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Favre shocks the 49ers in the final seconds
By Morris Phillips September 27, 2009 |
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For 59 minutes plus, with the 49ers defense applying his makeup, Brett Favre looked old and ordinary. Then in the final seconds, with the game on the line, and the 49ers defense playing the perfect foil, Favre looked like the Mississippi gunslinger reborn. Farve’s 32-yard pass to Greg Lewis with two seconds remaining propelled the Vikings past the 49ers, 27-24. The loss prevented the 49ers from starting a season with three victories for the first time since 1998. “Brett made a play,” said coach Mike Singeltary of a play that seemed and looked improbable. “You can always point to every play that’s made on the field, and say ‘well somebody didn’t do this, and somebody did that.’ Hopefully, as we go forward, we’ll make those plays.” The play Favre made took a perfect throw and catch, and then incredible back of the end zone footwork from Lewis. Even Favre, laying on his stomach after getting knocked down, needed the affirmation of the roaring Metrodome crowd, to figure out what he had accomplished. But with one play, Favre justified all the wrangling and millions of dollars that were needed to pry him out of his latest retirement. And while the 49ers played well enough to win by stopping All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson, overcoming a 101-yard touchdown return by Percy Harvin, and overcoming 10-0 and 20-17 deficits, they couldn’t overcome their inability to convert third down opportunities. The 49ers failed to convert even one third down, finished 0 for 11 on the day, the most important being the third and six with 1:41 remaining that they basically conceded by handing the ball to backup Glen Coffee who was stopped after a two-yard gain. Somehow, the 49ers figured they could punt and stop Farve one last time. That didn’t happen. With 91 seconds remaining, and no time outs, Favre completed six of eight passes, along with two spikes to stop the clock. At no point did the Vikings seem on the precipice of victory until the final throw. With the 49ers bringing pressure, Farve had completed just 18 of 38 passes prior to the final drive, and he didn’t look like he was capable of another of his signature comebacks. In fact, Favre looked like a NFL game manager, just like his counterpart, Shaun Hill. Hill delivered two touchdown passes to Vernon Davis, the last with eight minutes remaining. But with just 15 completions on the day and less than 200 yards passing, the longest completion going for 31 yards, Hill was just managing the San Francisco offense, especially with Frank Gore unable to overcome his ankle injury. In this case, without a big third down completion, Hill and the 49ers just managed to get beat. The 49ers got a big field goal block and touchdown return from Nate Clements to overcome a mediocre first half, allowing them to go to the locker room with a 14-13 lead. And with the 49ers disciplined approach to stopping Peterson along with Patrick Willis and Manny Lawson’s sure tackling, the 49ers managed to hang around after falling behind 10-0. In the second half, at critical junctions, the pressure of the pass rush on Favre was effective in keeping the 49ers ahead. The 49ers even stopped Favre and the Vikings when they gained possession with less than four minutes remaining on just six plays, as Minnesota turned the ball over after two incompletions, the last on fourth down. But unfortunately, that wasn’t the Vikings last gasp. Next week, the 49ers attempt to rebound against the 0-3 Rams at Candlestick. |
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