ORCHARD PARK, NY. – Snow. Rain. Wind. An East Coast game. An early kickoff. An opponent with a winning record.

The 49ers haven't performed well when faced with any of those elements during the past five seasons, but on Sunday they shrugged off all of them for just the type of gritty, smash-mouth victory Mike Singletary has been searching for since he became the 49ers' interim coach.

"You have to overcome adverse situations instead of looking around and blaming somebody," Singletary said after the 10-3 win. "Overcoming adverse situations, sticking together and making it work for you. I told them it was an ugly win, but it is a win and we'll take it every day."

Buffalo won the coin flip and elected to defer possession until the second half. With the weather steadily deteriorating throughout the day, perhaps that was a mistake.

Facing no precipitation at the start of the game, Shaun Hill and the 49ers had the ball for 14 plays on the opening drive. Hill handed the ball to Frank Gore on the first five snaps, then hit wide receivers Bryant Johnson, Jason Hill and Isaac Bruce on successive third-down plays.

Hill finished the drive with a 12-yard touchdown toss to Bruce, who fooled rookie cornerback Leodis McKelvin on the play. With the mercury falling and the skies opening up in the second quarter, the score stood up as the only touchdown of the day.

"It took time off the clock. It set tempo. It set a tone for what we're here to do," Singletary said of the opening drive. "To be able to march right down the field and score – for our offense, it was a big boost. It really was."

Hill was an efficient 14 of 23 for 161 yards and finished with a 96.5 passer rating. He fumbled the ball on two consecutive plays deep in his own territory in the fourth quarter. Both, however, were recovered by the 49ers, who managed to avert the catastrophic second-half turnovers that sunk them in recent seasons.

The 49ers also jumped to an early lead last Sunday against the Cowboys, only to watch Dallas come storming back in the second quarter. This time, the defense held, and moreover, it seemed to relish the nasty conditions more than the Bills.

In the week leading up to the game, Singletary called the potential for snow and ice "perfect," and by game time that mentality had trickled down to his players.

"We were excited about playing out in that kind of weather," cornerback Walt Harris said. "I think we play very well in these kinds of conditions to begin, like we did in Denver a couple of years ago. I think it allows us to focus in a little more for some reason."

The Bills drove inside the 49ers' 10-yard line three times but came away with only three points.

The Bills' best chance for a touchdown came early in the second quarter when running back Fred Jackson took a first-down run to the 49ers' 2-yard line. But quarterback Trent Edwards couldn't connect on two subsequent pass attempts, and on fourth down, kicker Rian Lindell's short field-goal attempt struck the left upright and bounced away. Lindell also hit the left upright later in the game, this time from 40 yards.

The 49ers had another big defensive stand in the fourth quarter. Facing a third-and-one situation from the San Francisco 6, the Bills sent Jackson up the middle, hoping that the massive Buffalo offensive line – the league's biggest – could push forward for a yard.

Jackson, however, was stopped for a one-yard loss by defensive lineman Justin Smith, and on fourth down, defensive end Ray McDonald hit quarterback J.P. Losman, who was substituting for an injured Edwards, as he threw the ball.

The 49ers took over on downs.

It was just the type of grind-it-out finish Singletary was hoping for from his team.

"I told them at the beginning of the week, this week is about character," said Singletary, who is essentially auditioning for the coaching job for 2009. "We're 3-8, and you look at it and it's like, well, what do you have to play for? You know what – in my mind, we've got a lot to play for."

Read Matthew Barrows' 49ers blog at www.sacbee.com/ ninersblogs.