Don’t Be Fooled by These 49ers

Anybody who thought we had the game in hand is a fool. --John Robinson

Foolish me.

I thought the Rams had the game in hand.

Any other fools out there besides me?

I thought Monday night’s football game at Anaheim Stadium was over before it was over.

Anybody else think the same?

I already had the Rams in the playoffs . . . already had the Rams on their home field for the playoffs . . . already had the Rams in Super Bowl XXIV.

Foolish, foolish me.

I forgot who they were playing.

Do you take a football game for granted when you are ahead by 17 points in the first quarter?

Not against the San Francisco 49ers.

Should you fake a field goal from the five-yard line when you are ahead by a couple of touchdowns?

Not against the San Francisco 49ers.

Do you take a football game for granted when you’re still ahead by 17 points in the last quarter?

Not against . . . them.

The Rams rammed them, slammed them, hit them, bit them, outmuscled them, outhustled them, outkicked them, out-tricked them and still couldn’t beat them.

They had the 49ers on the run so badly that Joe Montana had to make two touchdown-saving tackles.

They had the 49ers so outnumbered that they even got linebacker Charles Haley kicked out of the game, turning them into the 48ers.

They had the largest football crowd in Big A history fooled into thinking that the Rams, not the Niners, were the best team in the NFC West . . . no, the best team in the NFC . . . no, the best team in the whole damned NFL, man.

Me, too.

Foolish, foolish us.

Who was the second-best team on the field Monday night?

Not the San Francisco 49ers.

Again they proved how good they are. Montana owns California. John Taylor covered more real estate than Century 21. There was a 92-yard pass, then a 95-yard pass. One of these days, Montana is going to hit Taylor with a 101-yard pass, just as soon as San Francisco figures out how to make the line of scrimmage the minus-one.

The Rams beat these people in Japan, 16 weeks ago. They beat them at Candlestick Park, 10 weeks ago. And, they had them beaten Monday night, until the whole game went slip-sliding away.

“They didn’t take it from us. We gave it to them,” Ram center Doug Smith contended.

I hear what you’re saying, Doug. There was a fumbled snap between you and Jim Everett. There was a fumbled kickoff return by Ron Brown. There was that faked field goal that turned three sure points into zero.

Against most teams, I’d have to agree that you gave it to them.

Just not against the San Francisco 49ers.

Nobody gave them three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. You gave them the ball, but you didn’t give them the whole field. Montana still had to move them. He still had to find Taylor, find Jerry Rice, find Brent Jones, find Mike Wilson, get the football to them somehow.

Nobody stood back and let Montana throw the ball to Taylor. He just hummed it, baby.

As for this John Taylor, all I can say is: Is Jerry Rice twins?

With people like these, no wonder Robinson never thought this game was in hand. Shame on us for thinking that the San Francisco 49ers are going to lose when they are losing by 17 points with around 10 minutes to play.

“It was simple,” 49er guard Guy McIntyre said. “To that point, we hadn’t played our game. We were making mistakes left and right. But, you have to remember, we have people like Joe, Jerry and John, so that means we are always just one play away.”

That’s why you don’t fake field goals from their five-yard line.

I’m sorry, you don’t. You take the three points. You take any points you can get. You score and you score, because against the San Francisco 49ers, you can never score enough.

“The fake field goal was a good call,” John Robinson said, praising John Robinson.

Foolish me. I could have sworn it was a bad call.

“When I called the play, I told myself I made a great call,” Robinson said. “After we ran the play, I told myself I made a great call. And, now that I look back on it, I know I made a great call.

“Anybody who doesn’t think so . . . “

Me, John! Me, me, me!

But, what do I know. I’m just a fool.

I even fooled myself into thinking the 49ers weren’t as good as the Rams.

“We played like this and we still won, which proves a couple of things,” McIntyre said. “One, that we can get a lot better. And two, that we better be careful, ‘cause one of these games, the snake is gonna bite us.”

Yeah, sure. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.