DENNIS ERICKSON Coach's 49ers debut filled with emotions

The 49ers contained the Bears to 127 yards of offense in a 49-7 romp.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
It's hard to imagine a first game going much better than what San Francisco 49ers coach Dennis Erickson experienced in Sunday's 49-7 win over the Chicago Bears.
The Niners' defense, regarded by most as the unit needing to improve if the team is to repeat as NFC West Division champions, limited the Bears to 127 yards of offense and picked off three Kordell Stewart passes.
Two of them came late in the second quarter when the Niners, owned by John and Denise DeBartolo York of Canfield, scored 23 points in 6 minutes, 1 second to turn a 10-7 game into a rout at halftime.
The coach of two collegiate champions with Miami, Erickson is walking the NFL sidelines for the first time in five seasons.
And sometimes running.
Good experience
His opening day with the 49ers was one of his best experiences on a football field, and included a sideline sprint during an interception return for a touchdown.
"I'm always emotional to a point during the game, and the challenge is to keep my mind clear," said Erickson in a telephone interview Tuesday from the team's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif.
"I knew it was going to be an emotional game from the start, just because I was back in the NFL," Erickson said. "When we got [way] ahead, it was such a good [feeling]. They just kept turning the ball over and we took advantage of it like a giant ball that was rolling down on them."
Receiving a game ball in the locker room was icing on the cake.
"It was such a tremendous feeling," admitted Erickson, whose NFL record improved to 32-33 after coaching the Seattle Seahawks from 1995-98.
Five takeaways
In all, the Niners had five takeaways. Erickson credited the second-quarter play of backup cornerback Jimmy Williams for the game's turnaround.
First, Williams knocked the ball out of Bears punt-return man Bobby Wade's hands to set up one of Jeff Chandler's five field goals.
Then after cornerback Ahmed Plummer returned a Stewart pick-off 68 yards with 44 seconds remaining before halftime for a 30-7 lead, Williams stole another pass to set up another Chandler field goal as time expired.
"Williams stepped up and really played well," said Erickson after Williams became the nickel back following Rashad Holman's injury. "He's normally our sixth guy."
Erickson said the staff has moved on because the next challenge is a road trip to St. Louis to face the Rams, who will start Marc Bulger at quarterback after Kurt Warner's bad day in Sunday's 23-13 loss to the Giants.
Defensive preparations
Erickson said the switch doesn't much affect defensive preparations because "it's not the quarterback you prepare for, it's the scheme they use.
"Bulger showed last year that he was pretty good at running their offense," said Erickson, referring to the five straight wins Bulger quarterbacked after last season's 0-5 start.
With Holman out, Williams takes over the nickel spot and should see plenty of action against the Rams' potent offense.
The Niners have double motivation for Sunday's game: a 2-0 start and two-game lead on the Rams would be a tremendous confidence boost and would help erase the memories of a fourth-quarter collapse in last season's regular-season finale.
Although the game meant nothing to the playoff standings, the Rams rallied against the 49ers' backups for a 30-21 win that did little to boost the Niners' self-esteem six days before the playoffs began.
williams@vindy.com