After five years of inconsistency, injuries, and instability, Alex Smith played what was probably the best game of his career given the circumstances, but the 49ers lost a heartbreaker to New Orleans on Monday night in San Francisco.
The game began with a 49ers miscue that turned into a Saints safety before the Saints punched in a quick touchdown. With the home team down nine and the crowd sitting very still, the scene had hoof prints of a nationally televised slaughter, but Alex Smith came into form in the 2nd quarter and led a drive that culminated with a 12-yard TD pass to Frank Gore.
The 49ers put together a nice looking drive using the better part of the 2nd quarter that stalled when Delaney Walker fumbled around the Saints 10-yard line. The disappointment and devastation involved turned out to be a foreshadowing of things to come for the team and their fans.
San Francisco went into halftime down 7-9, a big achievement against a team that regularly lit up the scoreboard early and often during their run to the Super Bowl last year. One could imagine Coach Singletary putting this in perspective to the team as well, implementing his iron will in accompaniment with his wooden cross.
When the 49ers finally got possession of the ball in the 3rd quarter, something awesome happened. Alex Smith connected on two consecutive and beautiful passes; the first one a 32-yard dart over the middle to Michael Crabtree and the second a 41-yard over-the-shoulder, in-stride grab by Tight End Vernon Davis. They soon went up 14-9 on an Anthony Davis 2-yard Touchdown run. Davis became the first 49er since Terrell Owens in 1997 to score on his first career carry.
The Saints found themselves in the rare predicament of trailing in the 2nd half, but they didn’t stay in this predicament for long. After a short Brees TD pass put them back ahead 16-14, Saints kicker Garret Hartley slapped one through the yellow sticks and the Champs led 19-14.
With less than 3 minutes left in the game, New Orleans stood one yard away from going up by two scores and sealing the game, but a stout 49er defense that played up to their high expectations all evening slammed through the line of scrimmage, stopping fullback Heath Evans and forcing another Hartley field goal, putting the Saints ahead 22-14 with about two and a half minutes remaining.
At this point, given Alex Smith and the 49ers recent history, the chance that the team would drive the field and score a touchdown with no timeouts and subsequently get a two-point conversion to tie the game could not have been better than 20%. But evening had fallen in the historic, energized, and eerie stadium on the edge of western civilization and it began to fill with the spirits of leaders past, as Smith led the team on a calm and methodical drive despite a desperate and uncertain situation.
Frank Gore was soon rambling through a defense that had obviously grown tired and weary toward the task of tackling him, and across the goal line. Smith then calmly tossed a low dart into the hands of Vernon Davis for a two-point conversion. Of course, the aging referee standing five feet away from the play didn’t see it that way, but replay eventually did.
The only problem ended up being the 49ers scoring too quickly, leaving 1:14 on the clock for Brees to operate, and he did just that- slicing the 49ers open with a 30-yard pass over the middle to Marques Colston before Hartley banked a 37-yard filed goal off of the outer wrist of a 49er defensive lineman. Thus ended an incredible football game that sadly and ultimately will amount to a second consecutive loss for a re-galvanized 49er team that gave the defending Champions everything they could handle.
Comments