It looks like the arrival of Michael Crabtree can’t come soon enough for the Niners. After stinking up the field on both sides of the ball in a jaw-dropping 45-10 loss to the Falcons at home, San Francisco could certainly use a breath of fresh air, which Crabtree, their first-round draft pick, will hopefully provide after missing the first five games due to his well-documented contract holdout. Entering their bye week, the Niners now have two weeks to get over their worst loss since a 41-0 defeat to the Chiefs on Oct. 1, 2006.

How bad was it? So bad that Mike Singletary’s troops were down 35-10 by halftime against an Atlanta team that got inside the Niners’ heads and showed no mercy. Falcons QB Matt Ryan, who wasn’t touched despite 32 pass attempts, carved up the Niners’ previously stingy defense for 329 yards and a pair of TD passes to Roddy White, who caught eight passes for a career-high 210 yards and made Dre’ Bly look particularly foolish, when he caught the showboating cornerback from behind and forced a fumble that cancelled out Bly’s interception. Ryan’s counterpart, Niners QB Shaun Hill, had his worst game in a San Francisco uniform, spending much of the day running for his life while completing 15-of-38 passes for 198 yards and one interception and registering a 45.7 passer rating. The Niners’ average gain per pass play was an atrocious 4.4 yards, despite a 61-yard catch by Josh Morgan.

Singletary, who was looking like a strong Coach of the Year candidate entering the game considering his team’s surprisingly strong 3-1 start, had a day he’ll have a hard time getting out of his system. In addition to his typically emotional first-quarter pep talk falling on deaf ears, he also was unable to challenge Delanie Walker’s fumble on a kickoff return in the second quarter (one of three turnovers) after running out of timeouts and completely lost his cool in a shouting match with Falcons OG Harvey Dahl (a former Niner), which he later admitted was a mistake on his part.

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Niners ILB Takeo Spikes put it best: “Whatever could have gone wrong, it did times two. One bad thing happened, and then it started compounding on top of each other, and before you knew it, you blink and you look up and they were up by two touchdowns.”

In his Monday press briefing, Singletary put much of the blame for the loss on his offensive line’s persistent breakdowns in pass protection (Hill was sacked three times and pressured throughout the game). But he only has himself to blame for looking totally out of control in his skirmish with Dahl.

“I wouldn’t disagree,” he said one day earlier after being asked if he could do a better job of maintaining his composure. “I wish that I was more … I wish I had more coaching etiquette, OK? I don’t. I love my players and when someone responds about my players in a particular way, I may do some things that I shouldn’t do. I have to get better at those things as time goes on.”    
 
As time goes on the next two weeks, the emphasis for the Niners must be mostly on an offense that has yet to score more than two touchdowns in any game so far this season, the defense’s first poor showing of the season notwithstanding. While it could take a while for Crabtree to become an integral part of the offense — daily team observers look for him to be used as a slot receiver in three-wide packages in the Niners’ next game against Houston Oct. 25 — the return to the lineup of featured back Frank Gore, who has missed the past two games with foot and ankle injuries, should fortify the attack. Fortunately for the Niners, they play in a division in which none of the teams looks like a runaway contender.