What happened?

I mean seriously what happened. What happened to the ferocious Mike Nolan defense? Why are they giving up what seems to be 30 points a game? I said it a couple of weeks ago that this current set of four games would make or break the 49ers season. If they cannot compete with the big boys then what does it matter?

New England came in again with the swagger of a champion and on a 4th and 2, they said my balls are bigger than yours and went for it after they Niners held them. This was in the first half and yeah they were behind but they certainly did not need a touchdown. It is just what a team like New England does. After that point the Niners never led again and lost the game 30 to 21.

This game leaves me scratching my head because the Niners had a real chance to make a statement and they just failed. It is almost like they gave up. Now I am not taking away from the Pats. They are the best team in the league that is when Brady is healthy. But where is the moxie? Where is the guts to hold Kevin Faulk on that direct snap.

Philadelphia is next and we have looked terrible against them in the previous few years. In fact the Niners haven't beaten Philadelphia since 2003 when Jeff Garcia and Terrel Owens was on the team. The NFC East is the toughest division in football and the next two games are against NFC East opponents. If the Niners are going to make a statement they will need to do it this week at home.

I will go out on a limb and say that if the Niners lose the next two games Mike Nolan will be replaced with Mike Martz. It is already rumored after this season that Mike Holmgren will rejoin San Francisco in the front office. Also a Superbowl winning coach is still out there, Bill Cower. Hopefully we can get something moving pretty quickly because it is getting really hard for me to root for a team unwilling to make the necessary changes to win.