Falcons can’t stop Niners’ rally
San Francisco sets record in victory
ATLANTA — Make way, Joe Montana and Steve Young. Colin Kaepernick is leading a brash new group of 49ers to the Super Bowl.
Frank Gore scored a pair of second-half touchdowns and San Francisco, after falling behind 17-0 by the first play of the second quarter, pulled off a record rally for a 28-24 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game Sunday.
San Francisco will play the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl at New Orleans on Sunday, Feb. 3. Baltimore shocked New England 28-13 in the AFC championship game Sunday night.
Kaepernick didn’t put up the same dazzling numbers he did in the divisional playoff against Green Bay. But he was solid enough to justify coach Jim Harbaugh’s decision to bench Alex Smith and go with the youngster. The 49ers defence did its part, shutting out Atlanta in the second half and making a big stop with just over a minute to go.
San Francisco (13-4-1) will now try to join the Pittsburgh Steelers as the only franchises with six Super Bowl titles.
“This is what we play for. We play for this moment,” said 49ers tight end Vernon Davis, who hauled in a touchdown pass from Kaepernick. “We put in all the hard work and get the opportunity to play on the big stage.”
Montana led the 49ers to four Super Bowl wins and Young took them to No. 5. It’s up to Kaepernick to get No. 6 when the 49ers play in the NFL title game for the first time since 1995.
This was sweet redemption after a bitter loss at home in last year’s NFC title game, when a fumbled return set up the New York Giants’ winning field goal in overtime.
“We’ve come full circle,” said Denise DeBartolo York, part of the family that has owned the 49ers since their championship days, “and the dynasty will prevail.”
The second-year quarterback who runs like a track star guided San Francisco on a pair of second-half scoring drives that wiped out Atlanta’s 24-14 lead at the break. Gore scored on a five-yard run early in the third, then sprinted in from nine yards out for the winning score with 8:23 remaining after each team made crucial mistakes to ruin potential scoring drives.
On both of Gore’s TDs, the Falcons had to worry about Kaepernick running it himself out of the spread option. They barely even touched the running back on either play. His backup, LaMichael James, also ran for a TD in similar fashion.
“I’m just enjoying this,” Kaepernick said.
The 49ers pulled off the biggest comeback victory in an NFC championship game, according to STATS. The previous NFC record was 13 points — Atlanta’s victory over Minnesota in the 1999 title game, which sent the Falcons to what remains the only Super Bowl in franchise history.
In the AFC, the record is 18 points, when Indianapolis rallied past New England in 2007.
The top-seeded Falcons (144), in what appeared to be the final game for Hall of Famer-to-be Tony Gonzalez, tried to pull off another season-extending drive.
But unlike the week before against Seattle, they needed a touchdown this time.
They came up 10 yards short.
On fourth down, Matt Ryan attempted a pass over the middle to Roddy White that would have been enough to keep the drive going.
But linebacker NaVorro Bowman stuck a hand in to knock it away with 1:13 remaining.
Ryan finished 30 of 42 for 396 yards, by far the best performance of his playoff career. But his post-season record dropped to 1-4, done in by two big miscues in the second half.
After a nearly perfect first half, in which Ryan was 18 of 24 for 271 yards and those three TDs, the quarterback known as Matty Ice made a couple of crucial blunders.
First, he tossed a pass that was picked off by Chris Culliver. Then, with the Falcons in scoring range, Ryan fumbled a shotgun snap.
“Against a good team, you can’t have those kind of mistakes,” Ryan said.