EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Inept. That's the only word for it.

Inept franchise. Inept ownership. Inept coach. Inept quarterback.

The 49ers lost their fourth straight game on Sunday at the Meadowlands, falling 29-17 to the defending Super Bowl champion Giants who — frankly — didn't seem particularly interested in the game.

Wearing the NFL colors that once symbolized quarterbacking as an art form, J.T. O'Sullivan crafted a disaster. He threw two interceptions, on back-to-back drives before the half. He fumbled the ball four times, losing one and another resulting in a safety.

It's a very bad sign when you can't trust your quarterback with the football in his hands.

O'Sullivan's disastrous day is just one more sign of the grim desperation that blankets this inept team.

Over the course of their misery, the 49ers have changed the quarterback — and may make another change. Mike Nolan left open the possibility of making a switch to Shaun Hill next week. They've changed the offensive coordinator every year. They've changed the players.

But they haven't changed this wretched, interminable culture of losing.

Which leads one to believe that the change that truly needs to be made is the one that hasn't yet happened. The 49ers need to make a switch at head coach. To see if someone else can do a better job with the resources available.

If you needed any evidence that such a tactic can work, take a look at what St. Louis did to Dallas on Sunday — crushing the Cowboys to run their record to 2-0 under Jim Haslett.

This would be the time for the 49ers to make a change. If the 49ers squeak out a win over a lousy Seattle team at home, what will it prove? But the Yorks are so passive, so timid and insecure, that they could take a victory as The Sign. That everything is about to change.

It won't. And the 49ers' invisible ownership needs to be accountable and answer to the dwindling fan base. But we haven't heard a peep from the phantom Yorks all season. Though I have no personal evidence that the Yorks were at Sunday's game, I heard from others that they were there. Sacramento Bee reporter Matt Barrows approached Jed York for a comment and was turned down cold.

After the game, Nolan once again placed the blame squarely on the players. Errors. Lack of focus.

"It's just execution," he said at one point. "That's all it is."

Not preparation. Not coaching. Not scheme. Not motivation. Not hiring the wrong players.

More and more, O'Sullivan looks like the wrong player in the most important position. He looks exactly like what he is: a guy who bounced around the league for a reason. With every week, his statistics decline and his errors become more glaring. While he throws a sharp pass every now and again, he also makes morale-crushing, game-changing mistakes. He doesn't seem to have the personality to lead or motivate his teammates. Opposing defenses have figured him out.

Yes, a few passes were dropped by receivers, but O'Sullivan also seemed to have brain cramps at times, running around laterally when he appeared able to get a first down, not taking advantage of a free play provided by a Giants penalty. He looks in over his head.

When Nolan was asked if Hill might play next week, he said that "We'll watch the film and then evaluate that."

O'Sullivan didn't have much to say about his problems. He said he'd have to look at the film. He didn't take public accountability for the mistakes and gave the notion of a quarterback change a verbal shrug.

"I'd say there's always a possibility every single week," he said.

Last year, Nolan was able to blame his team's woes on his young, injured, mild-mannered quarterback — Alex Smith. It looks like O'Sullivan could be next to go under the head coach's bus.

But at some point, shouldn't someone in charge be held accountable for the ceaseless, unrelenting, unending ineptitude?