While the Niners started the season with a 49–7 demolishing of Chicago, the team quickly began to unravel afterwards, as the relationship between Garcia and Owens turned sour upon Garcia taking issue with Owens's public praise for the play of backup quarterback Tim Rattay. Garcia responded with a cryptic remark of "we cannot let the sickness spread"; in response, Owens wore a surgeon's mask at the following practice. The team was also ravaged by injuries to key players on both sides of the ball; the often reckless play of Jeff Garcia started to take a toll on him, as he was forced to miss 3 games during the season.