The 49ers are playing football

Funny sentence of the day: the San Francisco 49ers are playoff contenders.

(Laughter).

After beating the defending NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks 20-14, the 49ers are 5-5 and just one game back of the 'Hawks in the West.

If you were watching the game on Fox and you had the sound on, you are:

a.) A fucking moron
b.) Slightly more stupid today than you were before the telecast
c.) Aware that Niners coach Mike Nolan wore a suit.

He went with some Reebok get-up that made him look more like a used-car salesman than a football coach, but hey, whatever makes your dick feel an inch longer. He was no Tom Landry out there, but Nolan likes to go old school and the 49ers are playing like they did when their current players were in grade school.

And, though it pains us to say it, Norv Turner -- yes, the same Norv Turner that we rip as frequently as toilet paper -- is a big reason San Francisco is playing as well as it is.

According to Chronicle writer Kevin Lynch, "Offensive coordinator Norv Tuner has made some terrific calls. Turner is doing to the Seahawks what Mike Holmgren does to other teams."

Man, guess we gotta lay off poor ol' Norv for a while. But while a decent coordinator, we still know that he's about as successful as a head coach as Tom Cruise is a sane person.

On a day where Jerry Rice was honored, the Niners nearly played how they did when Rice wore the red and gold. Don't look now, but the 49ers are winners of three straight and are right in the thick of things in the NFC.

Well, now that we've "looked now," watch San Francisco finish 5-11.