Second Quarter Slaughter All the Niners Need in the Win over St.Louis

The 49a??ers have not had all that much to cheer about during many parts of the 2008 season, but Sunday for at least 15 minutes, football at Monster Park was a whole lot of fun. It was that 15 minutes that made up the second quarter that was so much fun, as the Niners put up a whopping 28 points in extending their lead past the point of no return vs the Rams. The defense played hard in the quarter, getting to Marc Bulger and forcing three Rams turnovers and turning them into four Niners TD's. Frank Gore ran hard all day, but just as the score started to get more and more lopsided, the Niners back just got better and better. It was a good sign for a player and for a team that is going to have to learn to run the ball better. Then there was the gritty play of QB Shaun Hill, who was 12-of-14 for 192 yards in the first half, putting up a QB rating of 158.3. It's more like the outings that offensive coordinator Mike Marz wants to see out of his QB, no mater which one it is - Hill, J.T. O'Sullivan or even Alex Smith. Now there's some hope that maybe, just maybe, that the 49a??ers can turn it around and start to look towards the final six weeks of the season with hope. It was a big second quarter that gave them and the rest of the Niners faithful hopes of something to look forward to as the season starts to close.