49ers give away shot at winning
TIMES COLUMNIST
The quarterback who gave the 49ers the best chance to win was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday. If Mike Nolan's No. 1 goal is winning the division, then he should not have replaced Tim Rattay at quarterback.
The beef isn't with Nolan's decision to start No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith, even if it was obvious before his first game that he wasn't ready. It's the mixed messages that the 49ers coach keeps sending. If winning now is the goal, then why trade Rattay, the most accomplished passer on the roster? Rattay is not the long-term solution. In his defense, however, in his past 13 starts he was surrounded with what might be the worst offensive personnel ever for a non-expansion team.
Much has been made of his 11 fourth-quarter interceptions, but nobody mentions that he had his overmatched team in position to win in the fourth quarter in several of those games, which is quite a feat, considering.
Nolan could justify starting Smith if his goal was to win while developing young players. In that case, however, wouldn't keeping Rattay in case Smith is injured be the prudent thing to do? Isn't Rattay better than third-stringer Ken Dorsey?
It doesn't make sense. Nolan said winning the NFC West was his No. 1 goal despite a talent-depleted roster. Then he gives away linebacker Jamie Winborn for a seventh-round pick. Then he claims Smith gives the team its best chance to win when that's clearly not the case. Then he trades the quarterback who does give his team a chance, however slim, for another late-round pick.
If you acquire 10 late-round picks, do you get one free? If he wants to start Smith and trade Rattay, fine, but he should admit that he's not trying to win this year, but next year and the year after. There's nothing wrong with that. It's what he should be trying to do given recent events, even if Smith has shown not a glimmer of the ability it takes to make the kind of plays that prompted Nolan to make the switch in the first place.
Meantime, as Mr. Smith prepares to go to Washington, where the NFL's fifth-ranked defense is licking its chops, Nolan is right about one thing.
After the Dallas game, he repeatedly claimed that the 49ers were not a 2-14 team.
They can only aspire to such lofty heights.