Mike Nolan is under heat in San Francisco as the 49ers had another rough year as they finished in 3rd place in the NFC West with a 5-11 record.  Nolan has been the head coach of the 49ers now for three seasons and he has compiled a 16-32 record (.333 %) during the regular season.  It will be interesting to see if Nolan is indeed the coach of the 49ers when the 2008 season starts.

The 49ers went through 4 starting QBs this season due to a litany of injuries but only Shaun Hill showed that he had any skills.  Hill played in 3 games this season for the 49ers and he completed 54 of 79 passes (68.4%) for 501 yards with 5 TD passes and 1 interception (101.3 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 12 times for 14 yards (1.2 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Hill had never thrown an NFL pass before this season as his career consisted of 2 carries for -2 yards (-1.0 ypc).  Still, the Niners should consider letting Hill challenge the overrated Alex Smith for the starting job in 2008.

Alex Smith tried to play through injury this season and it didn’t work out too well.  Still, that’s no excuse for his poor play.  He played in 7 games this season for the Niners and he completed 94 of 193 passes (48.7%) for 914 yards with 2 TD passes and 4 interceptions (57.2 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 13 times for 89 yards (6.8 ypc).  Smith has now played in 32 games in his NFL career and he has hit 435 of 800 passes (54.4%) for 4,679 yards with 19 TD passes and 31 interceptions (63.5 QB Rating).  He also has rushed for 339 yards on 87 carries (3.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs in his NFL career.

Trent Dilfer also stunk it up this season after Alex Smith was injured.  Dilfer played in 7 games this season for the Niners and he completed 113 of 219 passes (51.6%) for 1,166 yards with 7 TD passes and 12 interceptions (55.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 10 times for 25 yards (2.5 ypc).  Dilfer has now played in 131 games in his NFL career and he has completed 1,759 of 3,172 passes (55.5%) for 20,518 yards with 113 TD passes and 129 interceptions (70.2 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 248 times for 853 yards (3.4 ypc) with 5 TD runs.

The 49ers signed Chris Weinke for the last couple of weeks and he started against the Browns in the last game of the season and things didn’t go too well.  Weinke played in 2 games last season for the Niners and he completed 13 of 22 passes (59.1%) for 104 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 interceptions (86.2 QB Rating).  Weinke has now played in 29 games in his NFL career and he has completed 386 of 709 passes (54.4%) for 3,904 yards with 15 TD passes and 26 interceptions (62.2 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 54 times for 148 yards (2.7 ypc) with 6 TD runs.

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The 49ers disappointing season ended with a thud in Cleveland with a 20-7 loss.  The Niners had to start Chris Weinke at QB in this game because of the injury to Shaun Hill and he was awful.  He completed 13 of 22 passes for 104 yards with a TD pass.  Frank Gore had another solid game as he carried the ball 23 times for 94 yards (4.1 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 21 yards.  Darrell Jackson was the leader for the Niners in receiving with 3 catches for 28 yards (9.3 avg) with a TD grab.  The 49ers finished up with 112 yards rushing for 24 yards (4.7 ypc) and they also completed 13 of 22 passes for 73 yards.

Patrick Willis (12 tackles, sack) and Michael Lewis (10 tackles) led the way on defense for the 49ers.  The Browns finished up with 163 yards rushing on 36 carries (4.5 ypc) and they also completed 14 of 28 passes for 195 yards.