Rams 42, 49ers 20

SAME OLD 49ERS OUTCLASSED BY RAMS

October 14, 1999 (NHS) -- With the final minute elapsing in Backup Bowl II, Sunday's embarrassing 42-20 blowout, St. Louis fans screamed for blood. After all, this was the 49ers, the epitome of everything wrong in pro sports. This is the team that pulls every sleazy maneuver possible then touts themselves as classy. This is the team that plays the cheesiest brand of football then touts themselves as great. This is the team that Rams coaches yelled at last year when the 49ers ran pass plays at the end of a game to pad Steve Young's stats and show-up the Rams. Even in this game, they sent felon and women-beater Lawrence Phillips in for a touchdown in an attempt to rub St. Louis' nose in it. Justice surely demanded the equivalent of the death penalty, Rams backup RB Justin Watson plunging over a whimpering Ken Norton, Jr., to seal the deal.

Dick Vermeil, however, decided he would not sate the appetites of the hungry fans. He claimed "the cheapest thing to do is show class." He mentioned how it would be foolish to run up the score since these teams meet again in a couple weeks. He mentioned that some guys on the other side were his friends.

All true, and it was nice to see the 49ers -- the team that self-proclaimed they "win with class" in an official slogan -- get a lesson in true class. But this act was more than just class, it was more than being prudent, it was more than friendship. It was pity. And out of everything that hurt for the 49ers last Sunday, that is what stung the 49ers the most. That act exposed a simple realization: the 49ers are a team in need of pity. They are pitiful.

The Game

What's truly pitiful is how antiquated the "West Coast Offense" looks. Sure, the Rams blew through the 49ers defense like it wasn't there, but that's no story. Everybody already knew that the 49ers defense is pathetic. Even the media had been harping on the weak DBs. And although it was a hilarious come-uppance to see Isaac Bruce run circles around the 49ers secondary after Tim McDonald and coach Jim Mora bragged about how they were going to rough up the Rams receivers physically, everyone saw that coming, too.

The real story is how the vaunted 49er offensive system of throwing passes traveling downfield two yards or less seems to be on its way out. While it is clear that the Rams have a much better backup QB in Kurt Warner, it is also clear that Warner has something going for him that Jeff Garcia does not: an exciting, winning offensive game plan.

The Rams offense is retro; it's throw-back football. It's reminiscent of the good old days when quarterbacks actually threw deep, not two-yard slants. It's the vertical game. It's Air Coryell. It's the true West Coast Offense, the antithesis of that misnamed cheesy system Bill Walsh put together. Instead of trying to figure out ways on paper to weasel around having to compete with the man across from you, the Rams' system says, "Here's what we're going to do, try and stop us." And usually what they are trying to do is exactly opposite of the classic 49er dump-off pass. Vermeil summed up the offensive philosophy perfectly: "The 4-yard gain is overrated. Sid Gillman told me that. Why get 4 yards when you can get 40?" Adds Isaac Bruce, "This offense isn't really that hard. It's a lot of vertical stuff, kind of mixing in the run."

While the game was certainly yet another occasion where the 49er Facade was ripped to shreds and reduced to its ugly truth, their were a couple moments that it looked like the good ol' "49er mystique" would once again rear its ugly face. Don't let the fancy media-canned term fool you: the translation of "49er mystique" is "all the lucky bounces, breaks, referee calls and opponent blunders that allow the 49ers to cheese wins." It is the same old question leading into every 49er game, "How are the 49ers going to win without earning it today?"

That question was almost answered early, when the 49ers' first punt of the day was fumbled by Rams returner Az-zahir Hakim. Presiding over the subsequent scrum to recover the ball, one excited referee signaled the ball belonged to his favorite 49ers, but when Hakim emerged with the ball, possession remained with the Rams. It was the correct call, but how many times have we seen the 49ers get such calls, correct or not? Indeed, after the game, many 49ers were pointing to that play as significant, because if there's a fumbled punt, lucky bounce or call by the referees, it is always supposed to go for the 49ers' benefit -- because, after all, they are the 49ers and that's their "mystique". When that play didn't, it signaled the day would be different.

There were other incidents, such as Jerry Rice's blatant pushing-off going unnoticed, but more importantly the classic referee 49er-Huddle in the 2nd quarter. The Huddle occurred when Hakim tried to field another 49er punt and was interfered with by rookie Pierson Prioleau. A flag was thrown, but after the refs gathered and discussed (the Huddle), it was decided Prioleau was blocked into Hakim. Replays showed otherwise. The play backed the Rams up and, as typical with a bogus call for the 49ers' benefit, led to a 49ers' touchdown when Warner fumbled the ball into the endzone upon being sacked. This sequence of events covered up the 49ers' actual production on the day: 13 offensive points.

Other highlights of the game included Tony Horne's kickoff return that busted the game open, once again smearing the reputation of the most overrated special teams coach in football, George Stewart. And let's not forget the 49ers' attempts on 3rd-and-1 then later on 3rd-and-2 to actually run the ball, once again showing coach Steve Mariucci's arrogance and ignorance. The 49ers look at their stats and read the press that misinterprets these numbers to claim the 49ers actually possess a semblance of a running game, when in fact, they don't. Coach Mooch roams the sidelines believing he has this powerful running game, so he called the two running plays, and the Rams easily stuffed the 49ers both times. And what 49er loss would be complete without the 49ers throwing their typical little temper tantrums? As time ticked off, scuffling matches broke out and flags were thrown as 49ers dealt with losing with their typical 49er class.

The Problem

Ok, with all this good news, what's the problem? As you know, hating the 49ers is not about wins and losses, it's about the 49er Problem: the arrogance, ignorance, hypocrisy and double-standards unique to the 49ers. And the biggest problem following Sundays' bloodbath was summed up in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Not only did last week's victory over San Francisco leave the Rams as the NFL's only unbeaten team, it legitimized them as a force to be reckoned with this season."

By beating the 49ers, the Rams are now being taken seriously, which has a horrifically incorrect implication -- the implication that the Rams beat a good team in the 49ers. We just want to make sure everyone is avoiding this implication, because the 49ers are definitely not a good team. While the Rams deserve credit for establishing themselves as the front-runner in their division, it needs to be remembered that the division is still the NFC Worst, and they still have yet to prove themselves against a real opponent. The real importance for the Rams appeared later in the Post-Dispatch when they remarked, "the Rams (needed) to prove that they could free themselves from nearly a decade of football oppression." Of course, if Tony Banks wasn't personally handing the 49ers three to four turnovers a game over the past three years, the oppression would have been over long ago.

The 49er Problem is also being found in the same old excuses following every 49er loss. The Steve Young injury, of course, was being pandered to without shame with the unmistakable insistence that the 49ers could have beat the Rams if "Mr. Tough Guy" was suited up. The nationwide sports news ticker distributed an article entitled, "QB Young sits, 49ers fall to Rams". Yes, that's right. One caused the other, right? And here's the lead to the story:

"ST. LOUIS (TICKER) -- Without perennial Pro Bowl quarterback Steve Young, the San Francisco 49ers were unable to continue their decade-long domination of the St. Louis Rams."

Just perfectly unbiased coverage of the game from our nation's neutral sports media.

"J.T. the Brick", a radio talk show host who appears on, of all places, the Raiders flagship radio station, remarked, "the Rams haven't beaten anybody, and when they played the 49ers, their best player (Young) was out."

Funny, J.T. didn't get around to mentioning Trent Green's injury, or that while Garrison Hearst is missing for the 49ers, the Rams lost their numbers one AND two running backs, Marshall Faulk and Robert Holcombe, most of the game due to injury -- the point once again being that every team has injuries, but when they happen to the 49ers, they are allowed to excuse away every loss. Not to be left out, the San Francisco Chronicle chimed in, "To be fair, Walker, who missed the Tennessee game with a strained hamstring, may not have been 100 percent." So you see? It's not the 49ers' fault they were torched over and over or were offensively anemic! It was Walker's evil hamstring!

The Chronicle also has officially accepted Jeff Garcia as a 49er, proffering an excuse on his behalf: "His three interceptions, all in the fourth quarter, were the consequence of playing catch-up football". Translation: when forced to actually throw the ball more than two yards downfield, Garcia showed he can't. Of course, we want to be fair to Garcia, too, by noting the 49er offensive line can't block for anything more than a one-step drop.

Excuses are not all that comprises the 49er Problem. Among other things, there's also the pro-49er media bias, and there were many excruciating examples during the week. PSX / My Football Daily referred to the 49ers as "one of the top offenses in the NFL". Gee, last we looked the 49ers were ranked 20th in the NFL.

And we would be remiss if we left out lovable Al Michaels on Monday Night Football. As he embarked on a theory that the Jacksonville Jaguars aren't as impressive as they look because they haven't dominated anyone, he named off their supposedly unimpressive wins until he reached their game against the 49ers (if you recall, the Jags bitchslapped the Whiners, 41-3). Al stumbled a bit, realizing his mistake, then mumbled some words to the effect that "the season opener wasn't as bad as it looked" or "didn't count" or something similarly foolish.

Yep, he couldn't even bear to name the team that got shellacked, he just referred to the season opener. Michael's unbelievable 49er bias continues to show that football fans can't escape the 49er Problem. Even when we watch games that the 49ers aren't playing in -- even AFC games! -- we still have to suffer the ass-kissing.

Finally, the quote of the day has to go to Tim McDonald, who proudly declared to the media, "I'm not going to sit here and say exactly what happened." Now who would want that, eh?

What exactly happened is that the 49ers got their butts kicked and were clearly exposed as just a run-of-the-mill team in a year of NFL parity. But don't worry, they will find a way to survive, kind of like a cockroach in a nuclear explosion.

Speaking of which, interrupting the Rams' postgame celebration was Bill Walsh, who popped into Vermeil's press conference to spread the love. In the middle of the media throng, Walsh proclaimed that the Rams were "going all the way" (apparently, if you beat the mighty Niners, it means you must be going to the Super Bowl), and then added "I'm not supposed to smile, but what a great victory." Bet Walsh's players were happy to hear that one.

Regardless of what Walsh said, though, the point is that under the pretenses of his friendship with Vermeil, Walsh still managed to accomplish his primary goal: grabbing a piece of the spotlight. Guess it won't be too long before we are reading how Walsh taught Vermeil everything he knows.

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