The 49ers Are Alive and Well : Pro football: Elvis isn’t the only one who lives, as Dolphins get thrashed, 44-20, in Miami.

Another spooky three hours. Another hushed crowd. Another gouging of another Super Bowl contender.

Late Monday night, amid the trash and echoes rolling around near-empty Joe Robbie Stadium, one thing became frighteningly obvious about the San Francisco 49ers.

Elvis isn’t the only one who lives.

So does the 49er mystique after their 44-20 victory over the Miami Dolphins at Joe Robbie Stadium.

“Call this Shock the World II,” said Jesse Sapolu, 49er guard.

Three weeks ago, the defending Super Bowl champions had lost to the expansion Carolina Panthers to drop their record to 5-4.

Since then, they have beaten the host Dallas Cowboys and Dolphins by a combined score of 82-40, out-gaining them, 883-604, in total yardage, causing six turnovers and committing none.

The 49ers had used a “shock the world” theme during practice the week before the Cowboy game.

Now you can find that motto throughout the locker room on T-shirts.

Now, all those in the NFL who were crowing--and this means everybody--are cowering.

“Everybody’s kind of like, ‘Ohhhhhh,’ ” said quarterback Steve Young. “It’s fun to watch.”

Yeah, that Steve Young, the league’s defending MVP who is supposed to be a hero in games like this.

For a fifth consecutive week, he didn’t play because of a shoulder injury. For a second consecutive week he wasn’t needed.

Elvis Grbac, in his last start this season barring another injury to Young, threw for a career high 382 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.

Grbac was so good--or the 49ers were so hot--that he laid a perfect 47-yard touchdown pass in the hands of Jerry Rice for the go-ahead score midway through he second quarter . . . one play after being knocked silly and nearly leaving the game.

“I told Elvis, ‘You have set a new standard,”’ said Young with a smile. “There’s a lot of pressure one me now to keep it going.”

Young, who could have played Monday but promised Coach George Seifert he would rest, threw hard before the game and will return to the lineup next Sunday at home against St. Louis.

He and teammates are expecting an interesting reception.

“You know, there were a lot of people who booed us off Candlestick Park when we left there after losing to Carolina,” said Sapolu. “I wonder what they will be doing when we come back.”

The few fans remaining of what began as the largest crowd ever to watch a game in this stadium--73,080--couldn’t wait for the Dolphins to leave town.

Supposedly on the verge of controlling the AFC, the Dolphins have lost consecutive home games to New England and San Francisco by a combined scored of 78-37. They have fallen to 6-5.

If the season ended today, one of the preseason Super Bowl favorites would have to win a tiebreaker to even make the playoffs.

“It’s going to be hard to forget,” said Dan Marino of this nationally televised embarrassment. “There are a lot of games that are hard to forget this year.”

With two touchdown passes, Marino tied Fran Tarkenton’s all-time record of 342 touchdown passes.

But his teammates were busy approaching records of other sorts. For most dropped balls, most missed tackles, most times making a bad play and then running off the field and yelling at a coach.

“We showed no heart,” said linebacker Bryan Cox.

Afterward, Coach Don Shula’s eyes were red. It was a color as unbecoming to him as those black-and-gold shirts he and his staff curiously wore during the game.

If he was borrowing Jim Mora’s lucky shirt from the New Orleans Saints, it was a bad idea. In a couple of months, both guys could be looking for work.