49ers 17, Cowboys 10

Media, fans proclaim bandwagon team is "for real";
Nation awakens to 49er Huddle

Following a week of half-hearted hype, Sunday's contest turned out to be just as expected. The 49ers, in typical style, relied on generous calls and circumstances to hold off the 4-5 Cowboys, a team struggling in every sense of the word. Also as expected, the media and 49er fans came away from the game declaring the 49ers the best team in the league despite the reality that all the 49ers proved was that they are a little better than a 4-5 team and still worse than Tampa Bay.

The San Jose Mercury headline said it all about how bad the 49er problem has become, "Real Answer: NFC West leaders validate 8-1 record". Of course, NHS said it best in the Fall, 1997, Season Preview issue of the NHS Newsletter: "You will know the truth, the NHS will print the truth, but everywhere else you will see the 49ers catapulted to the pinnacle of the predictions. This year may be the most important year in our history of 49er-hating."

It's almost a curse to be right so often, but it's a cross the NHS must bear. The bandwagon is more out of control than ever, but all it means to us is that, in the end, the inevitable crash when reality hits will be sweeter.

The "Test"

Following the less-than-decisive win over the struggling and depleted Cowboys, most of the 49ers -- along with their fans and media -- saw the game as a huge validation of their gaudy record. Tired of hearing about how their win-loss mark has been compiled at the hands of the bargain basement teams of the NFL, the Niners figured that the win over Dallas was proof positive that all is well in Niner-land.

"It's not a rivalry, it's war," explained Ken Norton of the SF-Dallas matchup, conveniently discounting the fact that the Cowboys of 1997 aren't the Cowboys of 1992-93 or even 1995. "The test is over with," added ex-Cowboy Kevin Gogan, "and we passed."

In reality, the game was a "test" only in the sense that Dallas, instead of making a bid for a transfer to the World League like the rest of the NFC West, finally brought some decent talent to the table. Unfortunately for Cowboy fans and/or Niner haters, the Cowboys simply aren't the dominating powerhouse that they were earlier in the decade. Their 4-5 record speaks much louder than the crowing from Niner players and media that Dallas is still a great team.

Sure, Dallas can still be tough. But many of the foundations of the team that won three Super Bowls in four years are long gone. Charles Haley -- gone. Darrin Smith -- gone. Daryl Johnston -- gone. Jay Novacek -- gone. Leon Lett -- gone (at least for a while). Decimated more than any other team by free-agency defection, and smacked with some key injuries this year, the Cowboys are struggling to stay afloat and may not even qualify for the playoffs. Of course, that won't stop the Niner fans and bandwagon media from losing perspective.

Stripping away the hype and rhetoric, what we're left with are a few simple facts:

Playing at home, the Niners won by seven points against a team with a record that is now under .500;
The Niner defense fared pretty well against the struggling Dallas offense, as expected;
The Niner offense had a tough time against the strong Dallas defense, as expected;
The Niners still haven't played a team with a winning record at the time of the game (more on that later).

Notice that the facts don't include any mention of the Niners "passing a test" or "answering their critics", as the media around the Bay Area is currently asserting. Yes, the Oakland Tribune wants us to believe that the "49ers overcame mistakes" to beat Dallas (as if the Cowboys didn't make any mistakes themselves) and that the Niners "responded to their critics who questioned the strength of SF's first-half schedule". What was the response -- "Yay! We beat another mediocre team!"?

Say all you will about the big 49er-Cowboy rivalry; there have been some close, quality games and there have been some spankings between the two teams over the last several years, and Dallas still holds the edge where it matters, in championship games. But all things considered, the win by the 49ers in this year's close game proves nothing aside from the fact that, as one Chronicle columnist mercifully noted, the Niners can beat losing teams from other divisions, too. While the Niners and their fans can celebrate their resounding win this week over the hated Cowboys, those of us in the know realize that the net result of the game is that San Francisco can add itself to the list of powerhouses like the Giants and Cardinals that have defeated the Cowboys in their home this year.

Media in 49er Fantasyland

Naturally the media is nuts over the 49ers and for the most part refuses to print reality. Sports Illustrated's big story following the game was entitled, "San Francisco proved it's for real..." Sick stomachs prevented us from reading any further.

Perhaps the most hilarious of the media comments was USA Today's declaration on November 5, 1997, that "The 49ers have successfully made the transition to a power running team." When you stop laughing, keep reading.

Yes, that's right, because the 49ers were able to muster over 100 yards against Dallas, their running game success is officially declared. Maybe the folks at USA Today were napping when FOX flashed the stat during the game that showed that Dallas gave up 131 yards (more than the 49ers gained all game) in the second half ALONE the previous week. So if FOX could figure it out, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the 49ers' second half running success wasn't a tribute to them, but more a tribute to a Cowboys' weakness.

This isn't to say that the entire game was gifted to the 49ers. The one 49er highlight was J.J. Stokes' beautiful catch on the Steve Young misfire for the winning score. Sure, Kevin Smith missed his bump, but the NHS gives credit where credit is due, and Stokes deserves praise for that catch. Of course, it does little to overrule the last couple years of his mediocrity.

49er football at its best: the overturned penalty

We're not going to dwell on the pass interference penalty on Michael Irvin that never was. Yes, we condemn the officiating and find the way things went down to be an affront to everything decent. But you remember, we fully described this referee tactic -- the "49er huddle" -- just 2 weeks ago in the Falcons game summary, so why waste our breath again?

Regardless, it was encouraging to see many of the usual mainstream promulgators of the 49er bandwagon actually highlight the penalty -- ESPN's Sportszone for example. Even John Madden denounced the call-then-no-call. Unfortunately, nobody mentioned that the 49er Huddle is standard operating procedure for the 49ers. That it's happened twice in three weeks and over and over again over the years should have made headlines.

We took a lot of heat from 49er fans printing our script of what exactly goes on in the referee 49er Huddle, yet the San Francisco Chronicle printed this last Monday:

According to Irvin, who has never written a screenplay but whose life might make for a great one, the following exchange took place on the field:

Referee who threw flag: "I saw tripping and a guy grabbing at his shirt."

Referee No. 2: "I think they just got their legs tangled."

Referee who threw flag: "Think I should pick it up?"

Referee No. 2: "Yeah, let's pick it up."

That Irvin is echoing our sentiments and the Chronicle printed it in almost the exact fashion we did two weeks ago says volumes. No, the Chronicle probably wasn't ripping us off -- after all, our version was much more colorful and probably more correct -- and Irvin's validation is not unlike when Tampa's Hardy Nickerson publicly voiced what we have asserted all along: that the referees are swayed by the so-called "49er tradition".

Also ignored in the mainstream press were more same old elements we see in just about every 49er game. Deion Sanders intercepted a pass that didn't count because Shante Carver allegedly jumped offsides. Naturally, no replay was shown, but it sure looked like Carver got back in time. And the icing on the cake was the shanked punt that led to the typical grandiose 49er scoring drive of 39 whole yards. No bias there, but just another favorable circumstance to add to the intangibles column.

The Schedule Farce Continues

Since week two's showdown with that mighty Rams team that was 1-0 after beating the Saints, nine weeks have passed since the Niners have had to play a team with a winning record at the time of the game. This is bad enough as it is, but by losing to the lowly Cardinals, Philadelphia brings a 4-5 record going into this week's game so the streak gets another week of life. Not only that, but seeing as Carolina travels to Denver next week, the Panthers will probably be 5-5 going into the Week 12 rematch with the Niners. Week 13 brings the Chargers, currently 4-5, to 3Com Park, so conceivably it could be 13 weeks before the Niners play a team with a winning record. Yeah, we know, we know -- "The Niners' weak schedule isn't their fault!" No, it isn't, but before everyone hands the Niners the Super Bowl trophy based on their stellar 8-1 record, people should keep that reality check in mind.

Lest anyone think that the Niners' schedule isn't as bad as we're saying, we'll give you the numbers flat out -- the combined record of the 49ers' opponents so far is 27-54, which translates into a winning percentage of .333, meaning the Niners' opponents so far this year have an average record of 3-6 at this point. Of course, we get the inevitable whining from Niner fans: "The reason that the opponents' records are so bad is because the Niners contribute to the losses!" Okay, subtracting the Niner games from the cumulative record, we come up with 26-40, which comes to a .394 record. Better, but not by much. That .394 winning percentage is good enough for a team to fashion all of six wins over a 16-game season. So excuse us if we don't hand the 49ers the Lombardi Trophy just yet.

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