On a night of faux football that was woefully lacking in star power, Alex Smith punctuated his homecoming with two turnovers. That helped the Chargers beat the sloppy San 49ers 16-13 in an exhibition finale Thursday night. Niners third-stringer Shaun Hill threw three interceptions and wide receiver Brandon Williams fumbled. San Diego scored 13 points off turnovers.

The team might wear 1980's-era throwback jerseys for the entire 2007 season as a tribute to former coach and administrator Bill Walsh, who died at 75 on July 30. "We're in the process of looking at our uniforms," was about all coach Mike Nolan offered. Owner John York announced in the days following Walsh's death that the 49ers would be wearing the familiar red-and-buff uniforms worn by San Francisco teams in the 1980's for the regular season opener Sept. 10 against Arizona.

The 49ers' team doctors say Frank Gore can play in Thursday's exhibition finale in San Diego. The head coach, however, has other ideas. "He can probably play but I'm not going to play him," Mike Nolan said Monday. "As much as he carried the ball last year, I think he's got it down." Four weeks after a breaking a bone on the top of his right hand in practice, Gore was fitted Monday for protective padding designed to help absorb any impact to his right hand. Whether he wears it for the team's regular-season opener Sept. 10, Gore said, depends on how comfortable the device feels in practice.

Rex Grossman fumbled a snap and had an interception returned 52 yards for a touchdown. But along with the mistakes came the moments of brilliance that have teased the Bears the past few seasons. Grossman played the first half and passed for 211 yards and two touchdowns, and the defending NFC champions held off the 49ers 31-28 in a preseason game on Saturday night.

Although he has had no setbacks as his broken hand heals, Frank Gore will not play in the 49ers' last exhibition game in San Diego, contrary to what coach Mike Nolan said earlier. "I think Frank, with 300 carries last year, knows where the holes are," Nolan cracked. Other 49ers who will not play in Chicago are defensive tackle Bryant Young (back), safety Dashon Goldson (elbow), wide receiver C. J. Brewer (knee) and nose tackle Aubrayo Franklin.

Frank Gore reported Wednesday that his broken hand is coming along just fine. It's the fact that he can't practice with his teammates that really stings. Gore suffered the injury July 30 when, during a pass-blocking drill, the middle finger on his right hand was bent awkwardly. He ended up breaking the bone that extends from the finger along the back of the hand. He said it will be "a couple of weeks" before it fully heals, and he didn't know whether he would join his teammates in the exhibition finale in San Diego on Aug. 30. "It depends on how I feel in practice," he said. "If the coaches want me to go, I'm going to go."

Alex Smith and Jay Cutler both looked ready to shoulder the big responsibilities they'll carry this season. Smith went 4-for-5 for 58 yards passing while leading two first-quarter scoring drives for the 49ers, and Cutler was sharp in limited action for Denver in the Broncos' 17-13 preseason victory over San Francisco on Monday night.

Eight days after Pittsburgh and New Orleans opened the NFL exhibition season, the Broncos and the 49ers finally get to play their own opener on Monday night. San Francisco coach Mike Nolan sees more than a funny scheduling quirk when the Steelers and Saints have played two preseason games before the 49ers even get on the field.

The field which provided the canvas for many of Bill Walsh's masterpieces will now bear his name. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that the 49ers' home field at Monster Park has been renamed "Bill Walsh Field" during a public memorial service for the Hall of Fame coach. Walsh, the architect of the 49ers' dynasty in the 1980s, died on July 30 at the age of 75.

When Bill Walsh and the 49ers won their first Super Bowl in January 1982, no one knew how the city they represented would react. Did San Francisco feel like celebrating? Should the city hold a parade? What if no one showed up? Organizers were expecting a crowd of 5,000 in front of City Hall. What the team encountered as it rounded the final corner of the parade route was a throng of a half-million fans who roared to the heavens when the white-haired coach stepped forward to greet them. Walsh was a pope on a balcony, a king before his people, a conquering hero. Twenty-five years later, the gathering at Walsh's memorial service indeed befitted that of a head of state. Two former mayors and a U.S. senator were among the 1,200 who filed into Stanford Memorial Church on an impossibly sunny Thursday morning. Media moguls, corporate giants and television personalities also paid their respects.