Broncos, Elway Put 49ers in a Fog, 17-16

The line of scrimmage was a dense fog, with each player’s breath adding to the cloud of condensation in the 20-degree temperature. But standing behind the line, Denver quarterback John Elway had miles of visibility. He could see forever. And, as needed, throw just as far.

Elway masterminded the Broncos’ 17-16 defeat of the San Francisco 49ers Monday night, using his vast field of vision as much as his right arm or his two feet. If he wasn’t checking receivers off back in the pocket, he was using his peripheral vision to elude San Francisco pass rushers. He wasn’t sacked all night.

It was Elway, moving aside in the pocket as San Francisco free safety Ronnie Lott charged him, who threw the game’s most important pass, connecting with Steve Watson for a 22-yard gain that put the Broncos on the 49er nine-yard line. Four plays later, with 1:27 left in the game, Rich Karlis kicked the winning field goal.

Of course the Broncos (7-3), alone atop the AFC West Division, had enough help from the 49ers (5-5) a defending Super Bowl champion suddenly grasping for a wild-card berth.

The 49ers, sometimes getting bombed by snowballs from fans in the sold-out Mile High Stadium, pulled up short any number of ways. Midway through the second quarter, the 49ers failed to score in four plays from the Denver four-yard line. That field position was due to a high snap on a Denver punt. But San Francisco, with a yard to go on fourth down, couldn’t get it over. Denver’s Steve Busick met Roger Craig straight up at that foggy line of scrimmage.

You could say that the 49ers should have chosen to go for a field goal, but seeing how they kick field goals might persuade you otherwise. This time, at the end of the half, holder Matt Cavanaugh bobbled a snap and was forced to loft a futile pass. Kicker Ray Wersching, presumably, could have done better with a 20-yard field-goal attempt.

But the big stopper came late in the game, after Wersching, with a 45-yard field goal, put the 49ers ahead, 16-14. With Elway passing from his 27-yard line, scrambling to avoid the rush, 49er free safety Dwight Hicks “face-guarded” Watson down the left sideline, paying no mind to the ball, which in fact hit him in the back. The pass interference penalty advanced the Broncos 42 yards.

Of that play, Elway attributed success to Watson’s considerable guile. “He did a great job on that pass interference call. That’s why Hicks never looked for the ball. He never knew it was coming.”

Said 49er Coach Bill Walsh: “Miraculous.”

Three plays later, Elway showed why he was such a hot property coming out of Stanford. Lott, with a nice running start, charged right up the middle, with nary a Bronco to slow him, straight into Elway. But Elway, drifting slightly to the right, eluded him and managed to get a pass off on the run. Elway’s pass led Watson perfectly, and the Broncos were in field position and that was that.

Elway said of the pass: “I just took off running. I knew we weren’t in field-goal position and I just threw to an area, hoping he’d be there. I just tried to get rid of it as fast as I could.”

The 49ers’ Joe Montana, who spent the off-season buying Dan Marino soft drinks, couldn’t buy soft hands Monday night. He was not impressive, to be sure, completing just 17 of 40 for 222 yards. A couple of passes skidded into the cold dirt yards in front of receivers. All the same, passes bounced out of hands, off shoulders, you name it. Twice he completed passes in the end zone that carried the receivers out of bounds, close calls both.

Elway had somewhat better numbers, completing 20 of 42 for 215 yards. Certainly he had the bigger plays. Early in the second quarter he set up the Broncos’ second touchdown with a 50-yard pass to Vance Johnson. It was a pass that had the added attraction of being the ol’ “flea-flicker.” Elway handed off to Sammy Winder, took the pitch back, and threw with all his might. Johnson hauled it in on the eight-yard line and then, three plays later, Elway passed to Watson for the score.

The 49ers seem consigned to a kind of mediocrity, unable to play consistent football. The Broncos, meanwhile, seem poised to gather some national attention and Elway was the first to comment on that.

“This was a chance for us to prove some things,” he said. “We’re a mile high and people tend to forget about us.”

But even a mile high, these Broncos are impossible to overlook.