So THAT'S why the offense has been conservative

Once a (pretty bad) team actually had the opportunity to gameplan against Alex Smith, we see that he is, in fact, nearly the same mediocre player that we were hoping would become something better than that. Very little has changed with him, and I fear that the 49ers' may be sitting in 6-10 land waiting for Smith to not suck for longer than necessary. He has the rest of this season. If he's not awesome by the end of it, get the fuck rid of his sorry brainy-will-never-be-ready-for-primetime ass and draft someone. These are years of a franchise's life going to waste. Frank Gore's career will likely be wasted. Willis' best years are being wasted. My Sunday afternoons are being wasted.

Eric beat me to the punch, but just in case any of us (or Mike Singletary) are under any illusions, this will not be a playoff team. The Arizona Cardinals, inconsistent as they may be, are a clearly better football team who has a two game lead and a cake schedule (only games against Minnesota and Green Bay are worth mentioning). So, the division is out.

Wildcard? The 49ers are competing with the Bears, Packers, Falcons, and 2/3 of the Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants for two spots. That's assuming that the only competition involves teams with better records than 3-5 (the 49ers have the same record as the freaking Seattle Seahawks). There is no chance.

So, just eight games into the season, we already face the depressing reality that this will once again be a crappy football team that will not be "playing in January" as the kid owner put it.

The defense is good enough to not suck as it's been for a few years. Which is to say, they're just good enough to let you down week to week. The offensive line is crap. The quarterback is crap. If Singletary says anything ridiculous about the playoffs or anything else after this game, he will become Mike Nolan 2.0 in my eyes: delusional, lost on offense, and just not effective. He's already two out of three.