SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- For one day in a lost season, the San Francisco 49ers recaptured their winning ways. They did it against an Atlanta Falcons team that also has endured a dramatic fall.

Fred Beasley had two short touchdown runs and Charlie Garner had another while surpassing 1,000 yards rushing for the season as the 49ers beat the Falcons 26-7 Sunday.

	San Francisco's Charlie Garner scores on an eight-yard touchdown run. Garner finished with 107 yards rushing and went over 1,000 yards for the season.

Bryant Young sacked Chris Chandler in the end zone for a safety and Wade Richey kicked a 23-yard field goal for the 49ers (4-9), who avoided matching the longest losing streak in club history by snapping their eight-game skid.

"It's been pretty frustrating, the way things have been going," said Young, who had 2 1-2 of San Francisco's five sacks in his best performance since recovering from a broken leg.

"It's not fun when you're losing. It never is. But you knew it was going to end and it did today. We're two teams going nowhere and it just came down to who wanted it more."

Atlanta coach Dan Reeves said he was disappointed by the lack of fight in his team.

"They beat us about as bad as you can get beaten," Reeves said. "I have been beat a lot of times in my life but I don't think I have ever been beaten where we just didn't even react to it in any way positive."

Cornerback Ray Buchanan said it appeared the Falcons had their minds elsewhere.

"I didn't see anything to smile about. This was terrible," Buchanan said. "This one right here just seemed like to me people were hurrying off the football field and get on the plane. That's what it felt like to me. I didn't see no effort, man."

Jeff Garcia led three scoring drives, helping San Francisco break in front 19-0. And after being shaken up by a blow to the head and missing a third-quarter series, Garcia returned to lead a fourth scoring drive in the 49ers' first win since Oct. 3.

"We were pounding the ball, moving the ball well on the ground," said Garcia. "When that's working, it's a great situation for us and we have to take advantage of it.

"We're playing for pride," added Garcia, whose offense held a 2-1 possession advantage over the Falcons. "We're doing what we can to salvage the season and finish on a good note."

The Falcons (3-10), who ousted San Francisco from the playoffs last January en route to their first Super Bowl, played the final quarter without Chandler. They finished with just 105 yards in offense.

The Atlanta quarterback went down with a rib injury when he was sacked by Charles Haley, who registered his 100 1-2 career sack on the play. It appeared that Chandler also took a shot in the chest from defensive tackle Young as he went down.

GAME NOTES

The 49ers held the ball 40:43 to just 19:17 for the Falcons. The 49ers have a 14-5 record against the Falcons in the 1990s, winning six of the last seven regular-season meetings. The Falcons played without Tim Dwight, who was inactive because of a sore hamstring. Atlanta, which led the league in takeaway-turnover ratio with a plus-20 last season, had two more turnovers Sunday and is now a league-worst minus 14. With Charlie Garner surpassing 1,000 yards rushing, the 49ers have a 1,000-yard rusher three years in a row for the first time in team history. Garrison Hearst achieved the mark in each of the previous two seasons. 49ers long snapper Joe Zelenka dislocated his left thumb. Coach Steve Mariucci said Zelenka's dislocation was so severe that a bone broke through the skin, but because the injury was on his non-snapping hand, he was expected to be ready for next week's game.

Garner, racking up his first career 1,000-yard season, ran for 107 yards on 26 carries in boosting his season total to 1,032. His 8-yard touchdown run got San Francisco on the board and Garcia led a 14-play, 8:14 drive that Beasley finished with his first TD run, a 2-yarder.

Young broke through the Atlanta protection to take down Chandler in the end zone. Richey added a field goal, and the 49ers led 19-0 at halftime.

Richey also stepped in as an emergency punter for San Francisco after Chad Stanley was knocked out of the game with a concussion midway through the third quarter. Stanley was leveled by Jammi German's devastating blindside block that cleared the last obstacle for Winslow Oliver's 58-yard return for a touchdown, Atlanta's only score of the game.

Atlanta avoided its first shutout in six years when Oliver, behind a series of blocks, broke loose down the right sideline on his 58-yard punt return for a touchdown.

But Oliver also muffed a punt that was recovered by the 49ers and led to Beasley's second touchdown run as he dove in from the 1 with 13:08 remaining.

The pregame coin toss brought a light moment when referee Johnny Grier mistakenly told the 49ers they had won the toss even though the Falcons captains had picked tails.

The flustered Grier quickly made it right, however.

"Correction. Atlanta won. They did call tails," Grier said over the field microphone.