San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
NFC West title in sight after win
The 49ers had no shortage of vantage points as the 1981 season unfolded.
There was head coach Bill Walsh, trying to bring the success he enjoyed in college into the NFL. There were players — Randy Cross, Keith Fahnhorst and Ray Wersching, among others — who had known nothing but failure with the 49ers. And there were the rookie defensive backs — Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright and Carlton Williamson — determined to change the course of the franchise.
But the most unique perspective was that delivered by Jack Reynolds.
“Hacksaw” was in his first season with the 49ers in 1981, having played his first 11 with the Rams — and earning Pro Bowl honors in 1980.
In Week 12, Reynolds watched as his new team edged his old team 33-31 at Anaheim Stadium on Wersching's 37yard field goal as time expired.
It was, said Reynolds, a game the 49ers of old would not have won.
It “showed we have real character and a backbone,” Reynolds said of the gamewinning, 13-play, 61-yard, 111second drive. “It took a lot of guts and poise. That's it, poise. (The 49ers have) never had that . ... I remember in '79, they had us on the ropes, but they couldn't put us away. A lot of times, they would have just folded their tent.”
There would be no such folding on that sunny November day, though the 49ers admitted afterward to dealing with some nerves.
As they moved within striking distance of their first NFC West title since 1972, the 49ers needed a yard to avoid a second straight loss.
San Francisco trailed 31-30 and faced a 4th-and-1 at its 42-yard-line with a minute to play. Walsh called for a sweep, but Joe Montana changed the call and handed off to Paul Hofer, who bullied his way into the line behind Cross. He picked up 2 yards.
“I was scared on 4th-and-1,” Montana said. “My legs were shakin'.”
Cross didn't share in Montana's nervousness.
“Everything was so positive when we were watching them kick off,” said the sixth-year guard after the Rams had taken the lead on Wendell Tyler's 1-yard run with 1:54 to go. “We knew that if it got within 50 yards, (Wersching) wouldn't miss.”
It got well within 50 when Montana found Dwight Clark for back-to-back completions of 16 and 15 yards with less than 40 seconds to play. A timeout with two seconds to go brought out Wersching, who drilled his fourth field-goal try of the day without a miss.
The kick capped a scoring outburst in which the 49ers got 15 points from Wersching (four FGs, three extra points) and touchdowns on offense (a 1yard run from Johnny Davis in the second quarter), special teams (Amos Lawrence's 92yard kick return to start the third), and defense (Lott's 25yard pick-six in the third).
Lott's interception — his sixth of the season and third he returned for a TD — was the result of his observation skills.
Playing his first NFL game in Southern California, the USC alum told reporters after the game that, on the prior play, receiver Billy Waddy had run a curl pattern and was wide open, but QB Dan Pastorini threw elsewhere. Waddy ran to Pastorini, Lott assumed, to tell him he should look his way. Sure enough, Waddy ran another curl, Pastorini threw it in his direction and Lott stepped in front for the easy interception.
The win pushed the 49ers' record to 9-3, but celebration of a division title would have to wait at least a week because second-place Atlanta (6-6) stayed mathematically alive by beating Minnesota on “Monday Night Football.”
San Francisco's next chance would come in front of its fans at Candlestick in Week 13 against the New York Giants. It, too, would have a bit of drama.