Things amazingly said with a straight face

From Mike Lombardi at the national football post:

The 49ers finished strong last year, winning their final two games against the Lions and Rams to get to the .500 mark.

Here, I'll go ahead and write that again:

The 49ers finished strong last year, winning their final two games against the Lions and Rams to get to the .500 mark.

Yeah, that's right. He's claiming that the 49ers finished strong last year by beating the two worst teams in the league. In other words, the 49ers might have finished last season 6-10 had they played real opponents at the end of the year, and all of the good feelings about that team might not be there.

The 49ers will be getting a lot of preseason buzz as a potential sleeper because they did show signs of life late last year, and because the Cardinals lost some key players (namely, Kurt Warner and Karlos Dansby). However, it would wise not to put the cart before the horse here.

If you ever read about the 49ers, one that that's always mentioned is how they're trying to become a "Mike Singletary team." This is one of those preseason buzz terms to get fans excited that doesn't mean dick once the games start. What it means is they want to run the ball and play good defense (because, you know, the rest of the league doesn't want to do that). A "Mike Singletary team" might have won back in the 1970s, but in today's NFL you have to throw the football. There were 10 QBs last season who threw for over 4,000 yards last season. Ten! Six of the eight division champions had one of those QBs (and one who didn't was Arizona and Kurt Warner, because of injury; they threw the ball plenty well). This is a passing league now, and yet the 49ers seem to be chasing the ghosts of the '70s Dolphins in finding success.

A lot of people will point to the Jets last season as a "Singletary" team that won, but anyone who actually watched the games noticed that Mark Sanchez played a lot better in the postseason than he did during the regular season. Had Sanchez not created some plays in the passing game, they wouldn't have gotten out of the first round against Cincinnati. And besides, did the Jets win the Super Bowl? No. Did they make it to the Super Bowl? No, they lost to the Peyton Manning-led, can't-hardly-run-the-ball Colts.

The running game is overrated in today's NFL. It should be nothing more than a change of pace to your passing game, with the ability to convert short-yardage. If it's your bread and butter, you'll have to scratch and claw to make the playoffs, like the Jets did last year. The Vikings tried to be a "run the ball, play good defense" team, and the best that got them was 10-6. But as soon as Favre joined the team and the passing game took off, they went 12-4. The San Diego Chargers couldn't run the ball at all last season and they went 13-3.

The 49ers are chasing fool's good. This is a QB-driven league, and unless Alex Smith turns it around, the 49ers will continue to finish around .500. Luckily for them, however, they play in the NFC West, and Warner's retirement clears the way for them to win the division at 9-7.