Week 10 - winning ugly

On Sunday the Cardinals wiped the floor with the Chicago bears to the tune of 41-21. Last night the 49ers narrowly avoided LOSING....at HOME...to that same team. Oh, sure, it's the NFL, and a win's a win. But a 10-6 squeaker -- on a night where Jay (Santa Claus) Cutler seemed to have an interception for every stocking -- is NOT exactly making a statement. Okay, so he only threw 5 interceptions to 5 different players, including the NOSE TACKLE...still very Santa like, wouldn't you say?

The only touchdown scored by the Niners was set up by a 51-yard interception return. The only sustained drives the Niners managed were their first (which resulted in a missed field goal) and last (which ran almost 6 1/2 minutes off the clock). It was a complete offensive snooze-fest.

Alex Smith played a solid if decidedly unspectacular game. Frank Gore had a MONSTER 4th quarter to end up with 104 yards rushing. Josh Morgan made a HUGE fumble recovery to save one drive that resulted in a field goal. That was the extent of the offense. Really.

The defense played well, particularly Nose Tackle Aubrayo Franklin, who is quickly becoming one of the best NTs in the NFL. He actually DROPPED INTO COVERAGE on the play where he made his interception. Who drops a Nose Tackle into coverage? How cool is THAT?!?!?

I actually saw Patrick Willis miss a tackle for the first time last night...and he did it TWICE. A very un-Willis-like game, to be sure. Still he was, as is his habit, a force on defense.

Still, I'm not happy about BEAR-ly beating a sorry team like Chicago. The Bears came within 8 seconds and 12 yards of winning this game. The Niners really need to get their offensive shit together. If they don't, it's going to be yet another disappointing season.