Smith vs. Young: Redemption Bowl Or Joint Fact-Finding Mission?

Lest you think the man impervious to hyperbole or of such resolute moral character he would never deign to fib, 49ers coach Mike Singletary opened his Wednesday press conference by claiming Sunday's opponent, the beleaguered Tennessee Titans, are "a good football team," and added, "but we feel we're a good football team too." 

That first statement is a blatant lie, unless it's put into the context of all football teams across the country. Yes indeed, "The Flaming Thumbtacks" would be heavy favorites against all Pop Warner and high school clubs, and most of the college ones as well.

If we're limiting the search window to include just NFL teams, however, then 1-6 is 1-6. Such a start would trouble fans of basketball, hockey, and even baseball teams, and their seasons last so long that I'm almost positive that pitchers and catchers are due to report to camp next Tuesday.

1-6 in the NFL means the season's already effectively over, and anyone with a speck of common sense is going to ditch the team concept (which, hello, got them to 1-6) to ensure that they can put the best possible resume together for future employers.

In other words the players will be looking out for themselves, even more noticeably than they have been.

Tennessee's season, which officially went kaput with a resounding 59-0 thud at Foxboro against the Patriots, can now only be salvaged in the big picture if Vince Young, their enigmatic quarterback, uses the final meaningless ten games to show his coach, Jeff Fisher, and his boss, Bud Adams, his career is salvageable and there is no need to draft a franchise savior next April.

Young certainly started off on the right foot last week, when he completed 15-of-18 mostly safe passes for 125 yards and a touchdown in the team's surprising 30-13 rout of Jacksonville.

While Young has taken sharp criticism for everything ranging from his throwing mechanics, to his resolve and even his how-looooow-can-you-go Wonderlic score, the team has invested too much hope (read: money) in him to give up already, especially when they have literally nothing else to play for.

In poker parlance, the Titans are "paying for information" about Young. The price they're paying to find out whether he's matured and developed into someone they can build around or not is blowout losses if he's terrible.

Since they were terrible already without him, it's not much of a risk at all. At least by January they'll know, one way or the other.

And this brings us back to the second part of Singletary's statement, about the 49ers being good, too. A 3-4 record would ordinarily suggest otherwise, but the NFC West being what it is, San Francisco is still in contention for the division crown, just a game behind the Arizona Cardinals.

They have their own reclamation project at quarterback in Alex Smith, who has probably strung together the best four consecutive quarters of his career if you count the second half at Houston and the first half at Indy. Sure, the team technically lost both games, but Smith has come out smelling like a rose so far.

He's teased fans with his newfound proficiency in a hurry-up shotgun three-receiver offense, but he's playing for coaches who are loathe to use it in extended doses for reasons they'd rather keep to themselves. 

Instead, the men with the headsets seem rather enamored with fullback Moran Norris, even though his presence on the field is the personification of offensive death.

Though they still have playoff aspirations, the 49ers are very much in the same boat with Smith as the Titans are with Young. They not only want to know, they want you to know they want to know.

Also, in a rare twist, they want you to know what they'll know when they know it, when usually coaches would rather use a scouring pad for a loofah than divulge to the outside world what they really think about anything.

If Smith bombs out in these next nine games with the talent he's got around him, it's over for him, at least in San Francisco. He's got his health, he's got playmakers in Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree, and Frank Gore, and he's got a defense that will keep him in games.

He's officially out of excuses, even though Jimmy Raye is the fifth different offensive coordinator of Smith's five-year career. Suppose Raye gets the blame for everything and the team is forced to replace him with some other schmo. Then what do you have?

A sixth different offensive coordinator in six years, and the cycle repeating itself once more.

It's all about now for Smith and he simply has to get it done, playoffs or bust—as in he's got to lead the team to that fabled 17th game of the season, or he's a bust.

So far, Smith and Young have had remarkably similar careers. Smith has started 31 games to Young's 30. Both have thrown for 22 touchdowns and suffered 33 interceptions.

Young, however, is 19-11 as a starter. Smith is 11-20.

Smith is going to need to come out on top in this one, and he'll need to do so convincingly to save the 49ers season from being as irrelevant as Tennessee's.

The fans can only boo the offensive coordinator so much.