October 2nd, 1994. Week 5. A humiliating home blowout loss against a so-so team drops the 49ers to 3-2. Is this sounding familiar?
No, this team is not the same team that had Jerry Rice and Steve Young. But here's the point: the team we saw on the field today was NOT the 2009 49ers. Know how I know that? Because I've been watching them play this season. Yes, they looked flat. They looked like they looked for the past 7 years, but the difference between those years and this year is that this year, this performance is out of character for this team.
Are they going to win 10 in a row like they did in 94? Highly unlikely. The reason I bring that game up is because it shows that even an all-time great team can have a week where they just utterly fail to show up in any facet of the game.
The sting and embarrassment of what we just witnessed should not taint the rest of the season- this is not Mike Nolan's 49ers. Singletary will not allow this to happen again. Sure, I thought he wouldn't allow it in the first place, but you better believe he's going to make the changes necessary to succeed. He has earned my trust with the decisions he's made since taking the team over, and I won't let one week out of 16 completely destroy that trust. We as niner fans have been burned so many times recently that our base instinct is to think the sky is falling after a showing like this, but I'm not going to do that today.
In 2 weeks we take the field against a pretty good team, but with the added strength of a pro-bowl running back and a young, dynamic wide receiver that could stretch the field and make some plays.
I think our guys maybe bought into their own hype just a little bit too much this last week, and maybe started taking the season for granted. Well, last time Singletary coached a blowout, his team came out absolutely inspired 2 weeks afterward and came within 1 yard of blowing up the division. The sky isn't falling- our guys got humbled today, and they sure as hell won't be taking any games for granted from here on out.
