After the first two games of the season, Niners fans are all giddy and glowing about things. They have the same look on their face one has when one finally hooks up with their obsessive infatuation and starts dreaming up whole relationships/trysts in their heads. But the problem with all this giddiness is that, well, said infatuation was also really, really, really drunk and pissed off because their obsessive infatuation blew them off. And no, we're not projecting. At all. What we mean is that while the Niners are 1-1 and played well even in their loss, their two opponents in those games were not exactly the top of the line in NFL teams. The Cardinals are the Cardinals, perpetually doomed to doormatness, and the Rams appear to be still trying to find their way in a post-Martz world.

So here comes to the 'Stick the big, bad Philelphia Iggles-- two years removed from the NFC Championship, four time division winner, and one epic fourth-quarter collapse from being 2-0. They have a great D, their physical, and their lead by one of the stars of the NFL, Campbell Soup's very own Donavan F. McNabb. All of which means that we'll be sure to discover more about the Niners this week than we did the previous two weeks. The truest way to determine just how a team measures up isn't how they do against bad teams, but against really good teams.

Last year, the Eagles KILLED the 49ers, losing 42-3 as Donavan threw five touchdown passes, two to T.O. Okay, granted, anything other than losing by 39 points again will be a vast improvement but considering how well the team looked the past couple of weeks, Niners fans should be expecting a competitive, hard-fought game. If it is, the Niners can legitimately claim to be up-and-coming. If not, the Niners will have to face the fact they just might not be as good as they are now thinking they are. In a way, it's not necessarily to win the game, but more important to lose well. Although a win would be super sweet.