SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - When Mike Nolan looks back on a tumultuous season filled with fumbles, injuries, bad personnel decisions and a dozen losses, the coach still wouldn't change a thing about his debut year with the San Francisco 49ers.
``It was important for me to learn what really needs to be done, and not to come in and guess,'' Nolan said Monday as the 49ers packed up their lockers and left their training complex for the winter.
``The adversity we faced was very valuable. I'm glad we faced some of those situations. ... I've got a responsibility to everyone in this family to get it right. I know it's still time to continue to push forward and get it right.''
After spending most of the 2005 season as one of the NFL's worst teams, the 49ers at least went into the offseason on their highest note in two years. San Francisco beat St. Louis and Houston on consecutive weeks to finish 4-12 - the league's third-worst record, but still doubling the franchise's win total from 2004.
The five-time NFL champions haven't been this bad for this long since 1980, when they finished four straight sub-.500 campaigns. But while a sense of gloom permeated the franchise last year before coach Dennis Erickson and general manager Terry Donahue were fired, there was genuine hope after the 49ers' third straight losing season.
``Last year, it was just kind of like, 'This is the end, 10 (losses) in a row,''' said receiver Brandon Lloyd, shrugging his shoulders. ``It's definitely not like that this year. Everybody feels like we put down the groundwork for something special. We're going to come back strong in the offseason and go into 2006 really optimistic.''
The positives were small but significant. They included two victories over the St. Louis Rams, their long-time rivals in the NFC West, and a 15-10 win over playoff-bound Tampa Bay.
They also included a handful of players who emerged as surprising talents, including center Eric Heitmann, running back Frank Gore and cornerback Bruce Thornton - and a few more who got on the road to competence, mostly notably quarterback Alex Smith.
The top pick in last April's draft started seven games for San Francisco, including the last five, and took plenty of hard knocks along the way. Smith threw 11 interceptions before finding Lloyd with his first touchdown pass in Sunday's victory over Houston.
The Niners finished strong under Smith's direction, gaining more than 300 yards in both of their final two games after failing to reach that mark in their first 14.
``We know it's coming together,'' said Heitmann, who had an outstanding season filling in for injured Jeremy Newberry. ``You could see the progress from week to week in practices, even when it wasn't obvious in games.''
But that late success couldn't disguise a sober fact: San Francisco had the worst offensive season in franchise history since the NFL began playing 16-game schedules, managing just 3,587 total yards. That's 460 less than the previous franchise-low in 1978, when the 49ers went 2-14 before Bill Walsh's first season.
But injuries prevented the 49ers from seeing just how good they could be. For the second straight season, 11 players ended the year on injured reserve, including starters Newberry, Tony Parrish, Jonas Jennings, Eric Johnson, Mike Rumph and Jeff Ulbrich.
The 49ers are expected to add a veteran NFL executive to the front office to take some of the pressure off Nolan and vice president Scot McCloughan, who headed one of the NFL's thinnest personnel departments. Nolan all but acknowledged the staff will be beefed up, saying owner John York would support whatever decision he made.
That department must figure out what to do with the 49ers' free agents, who include linebackers Julian Peterson, Derek Smith and Andre Carter, kicker Joe Nedney and Parrish. Nolan met with every free agent Monday, saying he would like every player to return.
That won't happen, of course. Fullback Fred Beasley and cornerback Ahmed Plummer are among the veterans all but certain to be swept aside as Nolan continues his quest to rebuild a club in his image.
But one veteran seems almost certain to return. Defensive lineman Bryant Young, who finished his 12th season in San Francisco as the 49ers' sacks leader, will be back unless he decides to retire. Young, who flourished at defensive end for Nolan after a career at tackle, is under contract for next season, and the Niners want him back.
``There's a lot of reasons to be optimistic,'' Young said. ``I think we're headed in the right direction. It doesn't happen overnight, but we're going the right way.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
