FanHouse JimHostler

The 49ers have had been pretty busy this offseason. They got rid of offensive coordinator Jim Hostler and replaced him with Mike Martz, used the first two picks of the draft to upgrade the defensive and offensive lines, have a legit quarterback competition, and signed Bryant Johnson and DeShaun Foster to bolster the wide receiver and running back corps, respectively.

Except that not everybody is convinced Foster will be much help to Frank Gore. Pro Football Weekly quotes an anonymous NFL scout/coach/front-office type who isn't all that impressed with Foster:

"DeShaun Foster led the league in fumbles (lost, by a running back) last year. He was never a superfast guy, and when he gained weight, his play really fell off. He needs to keep his weight off to have a chance (in San Francisco)."

Yeah, but other than that, he was awesome. Football Outsiders have been down on Foster for a couple years now ("We think he's very overrated. He happens to have really good games whenever he's on television or playing Atlanta. But a lot of the times he's running into the line for a yard or two every time and then maybe breaking one for 15 and that's the one that shows up on SportsCenter."), so the concerns are hardly new.

Presumably, the 49ers know this, but for $1.8 million over two years, you can't blame them for taking a shot. Worst case: he bombs, San Francisco releases him, and we all get on with out lives. On the other hand, if he's serviceable, and is able to give Gore the occasional breather, it's probably worth a lot more than $1.8 million.

Yesterday, MDS mentioned that 49ers head coach Mike Nolan is in no rush to pick a quarterback, but he did admit to being impressed with 2005 first-round pick Alex Smith, telling the San Francisco Chronicle that he's seen Smith "do things that I haven't seen him do before, in practice or in games."

Like getting rid of the ball before getting pancaked by a 220-pound blitzing safety. Novel idea. But here's the thing: as much as fans and the media like to give Smith the business, apparently, the offense's level of sucktitude had more to do with former offensive coordinator Jim Hostler.

The Press Democrat's Matt Maiocco learned earlier this week that San Francisco has now installed "hot reads" as a part of the overall offensive philosophy. Anybody with even a rudimentary understanding of Madden knows that a hot read is a route adjustment by a would-be pass catcher because the defense is showing blitz. The idea, simply, is for the quarterback to get the ball out of his hands, stat.

Thank God for Mike Martz, I guess. But Maiocco wonders why the team didn't implement it until now. Good question.

Brian Billick will eventually have company on the unemployment line, but it's not coming from San Francisco. Turns out, a vote of confidence for once actually held true to its name, because after supporting Mike Nolan this season, the 49ers have decided to keep the coach for another go'round ... with a caveat.

As has been rumored, the 49ers are removing personnel decisions from Nolan's job description, and it appears, as has also been rumored, that Scot McCloughan is being promoted to GM.

Nolan's return was contingent on the fact that he fire offensive coordinator Jim Hostler, who was universally disliked in the locker room. His replacement is rumored to be Mike Martz, which is awesome, because Martz can establish an offense that falls far short of his reputation as an offensive genius and ignores its best weapon in Frank Gore. Totally the right choice. And what about Alex Smith, who seemingly can't get along with Nolan?

Quarterback Alex Smith, with whom Nolan clashed on several occasions this past season, is likely to return to the team after missing the final seven games with a separated right shoulder. It is believed that Nolan's willingness to iron out his issues with Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in the '05 draft, was contingent upon his retention by the Yorks.

I don't know about how this is all shaking out. Maybe the 49ers do become the 2008 version of the Browns. There's a lot of offseason to shape the team. But I don't really think this is the best start.

It seems as if the 49ers' season is falling apart at the seams -- from Frank Gore's questioning of Jim Hostler's hold on the locker room to the team's ridiculously-dejected body language on the field in last week's embarassing loss to the Saints, it just doesn't seem like the team has the moxie required to pull themselves up from the boot straps. But a funny thing might be happening in that locker room. The team seems to be rallying around Alex Smith.

It began when Smith recently began to adopt a more assertive role in the locker room and team meetings and continued when he stayed in the Saints game despite feeling obvious pain in the not-quite-healed shoulder the Saints continued to bang on.

"I was real impressed," said running back Frank Gore, who phoned Nolan after the game to tell him just that. ..."He kept getting banged up but stayed in the game and kept fighting. That (earned) a whole lot of respect."

Heitmann added: "From a leadership standpoint, I think that Alex has always had confidence in the huddles and on the field and so on. When you're able to play with pain, it shows much more of a lead-by-example mentality."
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"On a football field, toughness goes a long way with players," Nolan said. "A real long way."

Smith needs all the help he can get in the respect department -- at the beginning of the season, when players voted on captains, they gave the nod to Smith's backup, Trent Dilfer. Yeah, there's something not right about that.

The 49ers looked, kinda sorta, like they were heading in the right direction last season. Sure, most of their wins were close and quite a few of their losses were blowouts, but the fact remains: They managed a 7-9 record. That's progress from where they were before coach Mike Nolan arrived.

And now they're a mess. The offense can't do anything, and yesterday's loss was the fifth in a row. Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that this could be the end for Nolan.

So the 2007 49ers probably won't become the worst 49ers team of all time. But they have a shot at Most Disappointing.

If that happens, will Mike Nolan keep his job?

The clock has to be ticking on the Mike Nolan Era.

I find it awfully hard to believe that John and Denise York are going to fire Nolan when he still has two years left on his contract, which he will after this season. But I also don't see Nolan being able to keep his job without a fairly big shakeup of his coaching staff. Nolan might not be on the hot seat yet, but offensive coordinator Jim Hostler sure is.

As is typically wont to happen in the NFL, losing is breeding dissent in the 49ers locker room. Who knows how long it's been brewing, but it became public earlier this week when Frank Gore acknowledged that not all of the players were on board with offensive coordinator Jim Hostler's vision.

Now, it's only growing. Gore, and others, are openly pining to have Norv Turner back. Apparently, he had credibility (who knew?), something the inexperienced Hostler has yet to earn in the locker room. Trent Dilfer happens to disagree, which is incredible, because this offense has shortened his lifespan by about 20 years.

Even Mike Nolan is getting in on the act. He concedes Gore's point about the lack of respect for Hostler through typically-veiled coach speak, and admits that Gore has always been a pretty good evaluator of the team. Nolan didn't outright blame Hostler, but he didn't come to his defense either. He also used that coded language to blame Dilfer. It's one thing for players to turn on each other, and on coaches. But when the head coach is doing the same, things are getting really bad.

Heads up, 9er fans. Trent Dilfer still sucks. The offensive line still sucks. The players are turning on offensive coordinator Jim Hostler. But there's one beacon of light. Ashley Lelie.

After promising to take more shots downfield and utlilize the player so fast he fell from grace in the blink of an eye, the team actually followed through, targeting Lelie six times. The results? Two catches, 52 yards. Marvel at the gaudiness.

Lelie was so excited after his first catch of the millenium season, a 47-yarder down the sideline, that he spiked the ball and moved the team back five yards. In all fairness, he was just obeying team policy of pairing every good play with an undisciplined penalty. It's a 49er specialty. Later, Dilfer tried to hit Lelie deep in the endzone on 3rd-and-21, and not only could the speedy guy not beat his man downfield, he had to commit offensive pass interference to prevent Kevin Dockery from getting to the ball. Luckily, the Giants declined the penalty, because those 10 yards made all the difference in the battle for field position.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: it's nice to have Lelie back in vintage form.

49ers fans are looking for answers regarding an offense that ranks dead last in yards, points, and time of possession per game. But when one unit is so bad, there's no magic solution.

"It is a players' game and we need to keep sight of that," he said. "The game is made up of human error. If that wasn't the case, the X's and O's would be all that matter. We have to recognize the fact mistakes are being made. When you're making more mistakes than you should, you have to analyze why."

So Mike Nolan decided to forego Monday's practice for a team meeting. He did say, however, that playcalling duties would not be pulled from offensive coordinator Jim Hostler.

The problem is, a meeting is not going to fix what's wrong with the 49ers. An offseason will. When your players keep making mistakes, they're not mistakes. Those players are just poor.

I'm still willing to grant Alex Smith leeway, but the team does not have the offensive line to give him or Frank Gore any help. Joe Staley has been pleasant enough in his first season, but the other four are underachieving at best, awful at worst. The receivers, behind Darrell Jackson, inspire fear in no one. But what do you expect when they don't have enough time to get open? Unfortunately for fans, it's not a matter of turning the switch. Expect the 49ers to go heavy on offense in the draft and free agency. Unfortunately, there are a few more seven-point games to endure before then.

To get you ready for the season, FanHouse is previewing all 32 NFL teams. Here's San Francisco's outlook.

2006 Record: 7-9

2006 Offense: Frank Gore stepped into the upper echelon of running backs; unfortunately, the rest of the offense is a year or two behind. Still, this unit showed marked improvement over the second half of the year. Alex Smith made his bones without any real playmakers in the passing game, especially with Vernon Davis missing a chunk of his rookie year because of an injury. A lot of this has been attributed to the work of offensive coordinator/quarterback guru Norv Turner, who's now preparing to fail as a head coach again running the Chargers.

2006 Defense: The 49ers defense finished 26th last year, Mike Nolan's last employing the 4-3. That's what you'd about expect from a unit that, Manny Lawson aside, was comprised of aging, unspectacular veterans. The team ranked in the second half of the league in rush defense, pass defense, interceptions, and sacks. Pretty substandard all around. They also didn't benefit from weak field position (see below).