Oh, Sunday was a day of a very good high, and an even lower low. This past weekend, my beloved San Francisco 49ers visited the Minnesota Vikings for a showdown of unbeatens. During the season, week in and week out, here in Iowa, I can pretty much count on seeing a Vikings' game on netowrk television. Of course the one week, in which my team actually shows up to Minnesota, network tv will NOT cover the Vikings.
We were forced to see either the routing of the Chiefs by Philadelphia, followed by a Denver/Oakland Game, or we could watch the Rams get smacked down by Green Bay. Obviously the networks weren't too excited about the Detroit Lions game being televised, although they did pull out a win over the Washington Redskins for their first victory in about 21 months with a score of 19-14. Ironically, the two untelevised games being played in the Midwest were the only two games that could be considered competitive. So, my following of the SanFran-Minnesota game was by watching the score updates in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I kept seeing a back and forth game all afternoon. But then I saw the update that showed the 49ers up by 4 points with 1:41 to go in the game. At 0:41 left, I saw the same score, and again at 0:14. I was convinced that me not being able to watch the 49ers playing on tv would be alleviated by them beating down the Vikings, along with the 4th quarter comeback quarterback, Mr FAVRAY himself. Then it happened, the update comes around again...with :02 left on the clock, Minnesota had scored a touchdown, from 33 yards out. I didn't really think I had a heart, until it broke at that very moment. And I'm sure one certain Professor Scott from Maine, one of those silly Vikings' fans, will have something to say in the comments section once he reads this...
It's not like I had any illusions of my 49ers having a perfect season (that would take an even greater miracle than was the Lions having a perfectly winless season last year). But I really wanted the Indecisive One, also known as Brett Favre, be dealt his first loss with Minnesota, while simultaneously securing the 49ers the top spot in their division. I can however thank the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts for beating Seattle and Arizona, respectively, and making the division standings in my favor.
I can only hope that Coach Singletary drills it through the heads of the defensive backs that even a friggin 5 inch margin in the very back of the end zone is way too much room to be giving up, especially with an old codger like Favre that apparently still has enough talent to pull those kinds of stunts off. (On a scale of 1-100, my HATE-Favre-ometer clocked in at a whopping 134.6) Not to mention the incredible acrobatics of the Vikings wideout, Greg Lewis, to not only make a fingertip catch and drag the second foot barely inbounds.
Although, there were a couple good signs shown in this game. The star running back, Frank Gore, left the game with an ankle injury. The 49ers adjusted, and still, with the exception of the last play, just simply outplayed the Vikings, without the "main threat". QB Shaun Hill and TE Vernon Davis hooked up for 2 touchdowns. With Davis showing he is in fact a tough receiver who can be a playmaker, it will open up the wideouts for more plays throughout the season. I just hope that when Gore is out, and Coffee is in for him, that he is a good enough runner to keep the passing game an open and viable threat, to maintain a potent offense that few of us 49er fans remember from the good old days.
3 comments:
I followed the game by having my computer on sports illustrated's box score sight where they say the situation (3rd and 10, ball on SF 43), the last play, and the time. They also update the stats each play. I'd be playing with the kids, then rush to see if the screen updated with new info. The pass and catch were unbelievable (as I saw later), and as noted elsewhere, I finally feel like there is something to balance the painful memories of Steve Young's 1988 run through the entire Viking defense.
SF did shut down Adrian Peterson for all intents and purposes. If Jackson were QB, that would have been enough, I suspect. We may well face off again in the playoffs!
I can only hope that any rematch will fare much better for my 49ers...I think I can actually expect a playoff birth this year, given the seemingly sudden weakness of its division's members, but how far that palyoff scenario goes is hard to tell at this point.
As I said before I love seeing the 9ers do well under the watchful eye of the great Mike Singletary.
As for my beloved bears, It is always amazing to me that in nearly every win in the last two years you walk away thinking, "boy we played terrible, how did we win that game?"
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