49ers Get 16th Consecutive Victory, 24-20 : NFC: Montana passes for 411 yards and three touchdowns against the Packers, the last team to defeat San Francisco.

Whatever it takes to win, the San Francisco 49ers continue to deliver.

Joe Montana passed for 411 yards and three touchdowns Sunday as the the 49ers beat the Green Bay Packers, 24-20--the 49ers’ 16th consecutive victory over two seasons.

“People want to knock us off and it’s not an easy road for us,” Montana said. “You have to accept that and face the challenge.

“People think that we should blow everybody out, but that’s not reality.”

The Packers were the last team to beat the 49ers, a 21-17 setback last Nov. 19 at Candlestick Park. The 49ers have won 14 in a row on the road.

“At first things didn’t go right, but then we came back,” said Jerry Rice, who gathered in a pass from Montana and took off to complete a 64-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass play that gave San Francisco a 24-13 lead.

The 49ers improved to 8-0. Green Bay fell to 3-5.

“Green Bay is a team on the upswing and we are lucky to come out of here with a win,” said 49er Coach George Seifert. “I knew that coming in here after they beat us last year it was going to be a real challenge.”

Montana, who completed 25 of 40 passes, moved past John Hadl into fifth place on the NFL’s career passing yardage list. Montana, who has 2,545 yards this season, has 33,599 in his career, not counting post-season play. The all-time leader is Fran Tarkenton, with 47,003.

Montana was at his best at the end of the first half Sunday. The 49ers had the ball on their own 41 with 38 seconds left, following a Packer touchdown and a short kickoff. It took Montana only three plays and 27 seconds to score.

Montana passed to Tom Rathman for seven yards, to Rice for 29 and then connected with John Taylor on a 23-yard touchdown pass play to cut a Green Bay lead to 10-7 at halftime.

“We hadn’t been doing anything offensively,” Montana said. “We got good field position (on a short kickoff) and it changed the momentum for us.”

Later, Montana passed six yards to Brent Jones for a touchdown with 12:45 left to play. It gave the 49ers their first lead at 17-10 and completed a 42-yard drive that began after a short Packer punt.

Green Bay then drove to the 49ers’ 12 but had to settle for Chris Jacke’s 37-yard field goal with 8:17 remaining.

A minute later, Montana completed a pass to Rice over the middle and he sprinted past the Packers’ defense to make it 24-13.

Green Bay came right back, moving 72 yards in just two minutes, with Don Majkowski passing to Sterling Sharpe for 17 yards and a touchdown, cutting the lead to 24-20.

The Packers got the ball back with 2:12 left and no timeouts, but Green Bay’s Perry Kemp fumbled after a pass reception with 1:48 to go--the only turnover of the game.

“We proved we could play with anybody and still be in the game,” Majkowski said. “The 49ers just did not make as many mistakes this year as they did in the game last year in Candlestick.”

Packer Coach Lindy Infante said, “It wasn’t like we got blown out 35-0. Great teams figure out ways to win games and the 49ers did.”

Majkowski, who completed 22 of 33 passes for 274 yards, moved the Packers 66 yards in 10 plays late in the first half, completing six of seven passes, including a 20-yard touchdown toss to a fully extended Sharpe in the corner of the zone.

That made it 10-0 with 38 seconds left in the half, but, after the short kickoff by Jacke, Montana needed only 27 seconds to cut the lead to 10-7.

Mike Cofer’s 22-yard field goal tied the game at 10-10 with 2:48 left in the third quarter.