I know I said last night that the 49ers have nary a chance of advancing to the second round of the playoffs this year. Well perhaps I was a little harsh on them, to say that they have no chance to win on Jan 5th is not fair. That is why they play the games right? If there was no chance that this team could move on this post season then we could all just concede the rest of the season and gear up for the draft and next year. They have as much of a chance to go all the way to the Show, if the Titans can pull themselves from the pit of despair to be tied for the best record in the AFC then anything can happen.

These last two weeks are going to hold as much excitement and anticipation for me as watching a fly crawl up drape. The Cardinals game is only going to serve as a chance to see if Jake "The Snake" is really as much of a bust as people are saying these days or if Bill Walsh was right when he said that Plummer was going to the next Joe Montana. The Rams game is going to be even more a formality. It's the last Monday night game of the year and I don't think there is one of us here that will not be anxious for it to end so that Mooch and the staff can get ready for what right now would be a home playoff game against the New Orleans Saints. The players and coaches have said as much. Terrell Owens made this comment when asked about the loss to Green Bay last Sunday.

"I don't think a lot of guys are down about this game," Owens said. "I think we know where we are. We are in the playoffs. If we have to go on the road, that's what we have to do."

And if there are players resting the next two weeks and they lose those two games then they should not get down about those contests either. This is a playoff team and there is nothing they can do to make their seed any better or worse. They have won the NFC West once again and that in itself is a feat in this day and age of the NFL.

Mooch said that in the next two games that the offense is "probably going to be pretty vanilla." Here is my question... what would he classify the first 15 weeks of the season as. This offense lacks imagination and has for sometime now. As I was watching the game with my wife and my brother I was awestruck by the way that the Packers offense is run with Favre at the helm. All the fake reverses and fake pitches that I saw made me think. Even if they were not working 100 percent of the time so what!!! Those types of plays keep the defense on its heels and when you have a rushing attack as capable as the 49ers have then perhaps some of those plays could be implemented. That's just one suggestion I have. But again that is why I am not a coach in the NFL and Mariucci is.

All I can say is that I hope he has something up his sleeve for the playoffs. A few hidden plays that we have not seen much of, perhaps an end around here or a halfback option there. Hell at this point I would settle for lining Fred Beasley up as the H back and making Hearst the fullback. Anything to break the monotony of this run the ball first, control type offense. I am at ease with the fact that the Niners are a great running team, hey whatever works and puts up W's. But when you run the ball as much as you pass you have to be willing to take a few shots downfield. I could not believe my ears when I heard Joe "I hate Collinsworth" Buck say that in the first half Garcia's longest completion was for eight yards. Eight yards!!! Are you kidding me?!!! That is not going to get it done Jeff, not now and not in January.

I am not exactly certain as to why when during the last drive of the game the booth elected to review the 5 yard pass to Owens over the middle and not the throw to Tai Streets that could have been a touchdown. I watched that play about 20 times and while it was apparent that it was not a score (Streets' foot was out of bounds before the ball even arrived to him) it still should have been reviewed at that point in the game. This just goes to show what a bunch of mutants they have up in the replay booth.

"Hey guys lets call down and review a play that is not even reviewable."

Give me a break. There needs to be something done about the way the instant replay rules are handled. To say that in the last five minutes that only the booth can call for a review is insane. Let's just say that Streets had been in bounds on that play, would it have not been looked at all? Who knows, all we can do is hope that in the playoffs the situation does not present itself again. If the 49ers season comes down to a blown call by some overweight, 60 year old man, with bifocals thicker then molasses, I will personally camp my happy ass outside Paul Tagliabues office and wait to see him so I can slap the snout out of him.