San Francisco 49ers Find a New Way to Lose: Who Is Next To Go?

All the people who claimed the 49ers gave the game away to the Saints in week two just got the meaning of that claim redefined.

It's something about the Falcons and 49ers where a cornerback making a great play gets run down by an Atlanta wide receiver who causes a fumble that gets recovered by the Falcons.

On Sunday, this fumble was with just over 1:00 left in the game while the 49ers had a one point lead.

When Nate Clements went for glory rather than the win, fumbling away the nail in the proverbial coffin, the 49ers went from being a team beset by heart break to just plain dumb.

So the question is who is next to go?

After the Week 3 blowout in Kansas City, my article laid out the five people who have to go for the 49ers to turn it around. 

Those people were the owners, the head coach, the offensive coordinator, the mascot pictured in the article was representing the General Manager of which we have none, and Alex Smith has to go.

While it's hard to force the sale of a team, the organizing of a boycott of the San Francisco franchise to force the sale of the team while the Yorks open up their new stadium to a bunch of empty seats is another project altogether, let's focus on the other four pieces for now.

Mike Singletary has lost control of his team and with the firing of offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye last week, the 49ers offense was just as impotent in Week 4.

With only one touchdown, largely due to a questionable pass interference penalty on a third down that put the 49ers offense near the red zone instead of off the field, the 49ers fired blanks the last 50 minutes of football without even getting in field goal position without turning the ball over.

The pass interference call was questionable because the ball looked uncatchable, as are most balls thrown by Alex Smith down the field—uncatchable.

Worse than that, the interceptions Alex Smith dumbly throws end up letting Atlanta back in the game with easy field goals that put the Falcons in striking distance.

Pathetic.

While Mike Singletary is on his way out, in the meantime he can start keeping promises he's broken to the players who haven't yet deserted him like Safety Michael Lewis who restructured his contract under the promise he wouldn't have his playing time cut.  When Lewis found out he wasn't starting, he respectfully asked to be released.

Mike Singletary can keep his promise to quarterback David Carr who signed with the 49ers under the guise of open competition for the starting quarterback position.

This promise was a ruse as Alex Smith was queened the starting quarterback on day one of training camp before leading this team to an 0-4 start.

So where is the open competition David Carr was promised?  Is this another one of Mike Singletary's lies to another NFL veteran?

What more does Singletary need to see in Alex Smith to give David Carr a shot? 0-6?  0-7?

At this point, Mike Singletary has to realize it's either Alex Smith who has to go or Mike Singletary who has to go.

Mike Singletary needs to try something to shake up this offense. 

If Alex Smith isn't next to go then Mike Singletary can all but write off any head coaching jobs for the rest of his career.