Blame Nate Clements, But The 49ers Deserved to Lose

If someone had told Mike Singletary that the 49ers would lose to the Atlanta Falcons by only two points on Sunday, Mike would have been purely ecstatic. The team has been so terrible this season that losing a close game to a playoff contender would have been an encouraging sign. But if Mike had heard that they would lead the entire game only to lose in the final seven seconds because of a turnover, his brain might have imploded.

When Nate Clements jumped up and snatched Matt Ryan’s pass out of midair, I saw the open lane in front of him and the only question in my mind was whether or not he would run into the end zone to make the final score more impressive. For the first time in three hours, I believed the 49ers were going to win the game.  

But then I saw Ahmad Brooks obstructing Clements and trying to throw a block on nobody when Roddy White came sprinting up behind him.    

I suddenly had a Marlan McCree Tom Brady flashback and I knew Clemens would cough it up. Six plays and 68 yards later the game was over.

That’s basically been the story of the 49ers this season.   

If they’re not getting throttled every Sunday afternoon then they’re finding new and creative ways to lose games decided by three points or less.

In their home opener at Candlestick, they lost to a beatable Saints team after turning the ball over three times in the red zone. On Sunday they made three more turnovers, two of which resulted in either a missed scoring opportunity or a field goal for the Falcons.

With the exception of the punting game (which is a likely a result from the amount of practice Andy Lee has had every week) opponents are finding weaknesses every time the 49ers have eleven guys on the field.

When Anthony Davis isn’t attempting to stop a defensive linemen by grabbing on to his shoelaces then someone on special teams is muffing a fair catch on a punt return. If Alex Smith isn’t trying to throw a pass to a seven foot receiver then Michael Crabtree is running a route that’s taking him out of bounds.

Yes the 49ers were much better this week then they were against the Chiefs when they were basically an abysmal train wreck.  

But it also seems that the Niners can’t win even when they play a halfway descent game. Two weeks ago they came back to tie the Saints on an amazing fourth quarter drive which culminated in a perfect strike to Vernon Davis who held the ball just beyond the goal line for the two point conversion.

The Saints then drove the ball down to the 49ers twenty yard line setting up Garrett Hartley for a 37 yard field goal. 

When the ball was kicked there was the miraculous sound of a hand deflecting it in midair causing Candlestick Park to shake with excitement. Cameras then showed the wobbly kick sailing through the uprights as time expired.

One week later, Hartley faced the same situation against you guessed it, the Atlanta Falcons. This time his kick sailed wide to the left and the Saints lost the game in overtime.

I can’t wait to see Matt Bryant miss a 29 yard field goal next week against the Browns. That’ll be just great.

On Sunday, when the 49ers intercepted Matt Ryan for the second time with a minute and a half remaining and still couldn’t win the game, you knew the season was over. You’d rather spend your weekend afternoons talking to your wife instead of suffering through this sh-t.     

Clements is going to get singled out for the lost, and deservingly so.  The cardinal rule is that if you intercept a pass when your team has the lead with a minute and a half left in the game, forget the touchdown and take a knee. If you’re not going to do that, then at least secure the football and try to run past your blocker instead of jogging idly behind him with the entire Atlanta Falcons offense on your heels.

He didn’t, and if he had the 49ers would be 1-3 instead of 0-4 and would still have a chance to win a lackluster division. Now it looks like the best thing Singletary can do is to win as few games as possible so the 49ers can have a shot at landing a descent quarterback for the 2011 draft. By then Mike will probably be out of a job.

Just like it’s been every week, there’s more than one person to point the finger at for the loss.  

Blame the defense all you want for the giving up another game winning field goal in the final minute of the game, but they deserve nothing but praise for keeping the 49ers ahead for nearly four quarters of football.

The end game statistics are a little deceptive. The defense gave up 357 total yards but only allowed 16 points. This is characteristic of the Greg Manusky’s bend but don’t break attitude from last season.

The defense also made huge stops when the 49ers needed it the most. Early in the second quarter, the Falcons had the ball inside the 49ers red zone when Shawntae Spencer intercepted a pass at the 18 yard line. After an Alex Smith interception diffused a promising drive at the Atlanta 38, the defense held Atlanta to a field goal preserving the lead before halftime. In the fourth quarter, a linebacker blitz stuffed Mike Lewis for a six yard loss, forcing a punt and giving the offense a chance to either extend the lead or run out the clock.

With three minutes remaining in the game, the defense appeared ready for a final stand when the offense fizzled again after an awful play by Alex Smith resulted in a ten yard penalty and a loss of down. (Through four games Smith has already thrown seven interceptions and currently has a passer rating of 66.1). But the momentum seemed to swing Atlanta’s way after the fumble recovery, and the defense may have been fatigued after being on the field for two possessions.

For a second straight week, the offense played terrible. If you subtract the punt block recovery in the end zone early in the game, the only scoring done by the 49ers was on the opening drive touchdown which was aided by a pass interference penalty on the Falcons. The 49ers never reached the red zone again.  

While it’s true that none of the receivers are stepping up and the offensive line has been anything but reliable this season, a puzzling question remains: why is Alex Smith still the starting quarterback?

The 49ers haven’t had a winning record for seven seasons and they still can’t fill the biggest hole on their roster.

While there may be a slew of quarterbacks available for the upcoming draft, there are still 12 games remaining on the schedule.

How nice would it be if the 49ers could actually move the ball down the field without doing something stupid once they reach the 30 yard line? Replacing Alex Smith won’t solve the problem entirely, but it’ll certainly be a step in the right direction.

The only problem is none of the back-up quarterbacks will be much of an improvement.

This may sound absurd, but Joe Montana looked pretty good throwing the ball in those Sketchers commercials.