Monday, December 01, 2008

By Tim Kawakami

last updated: October 14, 2008 03:44:20 AM

Throw the red flag!

Maybe the Mike Nolan Era can be reviewed and reversed and the San Francisco 49ers can start again with somebody who knows what he's doing.

It's so easy to see, right?

Everything is wrong, and not just counting Sunday's bewildering 40-26 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Candlestick.

Nothing is right about Nolan's knotty 49ers, and Sunday's best examples were a few more of Nolan's consistently befuddling replay challenges.

"Naturally, there's a lot of things to learn from the game," Nolan said afterward. "Enough mistakes, obviously, in this game that cost us."

But Sunday, they mostly were his mistakes. He didn't say that. He didn't add that part.

His mistakes. He's the one who hasn't learned. That's reviewable. That's eminently reversible.

The first Nolan challenge Sunday, on an Eagles reception by DeSean Jackson that was obviously a catch, was early and wrong. The second challenge, on the go-ahead 38-yard field goal by Eagles kicker David Akers in the fourth quarter that sailed over the right upright, was late and astoundingly wrong.

Both failed challenges cost a timeout, and though Nolan was correct in saying afterward that they alone did not cost the 49ers this game, they sure didn't help.

Nothing Nolan does seems to help matters -- because he doesn't know what he's doing, and he's being helped in the coaches' box by Paraag Marathe, who doesn't know what he's doing. Everybody who watches the 49ers knows more than anybody who actually runs the 49ers.

I mean, after the game, we tried to get Nolan to explain the reasoning behind the two awful challenges. I'd love to pass along a clear, concise Nolan explanation.

I tried. I really tried. And I couldn't make heads nor tails out of what Nolan said, other than: Jibber-jabber, blah-blah, oops, don't let everybody know I screwed up (again).

"I challenged (the field goal) not knowing if it's above or below (the upright)," Nolan said. "What I'm saying ... I still have to challenge, because I threw the red flag."

Does that make sense? That was the least blathery part, by the way.

He doesn't know the rules (once you throw the red flag, you can't ask if you should throw the red flag).

He doesn't know what he's doing (you shouldn't challenge field goals because there are no replay angles better than the official standing under the actual upright).

He doesn't know what he's doing at all (a 2-4 record, and many other details too numerous to tabulate).

OK, I'll tabulate a few more of them from Sunday: When the 49ers were ahead 26-17, they passed and stopped the clock when they should've run to drain the clock. When the 49ers fell behind, they let the clock run, called timeout, then lined up illegally.

A little later, J.T. O'Sullivan lost the ball on a fumble that could've been ruled an incomplete pass, but the 49ers could not challenge the call because ... yep, they had used their two allotted challenges. The defense is Nolan's baby, and it's not good. The offense turns the ball over too much. Oh, and things are starting to sizzle in the locker room.

Veteran linebacker Jeff Ulbrich noted that in previous years "you could step back and look at us and realize maybe we weren't a playoff-caliber team. But now we are. I mean, from a talent perspective? We're absolutely a playoff contender. Should be, at least. To come up short, that pisses me off."

Throw the red flag. Challenge the Yorks. Ask them what TV angle they're watching that shows Nolan should be retained, his errors forgiven and his 18-36 record considered misleading. Of course, it's highly conclusive that the Yorks don't know what they're doing, either. They probably loved those Nolan challenges Sunday. They think it's still all coming together.

Except it's all wrong. And the replays confirm that, if the Yorks and Nolan would bother to look.

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