This one had no one on the edges of their seats.
But it had Falcons fans on their feet early, and dancing like Dre Bly Hammer for most of the balance of the game.
And so it was significant not for the means but the end -- a 45-10 dismantling by last year’s hot new NFC team of this year’s hot new NFC team.
After falling behind 14-0, the Niners made things interesting for a small slice of the first half, scoring 10 unanswered points. Three Atlanta touchdowns later, it was 35-10 at intermission, and it was over.
Or was it? We pointed out during the game that San Fran has been on the right side of two historic comebacks. They had a chance to launch another by cutting the score to 35-17 early in the third quarter, when Dre’ Bly picked off a pass and headed for paydirt.
The only problem? Bly paid homage to Deion Sanders more than 75 yards from the end zone.
So Falcons receiver Roddy White tracked Dre’ down more than 60 yards from the end zone.
Bly fumbled, the Falcons recovered, and they added a field goal to push the lead to 28.
Coach Mike Singletary said after the game that he didn’t notice the showboating, but he’ll surely see it on the film. And, just as surely, Bly will get the Harvey Dahl treatment from his head coach.
Thus, the Niners, who were 3-1 while the rest of the division was 2-9, went down in humiliating fashion and the Seahawks and Cardinals, each winning one Sunday, are suddently too close for comfort. If San Fran plans to win the NFC West, the Niners need to show that they can win games outside the division.
For the Falcons, the move to 3-1 will be gratifying for a day, but now they need to get back to work. They’re still chasing New Orleans, and the schedule features a few more peaks (Bears, Cowboys, Saints twice, Giants, Eagles, Jets) than valleys (Redskins, Panthers, Bucs twice, Bills).
And in what would be a clear indictment of the league’s eight-division, one-team-out-of-four-guaranteed-a-playoff-berth format, there’s a real chance that the Niners could make it to the playoffs by winning the NFC West -- and that the Falcons could miss out on a division title and a wild-card berth despite finishing with a better record than the Niners, and notwithstanding Sunday’s embarrassment of the team that supposedly is in the midst of a rebirth.
