The 4th season of 49ers head coach Mike Nolan looks so much like the 3rd. San Francisco entered the fourth quarter of Sunday's game vs the Eagles leading comfortably 26-17 until chaos erupted. After Akers' 38-yard field goal put Philadelphia ahead with 7:46 to play, Quintin Mikell's interception return to the San Francisco 7 set up another short field goal. Trent Cole then swatted the ball out of quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan's hands, and Chris Clemons recovered to set up another field goal with 1:10 left.San Francisco got past midfield with one last drive, but O'Sullivan threw a pass directly to Juqua Parker, who returned it 55 yards for a score with 38 seconds left. The Eagles owned the quarter scoring 23 points and securing a victory by the score of 40-26. For the Eagles it was an amazing come from behind win that improved their record to 3-3. With the Redskins losing to the Rams and Dallas losing to Arizona (and now Tony Romo out for a month), the win proves Philly's season is far from over.
For the 49ers it could mean another long year. Their record stands at 2-4 and they are 2 games behind the confident 4-2 Cardinals. San Fran has the (gulp) Giants followed by the hurting Seahawks before they head into their bye. A 2-6 mark heading into that bye week could possibly cost Mike Nolan his job if reports are in fact true. It will almost certainly mean the 49ers will miss the playoffs for the 6th consecutive year. Just yesterday the 49ers made a huge comeback during the 2002 wild card to defeat the Giants, or so it seems. Now a days in the bay area you just hope for dreams like that. Mike Nolan should not have returned this season as coach, now thats a fact, but because he did the team was still hoping for something. The offense has improved, if just slightly, the defense somehow someway has become much worse and yet the coach at the top remains. Heading into the 4th quarter leading by 9 points is enough for most good teams to win, unfortunately for the 49ers they are far from "good". Journeyman J.T. O'Sullivan looked completely lost and made several critical errors especially that late interception in the game. Martz proclaimed O'Sullivan to be the best qb he has had, really? Better than Warner or Bulger? Both qb's won their games yesterday. So it seems.
Another week, another game in which Nolan will coach the team. 49er fans still have some hope as the NFC west is by far the worst division in the Leagu. The Rams are 1-4, Seattle is extremely injury depleted this season, and the Cardinals are still the Cardinals. 8 wins can grab this division and the 49ers still have 4 or 5 very winnable games on the schedule. Now that doesn't mean the 49ers will win the division or run the table by any means. For fans that may be the thought, but for actual realists one can certainly envision a repeat of last year's 5-11 record or worse. The team has several problems at offensive line, quarterback, defensive line, and without question the head coach. Nolan at times has no real idea what he is doing, he has been with the team for 4 years and still the same poor results. It is time for the 49ers to make new changes and fix the problems that have been following the team for nearly 6 years. This year is far from over, but it just seems over already.
