PRO FOOTBALL : 49ers Beat Patriots Into Playoffs : San Francisco Gains Berth; New England Stays on Hold

The San Francisco 49ers are great at taking the ball away from the opposition, and the New England Patriots have again failed to grab a wild-card playoff berth.

The 49ers came into Sunday’s game as the NFL leader in forcing turnovers. Then they converted a fumble recovery and interception into 10 of their 13 fourth-quarter points in a 29-24 victory. The win, coupled with the Houston Oilers’ victory over the Minnesota Vikings, puts the 49ers (9-5-1) into the NFC playoffs.

The Patriots, who started the day with the fewest turnovers in the NFL, failed for the second straight week to clinch an AFC wild-card playoff spot.

“You can’t give the ball away like we did,” Patriot Coach Raymond Berry said. “That’s the way we win games, and that’s the way anybody loses them.”

“New England came back strong but turnovers were a big key,” 49er Coach Bill Walsh said.

Trailing 17-16 entering the fourth quarter, the 49ers went ahead, 19-17, on Ray Wersching’s 31-yard field goal with 13:34 left.

They scored their final 10 points, on Wersching’s third field goal and Joe Cribbs’ second touchdown run, after a fumble recovery and an interception.

The 49ers meet the Rams for the NFC West title on Friday.

“Everybody’s getting healthy now,” said Cribbs, who gained 107 yards in 23 carries. “We’re getting to the point of the season where our character makes the difference, and this team has too much character to quit now.”

New England’s second consecutive loss dropped it to 10-5 and into a tie for the AFC East lead with the New York Jets. The Patriots can still gain the division title by beating the Miami Dolphins Dec. 22.

The Patriots let Sunday’s game slip out of their hands with fourth-quarter turnovers.

Wersching’s 20-yard field goal came after Tory Nixon’s recovery of Tony Collins’ fumble and made the score 22-17. Cribbs’ 10-yard run, which made the score 29-17 with 7:28 to go, came three plays after Collins tipped Tony Eason’s pass and Keena Turner intercepted it and returned the ball to the New England 25-yard line.

The Patriots closed the gap to 29-24 with 4:06 left on Eason’s 15-yard pass to Stanley Morgan on fourth down. But the 49ers kept the ball the rest of the game.

The Patriots had gone ahead, 17-16, with 9:08 left in the third quarter on Collins’ four-yard run.

New England had scored first on Eason’s eight-yard touchdown pass to Greg Baty just 2:59 into the game. Less than eight minutes later, the 49ers tied the game on Cribbs’ three-yard run.

Tony Franklin’s 41-yard field goal gave the Patriots a 10-7 lead after one quarter before San Francisco rallied for a 16-10 halftime advantage on Roger Craig’s 1-yard touchdown run and Wersching’s 36-yard field goal. A bad snap kept Wersching from attempting the extra point after Craig’s score.

On the drive leading to Wersching’s go-ahead field goal early in the fourth quarter, Joe Montana completed key passes of 13 and 8 yards to Dwight Clark.

Montana’s completions of 13 yards to Craig and 2 yards to Jerry Rice, both for first downs, helped set up Wersching’s 20-yard field goal that gave the 49ers a five-point lead.

Cribbs’ second touchdown, on a sweep around the left side, provided the winning margin.

The 49ers, who had an average of 100.2 rushing yards in their first nine games, ran for a season-high 198 yards for the second straight week.

The Patriots came into the game with an 84.8-yard rushing average, worst in the league, and managed just 60 yards in 20 carries.

San Francisco, which entered the game with the NFL’s third most productive offense, picked up 400 yards with a balanced attack against New England.