Montana, Despite Injury, Leads 49ers

Joe Montana didn’t leave soon enough for the New Orleans Saints.

Montana threw three touchdown passes in the third quarter before sitting down with a bruised elbow Sunday, and the San Francisco 49ers held on for a 34-33 victory over the Saints.

“It was in the first half right at the end,” Montana said in describing the injury to the elbow on his throwing arm. “I don’t know how I hit it. It was either the ground or a helmet, I don’t know. It was when I kept the ball and ran.”

Montana helped the 49ers overcome a 17-10 halftime deficit with three quick scoring drives in the third quarter.

He hit tight end John Frank on a 9-yard score to tie the score, and after San Francisco intercepted a pass by Bobby Hebert, Montana needed only 5 plays to take the lead on a 17-yard scoring pass to Mike Wilson.

Minutes later, Montana put together a 6-play drive, hitting Frank with a 17-yard touchdown pass before leaving the game with a 31-17 lead.

Montana completed 13 of 23 passes for 161 yards.

One thing Montana and replacement Steve Young failed to do was throw a scoring pass to Jerry Rice, whose NFL record streak of 13 games with a touchdown catch ended. Rice fell 5 games short of Lenny Moore’s record of 18 straight games with a touchdown.

“We just didn’t play hard enough for 60 minutes to win,” said Saint Coach Jim Mora, angered by his team’s play in the third quarter. “We especially didn’t play defense well enough.”

New Orleans came back early in the fourth quarter, Hebert hitting Lonzell Hill for an 11-yard touchdown to pull within 31-24.

The Saints edged closer when Young was called for intentionally grounding the ball in the end zone for a safety to make it 31-26.

After the free kick, Hebert was sacked and fumbled, with defensive end Kevin Fagan recovering for the 49ers at the Saints 44. That set up Mike Cofer’s 32-yard field goal with 1:40 left to make it 34-26.

“The way I look at it, every kick could be a game winner,” Cofer said. “If I’d missed that one in the first half, that could have been the game loser.”

Hebert found rookie wide receiver Brett Perriman for a 15-yard touchdown with 21 seconds remaining, but the Saints failed to recover an onside kick.

Hebert completed 22 of 31 passes for 245 yards and 4 touchdowns.

The Saints took their halftime lead on Hebert’s touchdown passes of 2 yards to Eric Martin and 21 yards to Robert Clark, and Morten Anderson’s 20-yard field goal. The 49ers scored after on Roger Craig’s 1-yard run and Cofer’s 25-yard field goal.