 play, 9:45 scoring drive that culminated with kicker Joe Nedney's 25-yard go ahead field goal, the defense couldn't make it hold up, quickly surrendering the lead for good on the Titans' own eight play march down the field.

Tennessee's drive was highlighted by two big plays, a 41-yard burst by Johnson down the left sideline and a 33-yard leaping grab by receiver Justin Gage, but they didn't take the lead for good until Johnson out-raced Haralson to the pylon on a 4th-and-inches play from the two.

"I don't want to say anything until I watch film as to why he got loose," said Willis afterward, "but I know that he can run. If you give him what he's looking for, which is the edge, he can turn and run like there's no tomorrow."

The Titans outsmarted, outhustled, outran and outhit the 49ers (something like a dozen guys showed up on the postgame injury report) and most of all the team was just outplayed, in all three phases.

Even their punt returner, the aforementioned Jones, was terrible.

A promising 3-1 start has withered away to 3-5 at mid-season and before they have a chance to blink the Niners have to face the equally downtrodden Chicago Bears Thursday at the 'Stick. 

With such a short turnaround there won't be much time for either team to put together too comprehensive of a game plan, so once again, it'll be the players who decide it.

We've all seen how that's working out.