[SSW]

Despite being unable to get a touchdown or a 1st down on two 4 and 1 plays, the win against the Rams gave me hope that the Niners were back on the right track after that ugly field goal kicking "win" against KC but last night's embarrassing loss against Denver made it all too obvious what serious weaknesses the Niners have on both offense and defense.

With the loss of Aldon Smith, Navarro Bowman and Patrick Willis, the defense last night was a patchwork quilt of players who couldn't defend the pass to save their life. Manning, who obviously is a great quarterback, picked them apart. The loss of the center, Kilgore, along w/the loss of guard Iupati further diminished the offensive line, which made both Kap (6 sacks, 1 INT, 79.3 QBR) and Gore (20 yds rushing) look painfully ineffective.

Fortunately, the Niners have a bye week coming up and then play the Rams (2-4) again, who they already beat but beating them again is NOT guaranteed, given all of the Niner injuries, especially since the Rams incredibly beat the Hawks, who are having their own problems, this week.

After the Rams, the Niners have a relatively weak upcoming schedule facing the Saints (2-4), Giants (3-4), Redskins (2-5) and Raiders (0-5) but they still have to play the Hawks (3-3) twice, the Cards (5-1) and the Chargers (5-2) -- the Cards and Chargers currently being the best of the lot. The Hawks' schedule seems equally weak. The Niners and Hawks seem to have similar problems but the Hawks always give the Niners problems, especially at home in Seattle. The Cards have also already beaten the Niners once this season. On the other hand, the Cards have to play Dallas (6-1), Philly (5-1) and Detroit (5-2) in the next 4 weeks, all of which have winning records. So, there's a chance they may lose 1 or more of those games. Assuming the best possible result, the Niners will go 10-6, the Hawks 9-7 and the Cards 9-7 and win the division but that's a LONG shot.

That said, the Western Division of the NFC currently belongs to the Cardinals and, with both the Niners and the Hawks having problems, it looks like it's theirs to lose AND, for now, neither the Niners or the Hawks are leading wildcard contenders. So, this year may be the 1st time in a long time that neither the Niners or Hawks make it to the playoffs.

We'll see . . .