Alex Smith is not the kind of guy who would announce to the world that he and the 49ers are inevitably headed toward divorce proceedings, if not by next January, then much sooner.

He's not going to go there. Even if he knows this prolonged, star-crossed matchup of brittle talent and meandering management is doomed, doomed, doomed.

I do believe he knows it. The 49ers should have realized it at the end of last season — either Smith or Coach Mike Nolan or both had to go, wasn't it obvious? — but I guess they're just figuring it out now.

On Tuesday, half a week after Smith officially lost his starting job to J.T. O'Sullivan and 12 days before the start of the 2008 season, Smith spoke philosophically and seemed resigned to his new life as a deposed No. 1 overall pick.

"I don't think there's been any quarterback in this league that hasn't had ups and downs," Smith said. "The thing is to consistently ride it out.

"There's going to be better days. You have to continue to come to work with the right attitude and get better. Because if you don't, I think that's how things tend to spiral down."

What's left unsaid is that Smith's better days won't come until he joins a franchise with far more stability than the 49ers can provide. And, because of his onerous contract, the 49ers can't comfortably let Smith go until he burns off another $10 million this season.

In 2009, the 49ers can be free of his erratic, hesitant play without a terrible salary-cap hit; and Smith can be free of the 49ers' chaos and politics. Until then, it's a strained purgatory for both sides.

I think Smith knows he hasn't played very well in his three-plus 49ers seasons. But he's only 24, which leaves him with another 10 or more seasons to distance himself from this odd stage of his career.

"I think it's too easy to get negative, to get down, and I'm not going to do that," Smith said. "Just going to take a different approach to this. I'm still young. I have to use this time to continue to grow."

Isn't this a blow to your ego? "You try not to let it be," Smith said. "I certainly never did have the biggest ego, you know? It's part of the game."

Of course, good quarterbacks are supposed to have large egos. If Smith had more arrogance and self-absorption "" if he transformed into Angry Alex once in a while "" he might have had a better shot at this job, especially with the offense under the auspices of cocksure coordinator Mike Martz.

But that's not who Smith is. And the 49ers and Nolan should have realized that before they picked him in 2005.

That's beside the point now. This competition happened. Smith lost by a landslide to O'Sullivan. Does that give Smith the feeling that this coaching staff just doesn't want him to be the quarterback?

"Yeah, I mean, that's definitely a possibility," Smith said. "I'm not thinking about that right now. When that time comes, in the off-season or something, we'll deal with it.

"But right now, taking on this new role is what it is. Prepare every day and be ready to go."

Smith acknowledged that his right shoulder still isn't 100 percent — he says it affects him slightly on deep balls, but that it's getting better and it's probably a natural aftereffect of his winter surgery.

The shoulder isn't what lost Smith this job. What lost it for him is that he was worse in the Martz offense than O'Sullivan.

When I asked Nolan if he's committed to O'Sullivan for more than just a game or two, Nolan said he has full faith in JTO and that he wants his team to feel that way, too.

So does that mean Smith could be released or traded before Sept. 7?

"We've had zero discussions about Alex not being on this football team," Nolan said.

Still, that's a lot of money to pay a backup, right?

"Yeah it is," Nolan said, with a smile. "You make a lot of money, too, and they're not talking about getting rid of you, are they?"

Well, now, Mike, let's not put those twisted thoughts into anyone's mind.

"You need quarterbacks to win games; not just one, you need a number of them," Nolan said. "And I have confidence in all three of the guys. It'd make me nervous to lose him."

For his part, Smith said he and Nolan are getting along fine and he believed Nolan was misquoted by SI.com when Nolan seemed to say that O'Sullivan was playing better than Smith had at any time over the past three seasons.

But eventually, unless something crazy happens, Smith and the 49ers will split. It's the inevitable result of the Smith tenure. In many corners, Smith is a bust, no debate possible.

"Now I'm past that," Smith said when asked if he gets angry at the "bust" talk. "I'm not even thinking about that.

He's a 49er right now. He's still young. He won't be here for much longer, though Smith isn't the kind of guy who will say so.