By Daisy Barringer

First of all, can I just say how much I hate 10 a.m. games? Not only does that mean that the 49ers are playing on the road (something at which we’re notoriously horrible), but it also means I have to be up and at ‘em before 10 a.m. ON A SUNDAY. Ugh, my life is hard.

I could barely pull myself out of bed yesterday (no surprise after a crazy Saturday night, so instead of making it to the bar like I normally do, I tossed back the covers, threw on a 49ers t-shirt and stumbled to the couch. (I stopped to brush my teeth lest you think I am totally disgusting.) All of this just in time to see the Niners win the coin toss. And defer to the second half. For the third straight game.

Okay, this isn’t really a big deal. Except that the Bengals drove down the field and kicked a field goal, which isn’t exactly how you want to start the game and is just one more thing that’s making me question our holy savior, Coach Harbaugh. Listen, if our defense had stepped up and stopped them, then yes, it’s perfectly acceptable to defer to the second half. But they didn’t. The Bengals went 77 yards and only faced one third down the entire drive. We’re lucky the Niners held them to a field goal. Add in the fact that the Niners went three and out at the start of the second half and, well, okay, I’m probably dwelling too much on the coin toss. But I think there’s something there. Are we playing to win or are we playing not to lose?

Frankly, I’m not sure we were playing for either yesterday. I mean, TWELVE penalties? TWELVE? And four of those were false starts, the MOST ANNOYING PENALTY ON EARTH. If you combine those penalties with a stalled run game and the five allowed sacks, it’s pretty clear that our offensive line is suffering from a case of chronic ineptitude. Of course, the O-line also produced the most comical moment of the game when the ref called a false start on “the entire offensive line.”

Seriously.

With all my bitching, one might think that the 49ers lost this game. Which they didn’t. No, they managed to pull out an ugly 13-8 win thanks to some great plays by Vernon Davis (eight catches for 114 yards) and our (almost) always stellar defense. I’m not quite ready to praise Michael Crabtree for his play, even though he did have some great catches. That huge drop at the beginning of the second half, however, really pissed me off, and I was pretty upset when the ref ruled that he stepped out of bounds on the TD catch. (That call should have been challenged and overruled, but FOX didn’t show replays immediately, so the challenge was too risky. FOX ruins everything.)

I’m also not ready to give up on Gore (42 yards on 17 carries and one fumble) even though rookie runner Kendall Hunter looked pretty decent when he took over. Harbaugh claimed Gore hurt his ankle; whatever the case, I’ll just assume he was having a bad day and that the face of our franchise and the heart of the team still has some gas left in his tank.

Mostly, it was just a sloppy game and one that made me wish I were at the bar chugging Bud Lights (yes, I drink girlie beer) instead of eating Honey Nut Cheerios and drinking tap water. When football gets that ugly, it’s just too hard to watch sober.

But the Niners did pull out a win, and who knows, with Vick injured (bruised, not broken, hand) and an Eagles team that doesn’t look as intimidating as originally thought, they might be able to pull out another win on the road. (Do I actually believe the things I write or am I just the most naively hopeful person ever? I honestly have no idea.)

And, like I asked for on Friday, the Rams lost to Baltimore (37-7) and Arizona lost to Seattle (13-10), which means at 2-1, the 49ers are first in the NFC West. As we witnessed yesterday, it’s not going to be pretty, but we can definitely win our division. Terrifying, but true.

Prediction for Next Week: PHILADELPHIA over San Francisco. And Daisy definitely watches at the bar. (Prove me wrong, boys. Prove me wrong.)