They had the cornerback they hand-picked for this, matched against the wide receiver they long ago discarded.

It wasn't about schemes, play calls, quarterback controversies or replay challenges. Wasn't about suits, stadiums or public relations strategies.

This was Football: It was about Nate Clements vs. Terrell Owens, precisely the everywhere-he-goes-you-go meeting that Mike Singletary wanted and demanded.

This was about the 49ers' highest-paid defensive player against one of the most dangerous, albeit struggling, offensive players in the NFL.

This was what the 49ers wanted. And in a microcosm of everything that has gone on, and gone wrong, for the 49ers since 2002. It was a titantic mismatch.

Owens 213, Clements 0.

"I'm going to defend Nate and say that Nate's better than that," Singletary said after Owens' monster 213-yard performance, which included a 75-yard TD and also gains of 56 and 45 yards. "Nate's a good Football player. Nate can cover T.O.

"He did not today. But I'm not going to sit here and make excuses for him, 'Maybe we should've given more help.' No, I totally disagree with that. I just think we did a bad job, and I'll leave it at that."

Oh, by the way, the Cowboys smacked the 49ers by a 35-22 score at Texas Stadium on Sunday, dominating this game in every way except for two early 49ers drives that ominously stalled out inside the Dallas 10-yard line.

But it was the TO KO that set the tone and gave this game its theme: The Cowboys' best players were better the 49ers' best.

"They unleashed me today," said Owens, who had been unspectacular this season "... until the 49ers and Clements showed up.

As a barometer for Singletary's employment beyond this season, this game has neutral status: It's mostly a report card on the 49ers' roster, which is barren of playmakers and full of over-optimistic miscalculations.

As a barometer for Shaun Hill's future as the 49ers QB, this game is probably a net negative: A terrible, backbreaking interception in the end zone, and all those wobbly first-quarter misfires when he had to zip one into the end zone and couldn't do it.

During back-to-back 49ers first-and-goals at the Dallas 4, the Cowboys defense piled on Frank Gore (14 carries on the day for 26 yards) and forced Hill into wobbly incompletions and the 49ers to kick field goals.

Then "... Owens beat Clements over the top for a 75-yard score to go up 7-6 two plays into the second quarter, and it never really stopped after that.

This wasn't coaching. This was playing. Singletary hinted that the 49ers' plan included some press coverage on Owens, but that, after a few long gains, Clements might have started backing off on his own.

After Singletary called him over for a private talk in the locker room, Clements marched to his locker and addressed every question tossed at him.

"(Owens) got off today, you know? I'm not taking anything away from him," Clements said. "But I still have confidence in what I can do against anybody.

"My mind-set is I'm down overall how the season is going, and frustrated. But I'm confident in my abilities and myself and my teammates."

The 49ers paid him $22 million in guarantees before last season because he's tough and because they needed a lock-down corner.

The problem is that Clements is not a lock-down corner, though the 49ers still want to believe that he is. The problem is that the 49ers have a lot of players who aren't really what the 49ers say they are.

And, under the Mike Nolan/Scot McCloughan regime, they have shown no inclination to go out and get the kind of combustible players who win games on their own.

Nolan and McCloughan cultivated safe players, conducted safe drafts and signed safe personalities. And now, the 49ers have a safe roster full of guys who get regularly torched by playmakers.

Owens is a handful in every way. But, after a five-game lull in which he totaled 174 receiving yards and whispers that he'd lost his big-play ability, Owens took this game over.

"I think he does a heckuva job," Singletary said of Owens. "But I just think when you're not playing smart and you're not playing with confidence, sometimes that's going to happen. I would not say that Nate can't cover that guy. I would say Nate could cover him all over the field."

Singletary was trying to buck up Clements at that point, and probably was trying to buck himself up, a little. Even Singletary has to be realizing that this team isn't underachieving.

The 49ers are 3-8, with a cornerback who gets roasted, a QB who needs wide-open receivers, and a roster full of over-valued players.

They're 3-8, and they are exactly what their record says they are, and no more.

Contact Tim Kawakami at tkawakami@mercurynews.com