Clock Ticks, but Montana Finally Clicks : Pro football: He has rare off-day, but leads drive to Cofer’s winning field goal as the 49ers stay unbeaten, 20-17.

Joe Montana has done it so many times, he doesn’t even get excited anymore.

Given 70 seconds to work with, Montana drove the San Francisco 49ers 44 yards in seven plays Sunday to put them in position for Mike Cofer to kick a 45-yard field goal with five seconds left and beat the Cleveland Browns, 20-17.

“It only took a couple of plays,” Montana said nonchalantly.

Cofer’s kick kept the 49ers undefeated at 7-0 and stretched their winning streak to 15 games.

San Francisco has won nine consecutive games at home.

“I just tried to shoot it down the right hash and let the wind take it from right to left,” Cofer said of his kick into a strong crosswind. “You have the whole width of the goal post to do something with it over the course of 45 yards.”

The 49ers took over at their 28 and an offensive pass interference penalty against Mike Sherrard pushed them 10 yards further back before Montana put San Francisco into drive.

Montana, who completed four of 16 passes for 31 yards between halftime and the game-winning drive, connected with Sherrard for 35 yards to the Cleveland 41. Sherrard, who has broken his right leg twice previously in his career, broke a bone in his left ankle on the play and will miss the rest of the season.

Montana ran twice for three yards and then passed to Jerry Rice for a five-yard gain with nine seconds left, setting up Cofer’s game-winning kick.

“When you run out there and you’ve got a minute and 10 seconds left, enough of us have been here long enough to know we still had a chance, especially with our type of skill people,” 49er guard Harris Barton said. “We knew if we gave (Montana) time he could get something going.”

Cleveland (2-6), capitalizing after a Felix Wright interception, cut San Francisco’s lead to 17-10 when Mike Pagel connected with Webster Slaughter for an 11-yard touchdown with 9:13 left.

The Browns got the ball back at their 34 with 6:01 remaining and put together an 11-play, 66-yard drive capped by Pagel’s four-yard pass to Ozzie Newsome, tying the score with 1:10 remaining.

“That was a play we had run before with a different look,” Pagel said. “We hit them with it again, and they lost track of Ozzie.”

The 49ers stayed in the game in the second half with a strong defensive effort. Safety Ronnie Lott recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass as the defense forced three turnovers and recorded four sacks.

Cleveland advanced inside the San Francisco 30-yard line twice and twice took possession inside the 49ers’ 30 after interceptions, but could convert those opportunities into only 17 points.

“It’s very tough to take,” Cleveland receiver Webster Slaughter said. “We made some mistakes and that cost us in the first half.

“I’m still proud the way we came back against a team like the 49ers. We showed a lot of character and a lot of poise. We kept plugging.”

Montana completed 17 of 37 passes for 185 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. It was only the second time since Oct. 24, 1988 that he has failed to complete 50% of his passes.

Pagel, who replaced Bernie Kosar with 4:08 left in the third quarter, completed his first six passes and finished with 13 completions in 21 attempts for 156 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Kosar was 10 of 18 for 113 yards, but was sacked four times.

The 49ers jumped to a 14-0 lead on touchdowns by Rice and Tom Rathman in a 5:07 span of the second quarter.

Montana hit Rice for a 14-yard score 3:19 into the period.

The 49ers regained possession when Lott recovered Slaughter’s fumble at the Browns’ 44-yard line. Eight plays later, Rathman scored on a one-yard run. The scoring play was set up by Brent Jones, whose one-handed, 11-yard catch put the ball on the one.

The Browns made it 14-3 on a 45-yard field goal by Jerry Kauric 5:11 into the second half after Tony Blaylock’s interception.

Minutes later, Cofer kicked a 40-yard field goal to make it 17-3.