Controversy, elements mark wild-card games
Sunday’s game in Dallas will be the seventh wild-card playoff game in 49ers’ history. Here’s a look at the first six, four of which San Francisco won:
Giants 17, 49ers 3 (Dec. 29, 1985, at Giants Stadium):
The 49ers needed to win seven of nine to earn a playoff berth, then were smothered by Lawrence Taylor and Co. Joe Montana threw 47 passes — the second-most in his 23 career playoff games — and completed 26 of them for 296 yards, but was sacked four times and threw an interception. Phil Simms threw two touchdown passes and Joe Morris ran for 141 yards for the Giants, who lost 21-0 the next week to the eventual-champion Bears.
49ers 14, Eagles 0 (Dec. 29, 1996, at 3Com Park):
There were three combatants on the field in this game — San Francisco, Philadelphia and the weather. Playing in a steady rain and with wind gusts up to 51 mph, the 49ers did just enough to advance. Steve Young — whose chances of playing were said to be 50-50 because of sore ribs — had a hand in both TDs: a 9-yard run in the second quarter and a 3-yard pass to Jerry Rice in the third. Young was also the leading rusher in the game with 65 yards — 8 more than former 49er Ricky Watters, who had 57 on 20 carries for the Eagles.
49ers 30, Packers 27 (Jan. 3, 1999, at 3Com Park):
Young’s 25-yard TD pass to Terrell Owens with three seconds to play stunned Green Bay, reduced Owens to tears as he went to the sideline and had the media and the 49ers searching for ways to compare the play to “The Catch” 17 years earlier. Steve Young lightheartedly suggested it be remembered as “The Throw,” but Owens — whose repeated drops throughout the game had marked him as a fall guy for what appeared to be a 49ers’ loss in the making — suggested “Redemption.”
Packers 25, 49ers 15 (Jan. 13, 2002, at Lambeau Field):
Green Bay’s Brett Favre did it again, ending a 49ers’ season for the fourth (and final) time in five postseason opportunities. He completed 22 of 29 passes for 269 yards, with two TDs and an interception and posted a 112.6 QB rating. The underdog 49ers’ chance of winning vanished when — with 5:03 to play and the 49ers trailing 18-15 — Jeff Garcia’s pass to Owens was intercepted at the Packers’ 7-yard line. Green Bay marched 93 yards in eight plays for a TD that put the issue to rest.
49ers 39, Giants 38 (Jan. 5, 2003, at 3Com Park):
Absurd, wild and controversial. With 4:30 remaining in the third quarter, the Giants led 38-14. Then Garcia went crazy. He threw a 26-yard TD pass to Owens, ran 14 yards for another score, passed for 71 of 74 yards on a drive that led to a field goal, then threw a 13-yard go-ahead TD pass to Tai Streets with 1:05 to play. The Giants worked their way into position for a would-be gamewinning field goal on the final play, but a muffed snap blew up the try and a desperation heave fell incomplete as the Giants screamed for a pass interference call. Officials instead ruled the would-be receiver — offensive lineman Rich Seubert — was downfield illegally so there could be no interference. The next day, the league office said the call was wrong — Seubert had reported as eligible — but the outcome could not be changed.
49ers 23, Packers 20 (Jan. 5, 2014, at Lambeau Field):
Phil Dawson’s moment in the postseason sun came on a bone-chilling Wisconsin afternoon in game that began with a temperature of 5 degrees and a wind chill index of minus-10. In those conditions, Dawson made both of his extra points and all three field-goal tries — the last coming from 33 yards out on the final play of the game. Colin Kaepernick threw for 227 yards (125 of which went to Michael Crabtree on eight receptions) and was the game’s leading rusher (98 yards on seven carries) as the 49ers outgained the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers by 100 yards (381-281).