In 1951, a baseball manager named Chuck Dressen proclaimed: "The Giants is dead." That was after his Brooklyn Dodgers opened a 13½-game lead over the New York Giants.

	Jerry Rice, right, and the rest of the 49ers aren't used to seasons like this.

That October, Bobby Thomson buried Dressen's Dodgers.

It's another sport and another era, but here it is:

The 49ers is dead.

Well, not dead really, just not the 49ers other NFL teams have come to fear for nearly two decades.

This is a team that has won 10 or more games for the last 17 full NFL seasons, akin to a baseball team winning 100 or more games. Since 1983, they've missed the playoffs only in 1991, when both Steve Young and Joe Montana were hurt, and they still finished 10-6.

But their hopes for a postseason appearance are slim this year, even if Young, who has missed the last 3½ games with a concussion, returns in all his splendor. He might not. He might never be back.

Or, as coach Steve Mariucci said: "We're entering a place we've never been before."

Well, not never. Just not since 1980, when the 49ers finished 4-12 in the second year of the Bill Walsh rebuilding program. A year later, they won the first of their five Super Bowls.

The long-term success is probably due to one move that Walsh made -- acquiring Young from Tampa Bay for second- and fourth-round picks in the 1987 draft plus cash. That allowed one potential Hall of Fame quarterback to succeed another and make San Francisco the only team in recent NFL history to go through a seamless on-field transition at the game's key position.

But Young's absence isn't the only reason the 49ers are 3-4 after three consecutive losses.

Jeff Garcia wasn't good in the 40-16 loss to the Vikings on Sunday, but the defense was worse -- it was the third time this year a team has scored 40 or more points against the 49ers. Three other teams allowed more than 40 points in regulation this year, none more than once.

With Young and Montana at quarterback, the Niners rarely if ever botched a two-minute drill.

On Sunday, they trailed 21-13 and were backed up on their own 14 with 20 seconds left in the half when they called two timeouts instead of killing the clock. They finally passed, and John Randle intercepted to set up a field goal that made it 24-13.

San Francisco could still make the playoffs if Young comes back.

The 49ers also could win 10 games, which in the NFC this year would get them into the postseason.

But they probably won't.

They're not the 49ers anymore, they're the 49ers. Teams that used to quake at the name now regard them as just another mediocre team.

"We have to get our tradition back," linebacker Winfred Tubbs said. "We have to get our fear factor back. We're going into other team's places and they're thinking they can beat us without even playing well. The only way we can stop that is by not giving up 40 points a game."

War of words
Michael Westbrook and Albert Connell, the Redskins' wide receivers, yapped a lot before Sunday's game in Dallas about what they would do to the Cowboys. Their remarks backfired -- Dallas beat them 38-20.

Connell made the biggest mistake, bragging how he'd beat Deion Sanders.

Sanders set the tone on the game's first play by dumping Stephen Davis for a 4-yard loss, even though tackling is something Deion rarely bothers to do. On the second, play he delivered a forearm to Connell's chin, for which Westbrook and Connell claimed he should have been thrown out of the game.

Sanders wasn't even penalized, but he got crunched later on a punt return, sat out the second and third quarters, then clinched things with a 70-yard punt return in the fourth quarter. Westbrook had three catches for 38 yards, and Connell had two for 52 yards.

In their first meeting, when the Cowboys were without Sanders, Westbrook caught five for 159 yards and Connell four for 137.

After the game, Connell said Sanders came up to him and told him he loved him.

"There ain't no love here," Connell said. "You take cheap shots. You claim to be a man of God, but God doesn't like ugly. I just didn't appreciate that."

Westbrook was more contrite.

He acknowledged that the pre-game comments might have fired up Deion. But he thought Sanders overreacted with the elbow.

"He's one of the greatest defensive backs of all time," Westbrook said. "He ran a punt all the way for a touchdown. That killed us. What else can you say?"

Say nothing.

	Erik Kramer Quarterback San Diego Chargers Profile
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS COMP ATT YDS TD INT RAT 76 138 779 2 9 49.2

Unbearable numbers
When the Bears released Erik Kramer at the start of training camp, they were soundly rebuked for leaving themselves with no experienced QBs.

That move looks a lot better now.

Kramer, who signed with San Diego, threw interceptions on the Chargers' first four possessions of the second half against Seattle a week ago. But he redeemed himself by moving the team into position for the winning field goal.

On Sunday against the Packers, he threw interceptions on two of the first three series, making it six out of nine possessions on which he turned over the ball.

For comparison purposes, the following have fewer than six interceptions all season: Kurt Warner, Brad Johnson, Jon Kitna, Drew Bledsoe (four INTs in 249 passes), Neil O'Donnell, Shane Matthews (who took Kramer's job with the Bears), Rich Gannon (five in 242), Dan Marino, Kent Graham, Mark Brunell, Kordell Stewart, Tim Couch and Akili Smith.<

Now this is parity
The Patriots are 5-2 after their 24-23 victory over the Broncos on Sunday.

Throw out a 12-point win over the expansion Browns and their four other wins (Broncos, Giants, Colts and Jets) are by a total of eight points; their two losses (Dolphins and Chiefs) by a total of three.