Sports

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― The San Francisco 49ers are just about the best visitors in the NFL -- at least as far as their hosts are concerned.

With their embarrassing 41-10 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Niners dropped to 1-10 on the road in coach Mike Nolan's short tenure.

San Francisco's last two road trips have been disasters: A 41-0 thrashing from the Kansas City Chiefs four weeks ago, followed by a loss featuring the biggest halftime deficit in franchise history -- also 41-0 -- at Soldier Field. The Niners even gave up 21 points in the first quarter of their first road game this season, a 34-27 loss at Arizona in the season opener.

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Just how do the 49ers manage to fall so far behind so fast? Why is this theoretically improving team so much less competitive away from the Bay Area? There are too many reasons to list, and none of them provide much solace for the players consistently heading home with their heads low.

"I've never been ... I've never even seen anything like that," said quarterback Alex Smith, who fumbled twice and threw one interception on a tipped pass in Chicago.

One year after Nolan took over a franchise at rock-bottom, the 49ers (2-5) have the same record after seven games and little reason to believe their problems will get much better this season -- particularly if Nolan and his players can't figure out their problems away from Candlestick Park, where they have been substantially more competitive this fall.

Five of the 49ers' final eight games are on the road after Sunday's visit from the Minnesota Vikings. San Francisco had four home games in five weeks before its bye weekend.

In fairness, much was stacked against the 49ers in their last two road trips. Arrowhead Stadium and Soldier Field are two of the NFL's most intimidating stadiums, and both opponents were well-rested after coming off their off weeks.

The Bears rolled over the 49ers by forcing four turnovers in the first half and scoring touchdowns after each one. San Francisco's defense, already the NFL's worst, could do nothing when repeatedly faced with defending a short field.

The 49ers have committed 17 turnovers in seven games.

"Being in someone else's house, so to speak, does that create turnovers? Maybe, I don't know," Nolan said. "I think some of it is guys who are giving extra effort."

Effort or not, things got so desperate that Nolan even committed the football faux pas of kicking a field goal while trailing by 41 points simply to avoid a shutout. The Chicago fans booed the Niners heartily after Joe Nedney's kick -- but Nolan didn't apologize for the breach of unwritten rules.

"If we don't get the field goal, I don't know if we score the touchdown later on," Nolan said of Smith's late TD pass to Antonio Bryant. "You are trying to maintain momentum. That is very important to a team. Your team doesn't like to come home and see that goose egg up there. They like to come home and see there is something on the board."

The 49ers were just 1-7 on the road in Nolan's debut season, beating only the floundering St. Louis Rams on Christmas Eve in the penultimate game of the year. Many of Nolan's 10 road losses have been humiliating, most notably a 42-3 loss at Philadelphia and a 41-3 defeat at Seattle last season.

Though Nolan grows a bit more grim every Monday after each embarrassment, he remains indefatigably optimistic he'll figure out a way to make his club into more than the Washington Generals to the rest of the NFL's Harlem Globetrotters.

"Do I enjoy 41-10, 48-19, 41-0?" Nolan asked. "Not a lick. Should a fan enjoy that? No. Should a fan be patient? If they are, they should be just like me, from a patience standpoint -- (demanding to know) what are we going to do to make it right?"

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