SANTA CLARA, Calif. - For Mike Singletary and his San Francisco 49ers, this season has become a missed opportunity. A team that talked playoffs following an encouraging 3-1 start won't be in the post-season for a seventh straight year.
Now, the Niners are turning their attention to finishing the season with two victories, which would put them at 8-8 and end a franchise-worst stretch of six straight losing campaigns.
"Both these games are definitely important, no question," quarterback Alex Smith said Monday. "Anyone who's been here, I've been here five years now, that would be the best record."
San Francisco (6-8) lost its sixth straight road game with Sunday's 27-13 defeat at Philadelphia.
How is Singletary feeling about not reaching the goal he set out for his team in his first full season as head coach?
"Let me ask you this: Give me some idea, if you have any idea, you have been sitting in this chair for a little bit, how you think I might feel?" the Hall of Fame linebacker asked during his weekly Monday news conference.
Deeply disappointed, perhaps?
"That's putting it mildly. Yes, I am very frustrated. There are a lot of adjectives, some that I can't say, but I feel," Singletary said. "This is a team, it is unfortunate, that is good enough. They have to play perfect every week. The margin for error is very, very small, but this is a team that is very close to being that playoff team."
The 49ers' final two games appear very much winnable: at home against 2-12 Detroit on Sunday, then at St. Louis (1-13) in the Jan. 3 finale. The Lions have dropped four straight and 10 of 11, while the Rams have lost 12 in a row at home and 23 of 24 overall, including an embarrassing 35-0 setback at San Francisco on Oct. 4.
"We've got to finish strong, man," running back Frank Gore said. "The main thing is to take care of this week and go from there. We know as a team that we put ourselves in this predicament. If we do finish 8-8, you can look at it both ways. You can look at it the positive way from the other years and you can also look at it knowing we could have had a better record."
Sunday marked San Francisco's sixth straight road loss since winning the season opener at reigning NFC champion Arizona on Sept. 13. Until falling to the Eagles, the previous five losses away from Candlestick Park had been decided by a total of 19 points.
"The mindset in this locker room is to finish off the season with two wins," tight end Delanie Walker said. "We don't want to say, 'We're not going to the playoffs, let's lose all the games.' No, we're going to keep our heads up and still feel like we're champions."
It's been a combination of sloppiness and turnovers, and just not making the big plays when it mattered most. The 49ers acknowledge they've largely beaten themselves many times this season.
Singletary said he apologized to Smith for being too hard on the quarterback after Sunday's loss. Smith, the starter since taking over for Shaun Hill after halftime at Houston on Oct. 25, completed 20 of 37 passes for 177 yards and one touchdown. He also was sacked three times and threw three interceptions, not every one of which was his fault, according to Singletary.
"He doesn't owe me an apology, though," Smith said. "We were all disappointed after yesterday. That wasn't the only thing we talked about. The point is to get better and move on."
Everyone in San Francisco's subdued locker room acknowledged that it will be much easier to move on into the off-season if things go well in the final two weeks.
The players - just like their coach - consider winning to be as paramount now as it was in any other week earlier this season.
"I'm one of the type of guys, I know me and a bunch of the guys in this locker-room, we get paid to play this game and we go out and play this game," linebacker Parys Haralson said. "You're upset about the playoff situation but we've still got two games to play. We enjoy playing football and we're going to go out and play for each other."
