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January 14, 1999 (NHS) -- "It's better to be lucky than good" -- a phrase so often uttered when commenting on this team that it has become the unofficial 49er team slogan. And as if that perfectly accurate descriptor isn't enough, what's worse is the shameful, snobbish manner in which the 49ers, fans and media happily accept this unending stream of gifts that are bestowed on them. There's never any gratitude, there's never any respect for the opponent that unfairly receives the short-end of the stick. Instead, in their world, the 49ers somehow deserve to have every call and bounce go their way, and this luck is used as a tool to overrate the team and "prove" how the 49ers are "the best ever". Problem is, guess where the 49ers end up when the luck runs out?
That's right, exactly where they deserve to be: on the couch, watching the Super Bowl.
On Saturday, the Falcons ended the Niners' season, knocking them out of the playoffs, 20-18. And while Niner-haters everywhere should be content going into the offseason, the fact remains that if not for the standard pro-49er officiating, the game SHOULD have been a romp. It should have been an embarassing blowout. This, of course, assumes no intervention from the officials in determining the results, which unfortunately is a rare occurrence as far as the 49ers are concerned.
Let's recap their season: the Niners had home-field advantage against Green Bay in the Wild Card game thanks to early-season blunders by the officials in the Colts game; it was a screw-up by the officials that allowed the Niners to move into the divisional playoffs instead of the Packers; and, for a while, the refs seemed intent on keeping San Fran alive as long as possible in the Georgia Dome, depriving the Falcons of their rightful 21-0 lead en route to a certain blowout.
So while 49er-haters get to enjoy a Problem-free Super Bowl, we're far from content. Instead, 49er-haters everywhere reacted to the end of the 49ers season with a nodding scoff or similar mannerism that reflected the indignation in knowing it was way beyond time that just desserts were served to these pretenders.
As we've all seen, a backwards toss by Steve Young to Terry Kirby on a play that was supposed to be the standard 49er cheesy halfback pass went horribly awry, with Young throwing the ball into the ground in front of Kirby, who tried to pounce on it. Kirby managed to get one arm near it, but instead of grabbing it, he cradled his elbow underneath, and his process of trying to stand up, the ball squipped into the air. Chuck Smith plucked the pigskin and rumbled for an apparent touchdown. 21-0 Falcons, start booking the flights for Minnesota.
Of course, NHS followers know by now that it's never that easy. Sure enough, as so often appears during pictures of a 49er opponent celebration, like clockwork the "flag" symbol appeared on the television screen. The officials congregated in the classic "49er Huddle" and ruled that the ball was down by contact on the ground -- Atlanta's ball on the turnover, but no touchdown. Feeling the situation had been sorted out, the TV people at FOX cut to commercial, but those in attendance at the Georgia Dome had yet another surprise waiting. The 49er Huddle continued until referee Jerry Markbreit announced that there was a "correction", and the Niners had the ball because Kirby supposedly had possession (probably the loosest interpretation of "possession" ever made).
Those of us not fortunate enough to be at the game didn't get to witness this, but instead, following the commercial break, we were greeted by the 49ers "magically" continuing their drive, which ultimately resulted in a touchdown. Suddenly, what should have been 21-0 blowout was now 14-7, and it was a whole new ballgame. Thankfully, announcer Matt Millen went nuts on the ultimate decision, calling it like it was, "a complete farce." However, it was interesting to note that the ex-49er made no immediate mention of what immediately entered the minds of millions of viewers: the previous week's outrageous non-fumble call that cost Green Bay the right to be playing in this game. Only until after it received its proper attention from the FOX halftime crew, most notably Terry Bradshaw, did Millen and cohort Dick Stockton dredge up the Packers noncall.
Based on the copious amounts of email we received from Niner fans following the game, some are convinced that Kirby's half-second of swiping at the ball amounts to "possession", but objective fans know better. Once again, the zebras ruled incorrectly in favor of the Niners, and thus were able to keep the game from turning into a rout. Notwithstanding our opinion that Kirby never had possession, the argument of whether the call was ultimately right or wrong takes a back seat to how the call actually came about.
Number one: no whistle was blown during the play. In other words, while the play was unfolding, not one official thought strongly enough in the "Kirby had possession and was down" theory until after the fact. Worse, not one official was convinced enough throughout their first huddle, when it was decided after a lengthy discussion that Atlanta would get their turnover. What happened to spark a second discussion will only be known to a select few that will never publicly comment. In short, your guess is as good as ours as to why a second discussion was ever warranted and what was said to overrule the lack of a first whistle and the first announced decision.
That brings up an interesting question: how many teams had a play where the referees huddled after a confusing play and then overruled the live decision after further discussion? Obviously the 49ers over and over, but there are quite a few other teams that received this benefit. Fine. Now, question: how many teams had the referees huddle after a confusing play and overrule the live decision, make an announcement over the stadium P.A. system, then huddle again and overrule the huddle decision??
Answer: just the 49ers. And not just this once, but twice in the same season! (see: the Carolina game,) Now you answer: why?
On the 49ers' first play from scrimmage, Garrison Hearst took a freakish fall and fell in a heap of pain, and as soon as it was realized that this was a serious injury, a collective sigh of relief could be felt. No, it wasn't from the Falcons, Falcons fans, or 49er-haters. The sigh of relief came from the 49ers, their fans and the media.
As we know, nothing is more important to the Bandwagoner than eliminating risk in their "faithful" following of the 49ers. In their minds, Hearst's injury was exactly the insurance policy they needed. From that point on, they could enjoy the rest of the game with their excuse in their pockets, ready to be pulled out as the trump card to any opinion that the 49ers really didn't deserve to be in this game. Now they could avoid their biggest fear of actually having to admit the 49ers are not the elite team they think they are. Now the "Faithful" had something to whine about on the talk shows after the game as they lamented the passing of the season.
Naturally, the Hearst injury is nothing more than excuse. First, we can note that Hearst averaged 57 rushing yards at 3.3 yards a carry in the first two meetings between the teams, so he probably couldn't have been expected to do much had he been healthy. Second, its amusing that in all the 49er whining about his injury, nowhere was it remembered that Hearst was starting his 18th game of the year and had carried the ball well over 300 times on the year -- both career highs for the injury-prone back. It's no coincidence that one of his nicknames coined by the NHS is Garrison "Hurt", because the guy simply can't be relied upon to be around when it truly matters, such as last season when Hearst similarly bowed out of their last game of the season. In short, given his history, it could be said that it wasn't bad luck that Hearst got injured, but the 49ers' good fortune that he had even lasted this long.
Funnier still was the fact that unwanted-turned-"best ever" backup Terry Kirby got injured three plays later. No, we aren't happy that Kirby was injured, just the manner in which it happened -- he was hurt while covering for the punt team. Naturally, nobody was around to ask any of the 49er coaches/brain surgeons why they left their default number-one back in on a special teams play (see: Jason Sehorn).
But in the end, the key for why the Hearst injury was not a key factor was the simple fact that the Falcons defensive line ate up and spit out the overrated 49er offensive line. Particularly satisfying to NHS pundits was the highlighted pathetic effort by Ray Brown on a screen pass play. Even Millen had to admit that when a team dominates the trenches the way Atlanta did, "it won't matter who's running." (Of course, when it started to become clear that the 49ers were going to lose, Millen began to drum up the excuse, even laughably comparing Hearst to Barry Sanders.)
With the loss of their running backs, the Niner offense may have been slightly hamstrung, but the defense didn't perform all that well either. As he did in the first two meetings, Falcon running back Jamal Anderson ran around, by, over and mostly through the Niner defenders. Former Pro Bowl safety Merton Hanks, who has been exposed this year as the complete pencil-necked zero that he is, found himself playing the pin to Anderson's bowling ball several times. On his second touchdown run of the game, Anderson basically dragged Hanks 10 yards into the end zone. After his inability to make even routine plays over the last two years, hopefully people are starting to realize what we've been preaching for a while: that Merton is nothing more than an undersized pedestrian defense back who has built a reputation on being around the ball when it takes a lucky bounce into his arms, and then magnifying his play with his ridiculous dance. (Of course, that "classy" chicken dance that is such a source of pride of 49er fans has no relation to the "Dirty Bird" dance, which is universally denounced as classless by those same fans.)
The only major question mark to pin on the Falcons in this game was their choice of play calling in the final two minutes. With the Niners out of timeouts and the clock winding down, Atlanta chose to run a toss sweep to the sidelines on third down. This has to rank as one of the worst play-calls of the year. Not only were they taking an increased chance of fumbling by pitching the ball instead of handing it off, but Anderson's subsequent run out of bounds stopped the clock and gave the Niners at least 35 more seconds to work with at the end of the game. Dan Reeves and Co. deserve a lot of credit for turning the Falcons around this season, but this call ranked up there with some of the other questionable decisions (like Dom Capers' non-timeout at the end of the first Carolina game) coaches have made against the Niners this year.
Given the Falcons' domination, the only reason this game did not turn into rout was referee intervention. They took over once Atlanta led 14-0 in the second quarter. After the ensuing kickoff following Anderson's second TD, the 49ers series went as follows: incomplete pass, offsides on the Falcons, a completely fabricated pass interference penalty against the Falcons, incomplete pass, incomplete pass, a pass to J.J. Stokes ruled complete despite the replay clearly showing he trapped it, the Kirby-49er huddle fiasco already discussed, then eventual 49ers' score.
Now, if we were a jaded bunch, we'd declare there is something fishy about a span of seven plays in a momentum-turning drive in which the only yardage the 49ers gained was thanks to penalties and incorrect calls by officials. Again, don't take our word for it; pop the tape in the VCR and watch it unfold in its full glory almost as if by a script. Truly, the Falcons' real opponent on this day were the men in stripes, but even that could not stop the inevitable outcome of justice prevailing.
Now true football fans everywhere can turn their attention to an enjoyable postseason, where it is guaranteed that legitimate teams that don't use officiating as a crutch will compete in a great Super Bowl. Perhaps the most exciting aspect is that it is painfully obvious that the gimmick that was largely responsible for the 49ers to reach Super Bowls in the 1980's -- namely the West Coast Offense -- is no longer. It's proliferation throughout the league has eliminated much of the gimmick factor since teams are used to it, and the West Coast Offense in its pure form -- the pinnacle of cheese, the epitome of the bastardization of professional football and the culprit of boredom with the NFL -- lays abandonded. The 1999 Final Four teams all have a legitimate running back and quarterback that can fire the ball downfield, things that Bill Walsh never dreamed to included in his flag football version of the NFL.
As even the San Jose Mercury pointed out, "the 49ers were four plays from an 8-8 season." Hopefully, the distasteful ending to their 1998 season will leave a lasting legacy. Once the gimmicks ran out, the 49ers simply lacked the talent to compete with the upper-echelon of the NFL.
In the end, it's better to be good than lucky.
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created: January 14, 1999
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