If only the 49ers offense these days looked half as good as the suit.

Check that. Make it one-fourth as good. Or one-sixth. One-eighth. Pick any lesser fraction. You wouldn't be wrong. As of this morning, the 49ers have gone 11 quarters — almost three complete games — without scoring a touchdown.

This sounds laughable today. But back in training camp, some people believed that the 49ers' offense would be a team strength. They had new talented veteran receivers, the physically imposing Davis at tight end, an improving young quarterback in Alex Smith and dogged Frank Gore at running back. No wonder Davis allowed himself to dream.

"I thought we were going to win every game," he said, staring into his dressing cubicle. "I thought we would be able to put up tons of points, kind of like the Patriots are doing. Run, pass, everything."

Clip and save that quote. It is the only time this season that anyone on this planet will bring up the New England Patriots offense in the same sentence as the 49ers offense.

This season just gets more and more awful, as it stays more and more the same. The 49ers defense and special teams play well enough to win, while the offense is a toxic oil spill that befouls every stadium in which it plays.

If you attended Sunday's 13-9 loss to the St. Louis Rams at Monster Park, please check with your physician. You may need decontaminating.

"You know, we have a positive play and then one guy breaks down and it messes up the whole thing," wide receiver Arnaz Battle said. "We have to eliminate that and play as a unit."

More than that, actually. They have to play for their jobs. The 49ers offensive players and offensive coaches and head coach Mike Nolan woke up Sunday morning knowing they had just seven desperate weeks to turn the NFL's worst statistical offense into something better and more watchable. By sundown, they had accomplished neither objective.

Can anything be done at this point? Trent Dilfer, who started in place of Smith, proved once more that quarterbacking is not the 49ers' only issue. Dilfer wasn't horrible but was victimized by dropped passes and three (count `em) false-start penalties.

"We've been poor in situational football," Dilfer said. "It comes down to how you play when things are hardest. Things are most difficult in short-yardage situations, red-zone situations and third-down situations. The common denominator with the good teams I have been with is that we have been good in those situations. And the common denominator with the poor teams I've been with is that we have struggled in those situations...We are not a good situational football team. That is a fact. The challenge is, fixing it."

Right. There are only three ways to make an offense better — get a different scheme (probably with different coaches) or get different players, or get the players you do have to play better. It's too late this season to try the first two. And the third option has failed miserably.

So reset the clock. The same players and coaches now have just six desperate weeks to save their jobs. The only question is which of them will be gone in the off-season?

Mike Nolan, the head coach, is certainly on the watch list. The last two weeks have been difficult for him because of his father's death, and it's unclear how much time he has had for hands-on recalibrating. But it's very clear how he lacks any faith in his offense — and how that, in return, makes him vulnerable to bad decisions.

Best example: With 1:55 left in the fourth quarter and the 49ers trailing by seven points, they faced a fourth-and-10 at the Rams' 28-yard line. Instead of taking another shot at a first down and getting in position to tie the score, Nolan ordered a field goal that pulled the 49ers within four points — meaning they still needed a touchdown to win.

Nolan's explanation: He wanted his team to have a chance to win — not tie — in regulation. And he figured that since the 49ers still had three timeouts, they would be able to kick the field goal and force the Rams to punt after three downs. That's precisely what happened. Following an unsuccessful 49ers onside kick, the Rams punted and the 49ers took over at their own 11-yard line for a last-gasp series that failed.

You can debate Nolan's choice all you want. The vote here is that he was wrong, because even if the 49ers had not converted on fourth down at the 28, they could have held the Rams and forced a punt from deep in their own territory — and that would have given the offense much better field position for its final drive.

But here's the deal: No matter how you cut it, Nolan made his decision because he has zero offensive confidence. He rolled the dice on victory in regulation because he did not think the 49ers offense could win the game in overtime. More specifically, Nolan did not believe that the offense could gain 11 yards on fourth down, even with the Rams playing a prevent defense that allowed for completions underneath.

"Had it been under 5 yards, we probably would have gone for it," Nolan said. "But it was fourth-and-long."

For the 49ers players, it must have been a surreal experience to gaze up at the out-of-town scoreboard. The numbers there taunt them unmercifully. Around the league, other teams seem to have no trouble scoring points. Sunday, the scoreboard showed Green Bay with 31 points, Tampa Bay with 31 points, Cleveland with 33 points, Arizona 35 points.

That's right. On Sunday in one game, the Arizona Cardinals scored more points than the 49ers have in their past four combined. And that's the 49ers' next opponent. On the road.