Film Room: Hostler crawls into his shell

Jim Hostler looked an awful lot like Norv Turner last night. Come to think of it, he looked an awful lot like Mike McCarthy, too. Like the two offensive coordinators who came before him, Hostler chose to curl up like a roly-poly after barely a nudge from the big and scary Chicago Bears.

Look, we're all aware of how good the Bears' defense is. Urlacher, Briggs, Vasher, blah, blah, blah. But why does that mean the 49ers' offense has to run away and hide?

Alex Smith threw three passes in the first half. Three. There's just no excuse for that.

There's especially no excuse when Frank Gore is not in the backfield. Establishing the run is important, sure, but does anyone really expect Maurice Hicks or Michael Robinson to do any significant damage on first and second down against that defense? When Gore is out, the offense is on Smith's shoulders. He carried them in the first two games. He never got a chance in the third.

The result was a complete waste of a flight to Chicago. This was the perfect chance to let Smith test himself against the best defense in the NFL, but he couldn't because he was stuck in third-and-12 all night. This one is on Hostler.

I'M NOT QUITE sure who I'd pull from the starting lineup to get Parys Haralson on the field, but I really don't know how you can keep him off it.

Haralson had looked pretty good in the 49ers' first two preseason games, but he was the star of the second half against the Bears on Saturday.

Haralson's pass-rushing skills were second to none. Once he met Hannibal Navies at the quarterback as the two combined for a sack — but Haralson had to fight off a lineman while Navies was completely unblocked. Later he pushed his man backward into Bears quarterback Kyle Orton, then pulled Orton down with one hand. He wasn't credited for either sack, but he deserved at least 1.5.

Haralson also blew through the line on a running play to stop Garrett Wolfe for a 5-yard loss. He seemed to be beating anyone and everyone the Bears tried to stop him with. This should be taken with a grain of salt since it came against Chicago's backups, but Haralson has shown enough as a pass rusher to at least get on the field on third downs.

And who knows. Maybe someday Manny Lawson will get moved to safety so Haralson can start at outside linebacker.

I FEEL SORT OF obligated to mention that Trent Dilfer led something of a second-half comeback, going 9-for-12 for 99 yards and two touchdowns — including the first of rookie wideout Jason Hill's career — to make the final score close.

There, I said it. Now can we get back to how awful the starters were?

YOU KNOW THINGS are going bad when even Joe Nedney sucks. Nedney opened the game by booting the kickoff out-of-bounds and giving the Bears great field position — like they needed it. Later, in a really bizarre moment, he missed an extra point. Maybe it just wasn't the 49ers' night after all.

ONE OTHER ASPECT of the 49ers' defense that actually looked OK was the new tandem at inside linebacker. Patrick Willis, like fellow first-round pick Joe Staley, just looks like a player (and nothing like a rookie). And Derek Smith was solid.

I think Nolan made the right move by demoting Moore and not Smith. Smith seems to be the better player right now, and hopefully it’ll motivate Moore to regain his starting spot eventually.

BRANDON WILLIAMS SHOWED he might be more than just a sure pair of hands as a punt returner, turning in a long, weaving return for 41 yards in the third quarter. Williams probably would have scored if he had anything close to Devin Hester's breakaway speed, but at least we finally got to see some real moves from him. I've backed the kid since he was drafted, and even I was getting a little worried.

THANK GOD WE only have one more game with Dennis O'Donnell in the booth. The guy gets more names wrong than Pat Summerall used to, and he doesn’t even have the excuse of being 130 years old.