National Football League

49ers see season's first victory as fresh start

Published Oct. 19, 2010 1:19 a.m. ET

foxsports

After their worst start to a season in 31 years, the San Francisco 49ers finally followed their blueprint for success.

No turnovers. A pounding, clock-controlling ground game. An unyielding defense that forced two turnovers and allowed a season-low 179 yards.

Those are the kinds of things coach Mike Singletary expected to characterize his team this year, and that's the formula that led the 49ers to a 17-9 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday that finally put San Francisco in the win column after five consecutive losses.

For the first time this year, Singletary could let loose with a smile of relief on the day after a game and talk about moving forward rather than about failure and jobs being on the line.

''The more we create balance, the more our guys settle in, the more we don't turn the ball over and play good defense, it gives us a chance to not always have to play on the edge,'' Singletary said Monday. ''We're fighting for our lives right now, but the vision that we have, it's still very much alive.''

The 49ers are playing on the edge because of a 0-5 start that submerged the team in turmoil after it began the season as the favorite to win the NFC West and end a seven-year playoff drought.

The 49ers looked nothing like a playoff team during the season's first month as they underachieved on defense and made a series of critical turnovers that thwarted their offensive progress.

But after a slow start against Oakland, it all finally began coming together for the 49ers, who outscored the Raiders 17-3 after trailing 6-0 late in the second quarter.

San Francisco's positive surge began with quarterback Alex Smith, who was booed heavily by home fans for the second consecutive week after completing just two of his first 11 passes. The 49ers punted to end each of their first five offensive possessions.

But Smith finished strong with two touchdown passes in the game's final 16 minutes, and the rest of the offense came alive around him. Frank Gore rushed for a season-high 149 yards as San Francisco controlled the football for more than 33 minutes.

''I think this team understands now what we have to do to win and how we're gonna win,'' said Smith, who didn't commit a turnover for the first time this season. ''We didn't have the mistakes that we had in other games this year. There were still some self-inflicted errors, but they weren't critical mistakes. We got number one, and now we can build on that.''

Sunday's win went so according to plan that the 49ers inserted starting defensive lineman Isaac Sopoaga into their offensive backfield to help run out the clock in the game's final minutes. The 330-pound Sopoaga blew out a hole for Gore to slip through and pick up a first down that iced the win with two minutes remaining.

The 49ers had been looking for a situation where they could use Sopoaga similar to the way the Chicago Bears once used William ''The Refrigerator'' Perry decades ago when Singletary was in the midst of his Hall of Fame career as a Chicago linebacker

But Sopoaga's best work came on the other side of the ball, where he was part of a defensive effort that kept Oakland out of the end zone and allowed the Raiders just 60 yards and two first downs after halftime.

''This is a start for our team on all three sides of the ball, including special teams,'' Sopoaga said. ''This is a start for our family to march forward and knock down teams one game at a time from here.''

The 49ers can't afford too many more missteps the rest of the way. Their three rivals in the NFC West each have three victories six weeks into the season.

San Francisco now hits a vital stretch that will lead to its bye week. The 49ers go on the road to play winless Carolina this week then will travel directly to England to play the Denver Broncos in London on Oct. 31.

''It's important for all of us to understand where we are,'' Singletary said. ''We've got to work our tails off, do everything that we can to stay focused and keep going in the right direction, because we still have a chance to do something very special here.''