San Francisco 49ers: How They Can Win (the NFC West) for Losing

Maybe, just maybe, Mike Singletary will have the last laugh after all.

After finishing off the woefully inept Arizona Cardinals 27-6 at University of Phoenix Stadium on Monday night, in what was unquestionably their most -- or to be more accurate, only -- dominating performance of the season, Singletary's charges have improved to 4-7 and sit only a game out of the NFC West division lead, with five to play.

Moreover, thanks to Seattle's home loss against the Chiefs yesterday, the schedule has now shifted, if not in the 49ers' favor, than at least to the point where they can win the division even without having to pull off an unthinkable upset next Sunday at Green Bay or a couple of weeks down the road against red hot San Diego.

Literally all the 49ers have to do to finish tops in the division with a 7-9 record is to win their three remaining division games, versus the Seahawks on Dec. 12, at St. Louis the day after Christmas, and the regular season finale against these same Cardinals, only at the 'stick, this time. Of the three, the obvious question mark is that week 16 tilt at the Edward Jones Dome, where rookie quarterback Sam Bradford has been playing superbly.

Right now it's still hard to picture the Niners winning that one, but it's not completely out of the realm of possibility, like the Packers and Chargers trips are.

The Seahawks, losers of four of their last five, have a home gimme against the 1-10 Carolina Panthers before their away tilt at San Francisco, back home again against the Atlanta Falcons, who may be the best team in the NFC, and away to Tampa. They might be staring at a three-game losing skid and a 6-9 record, before they finish up at home against the Rams, in a game that will very likely be relevant for them.

The Rams, meanwhile, will travel to Arizona next Sunday and beat up the Cardinals every bit as badly as the Niners did, to get to 6-6. After that though they visit the defending champion Saints, then get the those frisky Chiefs at home for Missouri bragging rights. Even if they win that one, they'd be 7-7 going into the Niners game.

If somehow our guys pull the upset, then the Rams would need to beat the Seahawks on the road in their season finale to get to 8-8.

It goes without saying that not only do the Rams look like the "class" of the division, but they also have the most favorable schedule. Still, the 49ers have a shot and are looking a lot healthier now than they did 48 hours ago, even if Frank Gore is not.

By now of course you've heard that Gore has suffered a fractured right hip and will be lost for the season. Yet before his teammates and the fans could even stop to consider the ramifications of his injury, up stepped Brian Westbrook, who's got two Pro Bowls on his resume just like Gore, to show he's still got some juice left in his legs.

All of a sudden his signing and subsequent hibernation by Singletary is looking like a fairly prescient move.

While we all complained about how one-dimensional (or if you prefer, Gore-dimensional) the offense was -- how a talent like Westbrook was being completely wasted because the coaches weren't imaginative to use him in concert with Gore, Singletary envisioned this eventuality all along.

While current offensive coordinator Mike Johnson, his predecessor Jimmy Raye and Singletary have all trotted out the weekly song and dance about pledging to involve Westbrook more in their game plans, "Coach Sing" made it very clear when Westbrook was acquired that he was going to be an insurance policy first and foremost.

He never looked at Westbrook as a platoon partner for Gore because he never viewed Westbrook to be as good as Gore. To his way of thinking, the best players play, period (unless they're highly drafted rookies).

Don't even get Singletary started on the topic of Gore and Westbrook lining up in the backfield together. That falls into the category of trickery and as the Denver Broncos can tell you, Singletary isn't in the trickery business.

Now, after being in mothballs all season, it's Westbrook's show. Is he as good as Gore? No. But Niners fans who aren't familiar with his career as an Eagle will be surprised at how little the drop-off between the two is.

It's true that Westbrook is 31, and has an injury history as substantial as any player's in the league. But he enters December as the freshest starting running back in the league and the 49ers will get the absolute best of whatever he's got left.

He looked darn good against Arizona, but they're so terrible -- and so openly quit during the half -- that we won't get a true measure of Westbrook until next Sunday.

Singletary is also looking wise on the quarterback front, where Troy Smith has now won three of his four starts. He wasn't brilliant by any means on Monday, but he made really the one throw he had to make, on a play-action laser to Michael Crabtree after an Arizona fumble, before dialing it back into game manager mode the rest of the way.

An optimist might say that Smith will get a chance to show what he do next week at Green Bay. A realist thinks the 49ers coaches have already considered the division's scheduling implications and will play it extremely close to the vest in Lambeau, saving their best stuff (and their on-the-mend players) for Seattle in two weeks.

Not to say that they're already conceding defeat in that one, but this weekend's results no longer makes that game a must win in 49erland, not with divisional fish to fry.

Winning a three-way tie at 7-9 to win the NFC West? You can judge for yourself whether it's an accomplishment worth writing home about, but home is exactly where the team could find itself for a 17th game if the cards fall right.

The Cards fell tonight for sure, and because they did, the 49ers have life.