SAN FRANCISCO — Eddie DeBartolo Jr. was on the field Sunday. The 49ers were winning. And still undefeated.

Otherwise, any resemblance between the 49ers of the 1980s and the 49ers of 2009 was purely coincidental.
And more unsightly. Far more unsightly. Even the head coach conceded as much after the 49ers beat Seattle 23-10 to win their second game in semi-ragged fashion.
“I want it to be more crisp,” Mike Singletary said. “I guess I should say it this way “” last week, it was ugly, but I loved it. This week was ugly, but I loved it. It’s going to be a wonderful thing, though, when we can get our rhythm down and get our timing down and have it be clean across the board.”
Summing up, then: So far, so hideous.
And, no, don’t take that as a reference to the way Joe Staley looked after the game.
The mammoth 49ers offensive tackle was hot and sweaty and dirty after removing all his gear at his locker. But as he wrapped a towel around his bare waist for the stroll to the showers, he paused in the middle of the room and boomed out happily to no one in particular: “We can run the ball!”
Yes. They can. Or at least the 49ers could Sunday. It was all part of the beautiful ugliness. After gaining just 21 total rushing yards the previous Sunday at Arizona, the 49ers’ impressive blocking execution unleashed running back Frank Gore for 207 yards and cross-country touchdowns of 79 and 80 yards.
But the 49ers’ passing game? Blink and you pretty much missed it. Quarterback Shaun Hill took care of the ball well and completed 19 passes for 144 yards. But his best play? It probably was his 17-yard run for a first down in the third quarter.
Friends, better face facts: If you are going to love the 49ers in this era and hope for victories, this is exactly the kind of game you had better learn to love. This will be a big adjustment for longtime 49er followers weaned on the team’s sacred passing heritage created by the Y.A. Tittle-John Brodie-Joe Montana-Steve Young-Jeff Garcia line of succession. But there is no other choice.
Singletary knows his personnel. So does offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye. Earlier this month, he had opined that the general 49ers game plan was to run the ball on 60 percent of the plays. The 49ers failed to do this Sunday. They attempted 29 runs and 27 passes.
However, in terms of yardage, the mission was more than accomplished. The 49ers accounted for 68 percent of their offensive total on the ground.
Afterward, Raye agreed that this was precisely the template for the offense moving ahead “” and said he was pleased to be this far along with the plan in Week 2.
“I think it’s more than I expected,” Raye said, “because you can’t ever factor in two 80-yard runs. I did anticipate we would control the ball. We had a 16-play drive today and a 13-play drive and we got three points off each one. We have to finish those drives with touchdowns. But we managed the clock well. “& If we can run the ball and if we get the breakout plays, if we get the get the short throws and completions “& we’ll be pretty good.”
How good? Way too early to tell. Keep in mind, two years ago at this time, the 49ers were also 2-0 under coach Mike Nolan after opening the season with victories over Arizona and St. Louis. That awesome 49ers team went on to finish 5-11.
Still, several players are claiming this 2-0 feels much different than that 2-0. If so, it might be due to that identity template being created by Singletary.
Under Nolan, the 49ers seemed to waver month to month, if not week to week, in what they were trying to be on both offense (Alex Smith or Trent Dilfer?) and defense (4-3 or 3-4?). This 49ers team knows it is expected to have a run-oriented offense behind Hill and a knockdown, drag-out defense anchored by linebacker Patrick Willis.
This state of affairs, more than anything, is the most encouraging part of the season’s first two weeks for the Scarlet Heroes of Yore. They know what they are, what they aren’t, where they want to go and where they can’t go yet. Sounds so simple. But it’s not.
“We feel like we’re on a good track right now,” Staley said after returning from the shower.
“For the most part, we had Seattle playing our style today,” said cornerback Nate Clements, who had his second don’t-throw-it-in-my-direction game. “We forced them to play our type of football. I don’t really compare it to a couple of years ago. I’m just in the moment.”
For now, it’s not a bad moment. Hideous, but not bad. We’d better get used to it for a while.