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Posted at 1:11 a.m., Friday, November 16, 2007

NFL: Perhaps 49ers' Nolan, Smith need to split up

By Cam Inman
Contra Costa Times

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Alex Smith may have thrown his final pass for San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Nolan.

Say Smith wisely shuts himself down the rest of this lost season — hold your applause, please — because of a lingering shoulder injury he finally copped to Wednesday. Say the 49ers' seven-game losing streak is a prelude to more weekend disasters. John York might have no choice but to say goodbye to Nolan, or perhaps it'll be, "So long, Smith."

Some 2 › seasons since the 49ers' First Couple united at the NFL draft's alter, their honeymoon is so over.

A fiasco has ensued.

There's a major glitch in the helmet-to-helmet communication between the quarterback and coach of this underachieving, 2-7 team.

Smith and Nolan seem fed up with each other's failures, and that's terribly troubling for a franchise that can't afford another setback of this magnitude.

Smith didn't simply confess Wednesday to playing hurt the past three games, a ruse he and Nolan played out for us by repeatedly dismissing Smith's pain.

More alarming is the reason Smith gave for his public disclosure: He's tired of Nolan telling us Smith is 100 percent healthy and lacks confidence.

Nolan said Smith wasn't practicing Wednesday because of a forearm strain. Then Smith told us his throwing shoulder — the one he separated Sept. 30 — has been nagging him and ruining his play.

Then, illuminating just how apart they've drifted, Nolan pleaded ignorance to Smith's shoulder woes, saying he wasn't aware of them until after Smith had spilled the beans to the media.

"You don't want to be disconnected," former 49ers quarterback Steve Young said on his KNBR radio show. "I'm not saying you and the head coach are always on the same page, because there are situations where I've been at odds (with a coach). But it never shows up. It's always handled some way so you don't get this thing bantered around on talk radio."

Smith sure was confident Wednesday in ending this injury coverup. Turns out he's fibbed to us, too, these past couple weeks, saying his shoulder didn't cause those wild passes, at least wilder ones than we're used to seeing since his arrival in 2005 as the NFL's top draft pick.

Maybe Nolan was just going along with Smith's secret wishes. But a coach can't afford to overlook a franchise player's injury when the franchise is sinking.

Nolan contended Wednesday that Smith would practice Thursday and start Sunday's game against fellow NFC West flops the St. Louis Rams (1-8).

But all that changed when it was announced Thursday that Trent Dilfer will replace Smith as the starting quarterback.

Smith seems to have thrown in the towel. Otherwise, his injury secret would still be that, a secret. Instead, he let us know he had an MRI on Tuesday and might be headed to Dr. James Andrews in Alabama, a telltale sign of an athlete's perilous health.

Like it or not, Smith is still tabbed as the 49ers franchise quarterback, and it's the coach's job to protect that investment (see: the Raiders' Lane Kiffin and JaMarcus Russell).

Plus, if Nolan is unwilling to give Smith a vote of confidence for 2008 — as Nolan declined to do the past two days — then Smith certainly shouldn't be willing to further risk his career —and dwindling reputation — by playing so handicapped that it makes our eyes bleed.

As for the forearm strain, Smith partly attributes it to rushing back too soon from the bum shoulder. Nolan, on the other hand, contends the forearm pain isn't related to the shoulder.

"I really thought I could try to play through this and help this team get back on track," Smith said. "I feel like I was making progress at times. But definitely Monday night did not feel good as far as throwing the ball goes. It was not comfortable at all."

Monday's shutout at Seattle was so uncomfortable for Young that he opened his postgame analysis on "Monday Night Football" saying he should wear a bag on his head. A bag, people, A BAG, the loyal fan's last resort!

Smith isn't willing to hide his pain, anymore.

Nolan, for his part, has been unusually critical of Smith. Tuesday, Nolan said: "He is not playing well, but I would not put it on his shoulder."

Last week, after Smith's dismal showing in Atlanta, Nolan repeatedly told reporters to ask Smith why he played so poorly.

Smith's finally provided a different answer Wednesday, that being the alleged truth about his injuries' impact on his mechanics, such as his grip and arm angle. Nolan, meanwhile, claims Smith's mechanics have needed work since draft day, like all quarterbacks'.

They're both right. But they still don't seem to be on the same page.

"No excuses. I chose to go out there, no question. I tried to play through this thing," Smith said. "If you ask me if I'd do it again, that's the question."

We'll find out that answer soon enough. He chose to tell us he's hurt, and now that it's public information, Nolan shouldn't ask him to play in the near future.

It's an increasingly uncertain future, at that. Nolan and Smith now have what Young called "a brewing problem." Great, just what the 49ers need in the midst of a season that has them on pace to score the fewest points in franchise history.

Now that history includes another quarterback controversy.