Gold rush is back for Niners

SAN FRANCISCO — One week after coach Mike Singletary said the 49ers' offensive line got its tails kicked, the big fellas up front kicked back.

Running back Frank Gore scored on touchdown runs of 79 and 80 yards in the 49ers' 23-10 victory Sunday over the Seattle Seahawks at Candlestick Park.

Gore joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only other player in league history with two touchdown runs of at least 75 yards in the same game. Gore finished with 207 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.

“I don't know if there is an explanation,” 49ers guard David Baas said. “We had a nice attitude going into the game. We wanted to run the ball, and that was something we needed to do after last week.”

The 49ers gained just 21 yards rushing on 25 attempts in their season-opening victory over the Arizona Cardinals. It was the fewest yards rushing in a victory in franchise history.

“Coach Singletary challenged the offensive linemen all week,” Gore said. “He told them, ‘You all need to get him the season, and I'm telling you that he'll get the job done.'”

The 49ers took sole possession of first place in the NFC West — just like the old days — on a day the current administration made former owner Eddie DeBartolo the first inductee into the team's Hall of Fame.

DeBartolo was honored at halftime, after the Seahawks had struggled back to within three points, 13-10, on backup quarterback Seneca Wallace's 1-yard scoring pass to running back Julius Jones. Wallace entered the game on the play after 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis knocked quarterback Matt Hasselbeck out of the game with a rib injury.

Gore, in essence, put the game away in the first 11 seconds of the second half when he took a play designed to go right, cut it back to the left and outran the Seahawks' secondary for an 80-yard touchdown run.

“My offensive linemen did a good job up front,” Gore said. “Down the field, the receivers did a great job, and I just ran all day.”

With victories over the Cardinals and Seahawks to open the season, the 49ers have defeated the teams expected to provide their biggest hurdles to an NFC West title.

“It's huge to win those games against division opponents,” 49ers quarterback Shaun Hill said.

The 49ers are 2-0 for the first time since 2007, when they promptly went into an eight-game tailspin. The team has not been 3-0 since 1998. The 49ers travel to face the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings next week.

“We have to do a better job overall cleaning it up so we can compete with anyone,” Singletary said. “That's what we're trying to do. We're not satisfied with being 1-0, 2-0. We want to be a team that really makes a difference in this year's playoffs, championships, whatever.

“The only thing we know is that we're striving to be a good football team. The only thing we know is that we can run the ball when we put our minds to it and our offensive line has leverage to do that.”

The 49ers cleaned up their play on the offensive line from a week earlier. They rolled up 379 yards of total offense with 256 of it coming on the ground.

“We just executed a lot better,” 49ers left tackle Joe Staley said. “It came down to us as a whole just getting the job done.”

Said Singletary, “They did a better job blocking, run-blocking. I felt they did a great job, but our quarterback is taking too many hits.”

Hill completed 19 of 26 passes for 144 yards, but he was sacked four times. It's mostly because of the pedestrian numbers Hill has put up that San Francisco is still not a team being talked about around the league.

When asked if the 49ers should be taken seriously, Singletary said, “Well, you know what? If they're not taking us seriously, that's OK. They can keep doing that. We're going to continue to take ourselves seriously.”

For more on the 49ers, go to Instant 49ers at blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers. You can reach Staff Writer Matt Maiocco at matt.maiocco@

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