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Adversity faced: After posting 10 or more wins in 16 consecutive seasons, the
49ers finally learned how the other half lives. Injuries to QB Steve Young and RB Garrison
Hearst greased the skids to failure for the 49ers.
How the team coped: After starting the season 3-1, the 49ers completely
unraveled, winning only one game the rest of the season. During the last 12 games of the
season, the 49ers lost by two touchdowns or more eight times.
If it is early morning down on the farm, you can depend on the sun rising and the
roosters crowing.
If it is rush hour in a major city, you can depend on traffic being backed up.
If it is football season in the NFL, you can depend on the San Francisco 49ers winning
at least 10 games. Until last year.
After all, the 49ers had won 10-or-more games a season in 16 consecutive seasons
heading into the 1999 campaign. They had made the playoffs in 15 of those 16 seasons.
The 1999 season, however, proved why so few additions are made to death and taxes in
the category of things certain to happen.
The regular-season opener gave a hint of things to come, when the 49ers were dissected
like a laboratory frog in a 41-3 loss to the Jaguars.
Playing without injured RB Garrison Hearst, who would ultimately miss the entire
season, the 49ers’ running game was ineffective. Of course, the 49ers’ offensive
stars who did play were almost as invisible. QB Steve Young completed only 9-of-26 passes
for 96 yards with two interceptions. WR Jerry Rice caught a mere two passes for 17 yards.
"We seemed a little helpless," 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci said.
"There didn’t seem like much we could do about it. What I told the players is
that we have so much to correct, starting with me. We’ve got to catch better, throw
better, pass-protect better, tackle better, block better."
Other than that, it was a nice day for a 49ers football game.
The question of the day was whether the 49ers had just been swamped by a tidal wave or
merely sprung a leak that could be patched up by their winning history.
"You’ve got to figure San Francisco will be back next week," Jaguars CB
Jason Craft said. "They’re a good team. They just got knocked off balance a
little."
The 49ers regained their balance with three straight wins, including a victory over a
Titans team that would earn a berth in the Super Bowl at the end of the season.
The win over the Titans was especially impressive since it came without Young at
quarterback. Young had suffered a concussion the week before against the Cardinals. As the
49ers prepared to play the Titans, the official word was that Young would miss at least a
week and possibly more because of the concussion.
Emphasis on "and possibly more." Young would not throw another pass the rest
of the season.
Their record may have been 3-1, but their ship had more than a leak. It was about to
sink. Team overboard.
A 22-point loss to the Rams followed the 49ers’ win over the Titans. Then came a
two-point loss at home to a Carolina team that was 1-3 entering the contest. This was
followed by a 24-point road loss to Minnesota and a 21-point defeat at home to a
Pittsburgh team that would finish the season with a 6-10 record.
The 49ers had gone from 3-1 to 3-5, and they liked it about as much as a trip to the
dentist to have a tooth drilled.
"This is eating at me little by little," said Rice, who was limited to two
catches for two yards against the Steelers.
"I have never been in a situation like this because we’ve been very
productive over the years. It’s hard to deal with, but you’ve just got to keep
your chin high and hope something happens where we can turn it around."
Hope. For as long as anyone could remember, the 49ers didn’t have to depend on
hope. But in this season that was about to go from bad to worse, "hope" rhymed
with "nope."
After years and years of consistent excellence, it was the 49ers’ turn to learn
what consistent losing was all about.
Next up was a road game against the woeful Saints, a team that would finish the season
with a 3-13 record.
With Young out of action, the 49ers had been using Jeff Garcia as their No. 1
quarterback. Against the Saints they decided to shuffle the deck in hopes of getting a
better hand by making Steve Stenstrom the starting quarterback.
"We’ve gone through several games where we’re not as proficient throwing
the football as we would like to be," Mariucci said. "We’ve made just about
as many moves as we could in other areas, so we’re going to try another quarterback.
(Stenstrom) is experienced. He’s got a good arm. Hopefully, he’s a good
decision-maker, and that might add some spunk to our passing game."
Note the words "hopefully" and "might." The 49ers were grasping at
straws by now, willing to try anything in hopes of righting their ship.
"It’s devastating, man," Rice said. "I’m dealing with it day
by day, but after tasting the icing on the cake over the years, this is bitter."
Mariucci said, "It’s not easy for anybody. It’s not easy for a team if
they’ve been there before. That’s one of the challenges that all of us coaches
will face at times in our career. They’ve got to push the right buttons, because
it’s a long season, and we’re only halfway through it."
Back to the drawing board. After losing to the Saints 24-6, the team had to be
wondering if any of the buttons available were the right ones to push. So many buttons. So
few that were working.
"There are no words to describe this," 49ers S Tim McDonald said.
"We’re just not very good. We’re letting some things snowball on us. We
better stop it, or it could get pretty embarrassing."
San Francisco LB Winfred Tubbs said, "It’s like a nightmare, and I’m
waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me up to tell me we’re 8-2 or 9-1."
Having received no wake-up call, the 49ers were contemplating a call to retired QB Jeff
Hostetler. As the loss to the Saints showed, the results were no better with Stenstrom at
quarterback than Garcia.
Still, was a retired quarterback really the answer? Has anyone seen a needle in a
haystack?
"We’ve talked about it and said, ‘Why not?’ Let’s give him a
call and see if he’s interested," said Mariucci about the possibility of signing
Hostetler. "We’ll visit with him. All it costs us right now is a plane flight.
We’ll know more later."
Hostetler would never become a 49er, and what once looked like a few leaks to be
plugged was now looking more and more like a piece of Swiss cheese. Holes everywhere.
Quarterback was a problem. The team’s star wideouts were not setting the world on
fire. The defense was giving up yardage as though a tax deduction went with such
generosity.
"It’s just not happening," said Rice, who had to feel like a broken
record. "I wish I had an answer for you, but I’m lost."
Finally, it seemed the bills were all coming due for the 49ers. After so many years of
winning despite a free-agency system designed to create parity, the 49ers now had an aging
roster, salary-cap problems and a variety of other problems. At long last, they were
paying the price. With a maxed-out credit card, the 49ers were learning they did not have
many options.
"We’re a team in transition," 49ers GM Bill Walsh said. "We’ve
lost a number of outstanding players over the years and, in a sense, failed to replace
them. Then it just boils down to this kind of thing."
Still, for all of their problems, the biggest was that Young was no longer available to
serve as a gigantic Band-Aid to cover up all of the 49ers’ wounds.
"Steve Young has been carrying this franchise on his shoulder for the last eight,
nine years," Walsh said. "Without Steve, then everything begins to break
down."
Continued on Page 2
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