There's Always an Excuse With Martz

One of the Bay Area beat writers, Ann Killion, makes a great point in that the 49ers were once led by Joe Cool himself, Joe Montana who was so calm during his winning drive in the Super Bowl, he pointed out John Candy from the huddle. Now this collection of cluster fs can't get their act together and punch the ball in from the 2-yard line.

But what can you expect from a team led by Mike Martz? Did you think that any play that was going to be reviewed by replay was going to end up in Martz's favor? Martz once challenged a kickoff on the first play of the game -- and lost -- when he was the coach of the St. Louis FC. So it makes perfect sense that he wouldn't understand the way the rules work in the NFL following a booth review.

That didn't stop him from blaming the officials.

"It cost us the game," Martz told CBSSportsline.com. "We go to the 1 � or the half-yard line � then spike the ball when, all of a sudden, officials tell us they're going to look at the replay. While they're looking at it, the ball stays at the 1. So we send in a play. Then, when they make their decision, they move the ball back to the 2 1/2 and tell us they're going to start the clock on the official's wind.

"We couldn't change the play. We had to go with what we called. If it would've been at the 1, we would've made it. But they moved it and didn't give us any time. So what are we going to do? If they would've moved it to the 10 we still would've had to run the play that was called. We got screwed because of the spot, first and foremost."

You wouldn't have made it from the 1-yard line. That horrible play call was going nowhere. And really, ignoring your best player when the game was on the line? What did he think it was, the Super Bowl?

This is the kind of thing that would probably leave other coaches unemployed. Instead, this likely cements his candidacy for the Raiders gig.