16 minus 14 equals 0-4

Football fans are such a highly strung bunch on game day, during game time. This is because of the imbalance between our emotional investment in the game and our control over the game. The former is immense. The latter is nonexistent. All our screaming, all our yelling, all our second guessing, all our attempting of superstitious rituals as we watch, be it adjusting the lucky cap, crossing our fingers, trying to go to the bathroom at just the right time, burning incense around the stone altar as we spill the blood of our finest goat upon it in offering to our higher power of choice. None of it really makes a difference. But we do it anyway, for there is a peace of mind in doing something, trying to do something, to affect the outcome of an event that affects us so deeply but is indifferent to our every prayer, our every hope, our every utterance of "CATCH THE DAMN BALL, YOU COCKSUCKER!" or "TACKLE HIM! FUCKING TACKLE HIM!" at the TV screen.

What makes it worse, especially on television, is the camera allows us to see things the players themselves cannot see. Such as the secondary receiver being wide open, or the pass rusher coming off the blind side.

Or in the case of today's game, Roddy White of the Atlanta Falcons streaking in from behind to punch the ball out of the hands of an inattentive Nate Clements, who was merrily trotting at what looked like 3/4 speed towards the end zone, practically waving the ball around for how insecurely he held it in his doomed attempt to "Take It To Da House" and have everyone look at him in time to see his celebratory dance.

Of course Nate did not see it coming, did not secure the ball in time, of course the ball was punched out and of course the Falcons recovered, getting the ball back inside their own territory and effectively starting their last minute drive over. Of course, given a second chance to shred a prevent defense in the passing-offense-friendly NFL, the Falcons naturally moved down the field and got the game winning field goal.

What makes this so maddening, besides the typical fan situation of being able to see disaster coming but being powerless to prevent it...

Exactly.

...is Nate Clements had started this whole situation with an AMAZING athletic play to leap up in the air just behind the line of scrimmage and intercept the pass in the first place, at midfield, right when it looked like a turnover was the only way the 49ers could stop the Falcons and preserve the win. It was the turnover they needed. But, like the Monkey's Paw, my wish was granted in the most horrible, hurtful, way possible, and getting what I wanted only served to make things even worse.

You can't blame Nate for not seeing Roddy White coming. You CAN, however, blame him for not preparing for the possibility of someone like Roddy White coming. For choosing the highlight and the touchdown rather than the WIN. For not doing what virtually every other defensive player has the sense to do in this situation; which is SLIDE DOWN, in a situation where possession equals victory. You usually see intercepting players do this, running a short distance before sliding down, instantly ending the play and eliminating the chance that they screw everything up and fumble. Sometimes you even see his teammates zealously tackle him themselves for the same preventative reason when he doesn't go down quickly or completely enough.

THIS IS WHY THEY DO THAT.

[You would think the 49ers would be especially aware of this since the same thing happened to them last year, against Atlanta, albeit in a less critical situation. Dre Bly (then a Niner, now a Lion) made this error last year, picking off a ball and then immediately proceeding to wave the ball around and high step his way down the field despite being nowhere near the endzone, having no chance of getting near there, and the 49ers already being significantly behind. Roddy White stripped the ball then, too, and the Falcons recovered and started all over with a nice shiny first down. Bly was publicly pilloried by his coach and the fans, especially when he defended his costly showboating by insisting he was just being himself, and that he had to do his thing. Your thing SUCKS, Dre, by the way.]

You can lose a game of 60 timed minutes in a single 10 second play. One individual CAN lose a team sport where he has 52 teammates. Today, it happened to the 49ers. Despite everything else, one mental error was the difference between 1-3 and 0-4. It was the difference between me writing a jubilant post repudiating all my negative doomsaying content of yesterday and happily singing "I WAS WRONG! HOORAY!" as all pessimists long to do. It was the difference between sports talk radio callers wanting to name streets, children, and public monuments after Nate Clements and now surely demanding his banishment from football and civilized society if not his outright execution by guillotine on the 50 yard line at some point before the Eagles come to town next week.

The 49ers were far closer to winning this game than I dared imagine they would ever come. Taylor Mays had an amazing toe-dragging play (better than I've seen from some 49er wide receivers, in fact) on a blocked punt wherein he took what would be a 2 point safety and hauled it in just in time for a 7 point touchdown and a 14-0 first quarter lead. Even though that was the last time they scored, even though Alex Smith had some painful gaffes, even though I wrote them off in this one as soon as the schedule came out, they had a chance to win. And, cruelest of of all, for a moment, it looked like they had.

But they didn't.

Winning teams don't make the same mistake twice.

The 0-4 San Francisco 49ers did.