By now, the script is familiar.

Team wins championship. Team mortgages future in doomed attempt to stay on top. Team suffers salary-cap collapse and goes through bleak period. Team rebuilds with youth and once again contends for title.

The latest NFL team to follow that script is the 49ers.

	Ahmed Plummer (29) and Julian Peterson are cornerstones of the 49ers' new and improved defense.

After San Francisco's 20-year dynasty crashed with breathtaking suddenness in 1999, the NFL's version of royalty found itself huddled alongside woebegone teams like the Bengals and Cardinals. But after two years of slumming, the 49ers are 9-2 and tied with the Rams for first place in the NFC West.

The only surprise is that anyone is surprised.

After all, Bill Walsh returned to the 49ers in 1999 as an all-powerful vice president and, just as he did when he was hired to coach the team in 1979, Walsh used his time-tested philosophies and uncanny feel for talent to put a losing team in the title chase by the third year. Indeed, the rapidity of the 49ers' recovery has been almost as breathtaking as the speed of the fall.

To be fair, there are three saviors in the 49ers' sooner-than-expected return from salary-cap exile: Walsh, coach Steve Mariucci and quarterback Jeff Garcia.

Mariucci, a player-friendly motivator, proved to be a worthy successor to Walsh and George Seifert. Garcia, once banished to the Canadian Football League, proved to be a worthy successor to Joe Montana and Steve Young. And Walsh, even at 70, proved to be a worthy successor to, well, Walsh.

Walsh started breaking up an aging, cap-strapped 12-4 team soon after he was coaxed out of retirement in early 1999 to clean up the financial mess created by Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark. Walsh eased the 49ers' long-time stars out the door with a minimum of angst -- something only he could have done -- absorbed some monstrous salary-cap hits and went to work in the draft and free agency.

Mariucci, 25-7 in his first two years in San Francisco, won only 10 games over the next two years as the 49ers went into a self-induced coma. However, Mariucci kept the offense productive despite heavy personnel turnover and held the team together even though it was filled with veteran players who weren't used to losing.

Garcia has gone from being a player nobody wanted two years ago to a Pro Bowler last season and the highest-rated quarterback in the NFC this season. Garcia spent five years in the CFL and even Walsh, who liked Garcia's instincts and nimble feet during his days at San Jose State, figured him to be a backup quarterback at best.

But while Mariucci and Garcia have kept the offense humming along in true 49ers fashion, it is the improvement on defense that has turned a 6-10 loser into a 9-2 contender in one season. That can be traced directly to Walsh, who stepped down again after the draft in April but remains with the team as a fairly vocal consultant.

Walsh restocked the 49ers' roster with two superb drafts and the team is winning with young players even though it is saddled with $15 million to $20 million in dead cap money. There are 40 players on the roster who have been in the NFL for less than three full seasons, and 12 of the team's 18 draft picks over the past two years either start or play significant roles.

But while there have been some good moves on offense -- signing Garcia, sticking with tailback Garrison Hearst, keeping the offensive line intact -- most of Walsh's repair work was concentrated on the defense. The dirty little secret of Walsh's first tenure with the 49ers, which eventually begat five NFL championships, was that the defense usually was very fast and very good. While observers marveled at the West Coast offense and stars such as Montana, Young and Jerry Rice, Walsh was busy maintaining a top-notch defense.

In the 1981 draft, he marshalled his picks and ended up with three players good enough to start in the secondary as rookies. The 49ers won their first title that year, which is something Walsh remembered during his most recent makeover of the team.

"The only way you can play defense is with athletes," Walsh told the Chicago Tribune. "If there's a flaw in your defense, it always shows up against the better teams. Offensively, you can manipulate it to take advantage of the men you have and stay clear of the men who don't have the ability to make the big play. Offensively, you can coach a system of football that can be productive. But defensively you have to have players."

Walsh and Mariucci can share the credit for the team's typically versatile offense, which ranks second in the NFL in yards gained. The offense ranked first in 1998 (Young's last full season) and, amazingly, never fell lower than 10th despite the team's poor record and rebuilding posture the last two seasons.

Credit Walsh, who championed Garcia when no one else wanted him, and Mariucci, who steadfastly stuck by Hearst when everyone else in the organization thought he was finished due to a shattered ankle that required four surgeries and two idle seasons. Now, Garcia is tied with Brett Favre for the NFL lead with 24 touchdown passes and Hearst has rushed for 900 yards, third in the NFC, and a 5.2-yard average per carry.

It is the reconstructed defense that bears Walsh's stamp. The 49ers led the NFL in defense in 1997, then were 23rd, 28th and 29th the next three seasons. In 1999, they were 31st and last in pass defense. Last year, they were only two spots better.

This year, the defense is up to 20th in yards allowed, including 10th against the rush, and 16th in points allowed. It still ranks 25th against the pass, due largely to a pass rush that has produced a league-low 15 sacks, but it is improving.

	Fewest sacks this season
	No team has fewer sacks this season than the 49ers, who are tied with the Vikings at 15 for the fewest sacks. But the difference between the Niners and the rest of the teams on this list is that San Francisco has a 9-2 record, while none of the others are even close to .500.
	Team	Sacks	W-L
	49ers	15	9-2
	Vikings	15	4-7
	Cardinals	16	5-6
	Redskins	17	5-6
	Panthers	20	1-11
	Chiefs	20	3-8

Walsh's draft-day successes in building the defense and Mariucci's continued support of defensive coordinator Jim Mora Jr. during a couple of tough seasons is paying off. The 49ers' young defense is growing up before our very eyes. Last week, it held the Bills to 29 yards rushing and intercepted Alex Van Pelt four times in a 35-0 victory.

Ironically, Walsh's first-round draft pick in 1999, defensive tackle Reggie McGrew, was a mistake. It might have been Walsh's last.

In the 2000 draft, he did some of his customary wheeling and dealing and ended up with six picks in the first three rounds. Five of them -- end John Engelberger, linebackers Julian Peterson and Jeff Ulbrich and cornerbacks Ahmed Plummer and Jason Webster -- currently start on defense. Another starter, pass-rushing end Andre Carter, was added in the first round this year.

The youngsters, especially Plummer and Webster, endured a painful learning experience last year but are better players for it. Plummer, in particular, is becoming a playmaker. After failing to intercept a pass last year, he has seven picks this year.

Another reason for the improvement on the last line of defense is that the same four players have started every game. The 49ers had 15 different starting combinations in the secondary the previous two years.

"We've been able to settle in back there with four starters," Mariucci said. "We've been lucky enough to stay healthy, keep playing as a unit. They get better and better each week."

Because they are improving, Mora Jr. has been able to increase his blitz calls the last few games. That's a necessity because the front four hasn't been able to generate much of a pass rush.

Tackle Dana Stubblefield and middle linebacker Derek Smith, stolen from the Redskins via free agency, have solidified the run defense, but Peterson and Carter have yet to provide the pass rush Walsh sought when he drafted them. Both have shown promise, but until that translates into consistent pressure the 49ers' defense won't move into the top half of the league.

However, it does look like Walsh has laid the foundation for the defense to get there eventually, perhaps has soon as Sunday's NFC West first-place showdown with the Rams.

"In a short period of time," 49ers general manager Terry Donahue said, "we have been able to change the structure of the team."

Yeah, thanks to Walsh.

Again.

Are Bears more lucky than good?
The other weekend game that could fundamentally alter the NFC playoff picture is the Packers and Bears at Green Bay.

If the Bears win, they will be 10-2 and hold a two-game lead over the Packers in the NFC Central race. If the Packers win, the teams will be tied for the lead at 9-3 and Green Bay will hold the tiebreaker edge because it will have swept Chicago.

	A 9-2 team that has been outgained in eight of its 11 games and has gone 7-0 in games decided by seven points or less, often winning with an improbable play or series of plays late in the game, is luckier than Bill Gates' children.

A more compelling question that could be answered, however, is whether the Bears are very good or very lucky this season. The guess here is that a 9-2 team that has been outgained in eight of its 11 games and has gone 7-0 in games decided by seven points or less, often winning with an improbable play or series of plays late in the game, is luckier than Bill Gates' children.

Last week, the Bears waved their magic wand again in a 13-10 win over the 0-11 Lions. In that game, the only discernible difference between the team with the NFL's best record and the one with the worst was three missed field goals by Jason Hanson, including a 40-yarder with 21 seconds left. This was the same Jason Hanson who had converted an NFL-record 87 percent of his career field-goal attempts inside the 50.

That's not the first inexplicable occurrence in a Bears game this season. They beat San Francisco and Cleveland on consecutive weeks when Mike Brown returned tipped passes for touchdowns in overtime. They scored two touchdowns in the final 28 seconds against the Browns, a sequence that included an onside kick and a game-tying Hail Mary pass. They beat Tampa Bay when Pro Bowler Martin "Automatica" Gramatica hit the upright with a field-goal try on the final play.

Reverse the outcome of those four games and the Bears would be 5-6 and coach Dick Jauron would be job-hunting. Jauron might still be looking for work ultimately -- only general manager Jerry Angelo knows for sure, and he's not saying -- but for now the Bears are the talk of the NFL.

When the teams played a month ago, the Bears credited their success to preparation, and a few of the Packers said the Bears had been lucky. This week, the teams did an about-face. The Bears embraced the notion that good, clean living is paying off for them, and the Packers pointed out that luck is the product of preparation.

"The fact that people want to say we're lucky is absolutely fine with us," Jauron said. "As long as that tag sticks to us, we'll accept it."

The Packers aren't buying it for a minute.

"I think you create luck by being prepared and putting yourself in a position so luck helps you," Packers head coach Mike Sherman said. "I mean, some teams have lucky breaks, but they can't take advantage of them or they're not in a position to win a football game. (Chicago) has been in position to win, has won and has been able to take advantage of those situations. I don't say it's luck; I say it's preparation."

We'll find out Sunday.

For Eagles, home isn't sweet
Remember when the Eagles couldn't win on the road? Well, now they're having trouble winning at home.

From 1997 to early in the 1999 season, the Eagles went 0-18-1 on the road. This season, they're 5-0 away from Veterans Stadium.

	Reid

It's a good thing, too, because the Eagles are only 2-4 at the Vet heading into a home game against the struggling Chargers Sunday. That's good enough to give the Eagles a two-game lead in the sorry NFC East, but it'll have to improve because the Eagles have three difficult road games remaining and they need to win three more games to guarantee themselves the division title.

Coach Andy Reid offered no explanation for the Eagles' inability to win at home.

"I don't get caught up in all that," he said. "I think that, if you're a good football team, you're a good football team. here or in an away game. You're either good or you're not good."

The Eagles are good, just not all the time. That inconsistency probably is a function of being a young, emerging team.

As for their lack of success at the Vet, the popular theory is that the Eagles are uptight at home because there is intense pressure from the tough Philly crowd to perform like a favorite, which is an unfamiliar role for many of the players.

Detroit's bad deal
Worst trade of the year?

How about the inexperienced leadership team in Detroit panicking after a poor performance by quarterback Charlie Batch in the season opener and dealing a fourth-round draft pick to Cleveland for Ty Detmer?

Detmer started two games, threw seven interceptions and coach Marty Mornhinweg gave the job back to Batch. However, after Batch was lost for the season with a shoulder injury last Sunday, it was rookie Mike McMahon, and not Detmer, who was handed the starting job.

Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal writes an NFC column every week for ESPN.com.