Niners must get better quickly

Bears come to town on Thursday

By Janie McCauley
The Associated Press

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SANTA CLARA -- Only a month ago, the San Francisco 49ers sat alone in first place atop the NFC West standings and were thinking playoffs. And why not? They'd already beaten the defending division champion Arizona Cardinals and Seattle in consecutive weeks.

One quarterback switch, an offensive line overhaul and a four-game losing streak later, the Niners (3-5) are desperate to just get back to winning period. And they have little time to stew over their sloppy 34-27 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday -- because the Chicago Bears come to Candlestick Park on Thursday night.

"Obviously this is not the most exciting time in the world right now," coach Mike Singletary said Monday at his news conference. "I will not compromise. I hate losing, it's as simple as that. No one loves losing, but I hate losing. Absolutely hate it, especially when you've got a team that can win."

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San Francisco has some serious work to do in order to end a franchise-worst streak of six straight losing seasons and get back to the postseason for the first time since 2002 under former coach Steve Mariucci.

"This isn't the end of the world," said tight end Vernon Davis, a bright spot against the Titans with his career-high 10 catches for 102 yards.

The Niners are three-point favorites to beat the Bears (4-4), the team that drafted the Hall of Fame linebacker Singletary in the second round in 1981. Singletary insists there are no added emotions for this game just because he's facing his former organization.

He has plenty of other business at hand than reflecting on the good old days when he was still in uniform. San Francisco committed four turnovers -- leading to 24 points for Tennessee -- and quarterback Alex Smith threw three interceptions and two in the final 6:24 of his first home start in more than two years.

"Four is too many," center Eric Heitmann said. "Everybody on offense plays a role. We've got to look at the film and do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Smith looked like a poised NFL veteran at times Sunday and way off at others. He was 29 of 45 for 286 yards in his second start since taking over for the demoted Shaun Hill at halftime of a 24-21 loss at Houston on Oct. 25. Smith was sacked four times, too.

He's eager to get back on the field.

"It'll be nice in a sense because you won't have a lot of time to dwell on it," Smith said.

Singletary sounded like a motivational speaker Monday while addressing the media.

"I want to have all of you understand this: If you talk to me after a game and, nine times out of 10 if we lose the game, it's very rare I will be sitting back and being philosophical or whatever. I'm going to be ticked. ...

"You guys in the media, I don't think I'm ever going to have the right etiquette to stand up here and pontificate like some of the other coaches can do. That's not me. I'm a football coach. And I'm real. What you see is what you get. All I can tell you is we've got eight games left. We've got the right coaches. We've got the right players. We've got the right vision. We just have to go forward."

Running back Frank Gore, for one, hasn't lost faith. Same goes for his teammates.

"A lot of our guys in our locker room know that we can play," Gore said. "We know what we can do on the field. It just comes down to two or three plays that really hurt us."