Where to begin? Well, how about the beginning? Good call, brain.

Allen Rossum has worked out well as a returner and he returned the opening kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown. Great blocking by the return team and great vision by Rossum.

Overall, the defense played pretty well. They got a decent amount of pressure on Warner, who seemed able to get the ball away just in the nick of time to the only open receiver. No sacks, but good pressure.

Larry Fitzgerald is a beast and the 49ers defense forced him to catch a bunch of underneath routes. He had 8 catches, but only 49 yards and a score.

Anquan Boldin is also a beast and he always seems to burn the 49ers. He had 7 catches for 92 yards and two scores.

The real problem was letting Steve Breaston get open down the field, going 7 for 121 yards. This is where the team missed Goldson and is hurt by Michael Lewis' inability to play the pass effectively and Mark Roman's decline as a starting safety.

Jason Hill looked amazing. Now, that's a relative "amazing," but with only a hand full of catches coming into the game he went 7 for 84 yards and helped carry the team down to the goal line before the final play(s).

Josh Morgan also looks to be rounding back into the guy from pre-season going 4 for 54 yards and a nice score in the first half.

With Bryant Johnson on a 1-year deal and likely out the door after this season. I'd say the same for Arnaz Battle after this game. Hill and Morgan have too much upside to keep Battle around. The team can only keep one old WR and it'll probably be Bruce, unless he bolts to wherever Martz lands.

Mike Martz, what were you thinking?
Why are you trying to send in a new package before Hill can spike the ball, costing the team 20 clock seconds?
Why call a fullback dive from the 2.5 yard line? Don't teams have special 2 point conversion plays? I don't have a problem running the ball right there, but the setup was retarded.

The 49ers brought in a goal line package. This bunched almost everybody at the ball. I would rather see a spread offense to create some space if you wanted to run it. The way Jason Hill was catching the ball on that drive and just the way the passing game was working that last drive, you'd think a pass play would have been the better fit for the last play.

This is my main problem with Martz, he like to do things his way too much, as opposed to just doing what's working. JTO was sucking balls for the first half of the season, but the team stuck with him because he was Martz's guy. Well, JTO sucks. Shaun Hill isn't very good either, actually his game is ugly, but he's a gamer. A guy who tries hard and can make some plays despite his own shortcomings. Like when the referees think your pass was batted at the line of scrimmage because it's so wobbly, but you fight as hard as you can for a first down with or without your helmet.

It's obvious that Shaun Hill isn't the QB of the future, but he's not going to run out of bounds on fourth down like JTO did against the Giants.

It was a painful loss, but it did leave 49ers fans with hope for next week. More than could be said of most Nolan-coached games.