San Francisco 49ers Football Team

The San Francisco 49ers used to count rings. Now they count rungs. Down the ladder of success they've gone, finishing with a losing record six years in a row and pushing those five Super Bowl victories further and further into the past. Coach Mike Singletary is pushing back, in part by staging one of the league's most rough-and-tumble training camps. "We just have to be better in everything we do," said Singletary, who had a Hall of Fame career as a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears.

SAN FRANCISCO -- It was so clear back then, in April 2005, when quarterbacks Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers were selected in the NFL draft. There was nothing murky that day about who won and who lost. Smith was taken No. 1 overall by the San Francisco 49ers, and Rodgers -- once thought to be in the running for the top pick -- languished for almost five hours before Green Bay took him 24th. The cash disparity told the story. Smith's contract guaranteed him $24.

Danyelle Sargent made a mistake, one she recognized almost as soon as the words left her mouth. She asked new San Francisco 49ers Coach Mike Singletary: "I hear that your mentor Bill Walsh was one of the first phone calls you made when you found out you had the job. What does it mean to you to be the head coach of the 49ers?" The big problem with that question, of course, is that legendary coach Bill Walsh died more than a year ago. Singletary became 49ers coach last week.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Before Alex Smith started finding his San Francisco receivers, he first had to find himself. "I was dropping back like somebody else, trying to play quarterback like somebody else," recalled Smith, who in part blames his one-touchdown, 11-interception rookie season on his trying (and failing) to emulate Joe Montana. "It was kind of ridiculous." Now, after making dramatic improvements in his second season, Smith has the supporting cast to once again aim high.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two promising young quarterbacks. Two teams hoping to be the surprise of this NFL season. And an unusually late kickoff. Monday night's game between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers had all the makings of a Cinderella story. By the close of an uneven if not sloppy evening, neither team looked especially primed for the ball, but at least the 49ers had taken a step in the right direction, scrambling back for a 20-17 victory at Monster Park.

The San Francisco 49ers say they're moving to Santa Clara and by 2012 will make the platinum upgrade from the NFL's worst stadium to its best. All on their dime. Well, something doesn't add up. Just two weeks ago, team owners were told the cost of a stadium in the Los Angeles area could top $1 billion, and that's if construction were to start right away. So how are the 49ers going to bankroll their own venue -- with accompanying commercial complex -- and stay in business?

The Santa Clara 49ers? The Fremont A's? The Bay Area may be known more for its steep hills, cable cars and expansive bridges than its sports teams, but, proving there's a lot more than sourdough at stake, the owner of the San Francisco 49ers announced Thursday he intended to move the team to Santa Clara as soon as 2012.

The timing could not have been much worse for 2016 Olympic bid officials from San Francisco. Hours before the group's scheduled meeting with the U.S. Olympic Committee on Thursday morning, the 49ers halted talks with San Francisco for a stadium project at Candlestick Point, which also was to serve as the city's Olympic Stadium. Fallout from the 49ers' decision, announced late Wednesday, was two-fold: It came close to ending San Francisco's Olympic bid, and created the impression that only two U.

USC Coach Pete Carroll will be the target of an aggressive rush from the San Francisco 49ers, a well-placed NFL source said. The 49ers cleared the way to make their push Wednesday by firing Coach Dennis Erickson and General Manager Terry Donahue. Carroll, college football's hottest property after leading the Trojans to consecutive national titles, is a Bay Area native who was the defensive coordinator of 49er division championship teams in 1995-96.