by Gary Peterson On the 49ers , Monterey County Herald

The numbers don't lie. A few were kind to Smith, who completed 29-of-45 (yes, 45!) attempts for 286 yards in the 49ers' 34-27 loss. He was sacked four times. He threw three interceptions. He fumbled twice, losing one.

The four turnovers morphed into 24 Tennessee points. Directly in the case of Smith's final pick, which was returned 39 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Cortland Finnegan.

And yet there was an interpretive quality to Smith's performance.

Naturally, the 49ers gave it the most liberal spin possible.

Singletary, for example, railed against the turnovers. But asked if they were Smith's fault, he hedged.

"No. I wouldn't say that," he said. "I thought Alex was playing well for the most part. I thought he made some good decisions. We just have to look at the film and (see) where the fault is." Here's what the film will show:

Smith's first interception came late in the first quarter. He lofted a pass to the left sideline for Michael Crabtree, who was tightly covered by safety Michael Griffin. Considering both were headed out of bounds under a full head of steam, there was little to fear beyond an incomplete pass.

Except that Griffin tipped the ball straight up. Latecomer Chris Hope snagged the deflection and returned it to the San Francisco 24, setting up a short touchdown drive. No doubt the deflection was a bid of bad luck. But had Smith thrown it away, luck would have had nothing to do with it.

Two drives later, as he was being sacked, Smith had the ball punched from his grasp. Frank Gore recovered for the 49ers , but the play lost 21 yards. The 49ers wound up punting.

"What he did in the past, I'm going to leave in the past," Singletary said when asked about Smith's tendency to fumble. "Once again we have to look at it and we kind of go from there."

On the 49ers' second drive of the second half, Smith was hit as he threw and the ball landed beyond the line of scrimmage. Originally ruled an incomplete pass, the play was overturned upon review. The incompletion turned into a fumble and a Tennessee ball. Another Titans touchdown ensued.

"I want to see what that looks like on film," Smith said.

Then came interception No. 2, a short pass that never got to Josh Morgan because Hope was breaking hard on the ball. This was a bad one, leading to a field goal and a 27-20 Titans lead with 3:06 to play.

The final installment of Smith's quadrilogy came on his next snap. He threw short for Morgan who was hit as the pass arrived. The ball deflected to a grateful Finnegan.

"It was a bang-bang play," Smith said, "and somehow that ball gets popped up and gets taken back." Unless it's delivered a beat earlier? Smith would know best. Or will, after he watches the film.

"(You) look at what can you control," he said. "Did you make the right decision, could you have thrown a better ball?"

Smith had some sublime moments. He drove the 49ers 82 yards for a touchdown at the end of the first half. The score came after he rolled all the way to the right sideline, then found Jason Hill in the back of the end zone.

But four turnovers is about five too many for a team with the 49ers' miniscule margin for error. That said, the regression question lobbed Smith's way was the textbook definition of jumping the gun.

The 49ers tried it the Shaun Hill way, a safety-first approach from a quarterback with modest skills. Smith offers just the opposite a bigger upside and more risk.

The belief is that the risk can be managed, and it's difficult to argue considering Smith has played just 10 quarters of Football the past two years.

"It's hard to tell just walking off the field," he said. "You only see parts of what's going on out there. There are some things I'd like to have over. It's probably too early to tell if I think it's a regression or not."

For one thing, you have to have something to regress from.

Contact Gary Peterson at gpeterson@bayareanewsgroup.com .

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