With Montana’s Elbow on Fritz, West Is in Flux

The NFC West has been computer-programmed so long, 49er-friendly for a full decade, that the safest assumption at the moment is a temporary glitch in the software.

San Francisco in second place?

Tied with the Rams?

A game behind undefeated New Orleans?

The upload must be running a bit slow this year.

In a 16-game season, time, talent and gravity take care of the standings. Cream rises, dead weight falls and come December, Joe Montana has long since ridden to the rescue.

But this year, there may be no Montana. Doctors continue to debate the extent of the elbow damage: Is it a torn tendon? A torn ligament? Will he be out a month? A season? A lifetime?

In the interim, Steve Young huddles with the first team for the third time in his professional career. The first two clubs to employ Young as a starting quarterback, the L.A. Express and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are either out of business or rapidly headed in that direction. Now, Young has been entrusted with the crown jewels and he’s 1-1 in two starts--acceptable maybe in Tampa, but cause for distress for a franchise that is 4-0 in Super Bowls.

Young has been called The Greatest Backup Quarterback of All-Time, faint praise that has since become damning. After Young lost the season opener to the New York Giants, Bill Parcells, among others, cast a skeptical eye on his reputation, claiming it was built on the fat of lopsided 49er victories, against second- and third-string defenses just trying to stay standing until the final gun. Young was still a backup and nothing more, Parcells insisted, and the early returns have borne him out.

Again, Young beat up on the reserves, otherwise known in San Diego as the Chargers. He passed for 348 yards, he passed for three touchdowns, he orchestrated a 34-14 victory.

But against the first string, the Giants, Young was muffled, producing but 14 points. Jim Everett managed 19 against the same defense--and Everett was playing with a fullback at starting tailback and, by halftime, a completely different offensive line than the one he ended 1990 with.

A two-game test sample is just that, and the 49ers remain the deepest team in the West, but the evidence mounts: This is a division in the state of flux.

After eight NFC West titles in 10 years, the champion is vulnerable, and not just because of the quarterback. Young’s offensive line has also been reshuffled before his very eyes and he is being asked to deliver without two of Montana’s leading assets--Roger Craig and Ronnie Lott. Could Montana win a Super Bowl with Dexter Carter and Johnnie Jackson as replacement parts? And now Brent Jones, the reliable tight end, is out through the end of the month with an injured knee.

Attrition has been addition for the 49ers’ long-standing, long-frustrated challengers, the Saints and the Rams. Between last season and this one, the Saints lost a quarterback, the Rams lost a defense and both have been far the better for it.

New Orleans was going nowhere as long as Steve Walsh was flinging footballs into the Mississippi. New Orleans management recognized this shortly after packaging three high draft picks to Dallas for Walsh. The Chicago Bears recognized this in last year’s NFC wild-card game, a 16-6 New Orleans loss that must have had Jim Mora contemplating the single-wing. Everybody recognized it except New Orleans football fans, who, in a preseason poll, favored Walsh over Bobby Hebert as starting quarterback by a 76% to 24% margin.

Saints’ fans have had their heads in brown paper bags way too long.

By now, Hebert abuse has become Louisiana custom, with some of the true stories outstretching bayou folklore. True story: Burglars recently broke into a New Orleans sporting goods store and stole everything except the Bobby Hebert jerseys. On and around Bourbon Street, this suggests poor character but exquisite taste.

Hebert is booed at the Superdome for his super 1990 no-show--because of a contract dispute, he didn’t show all season--but the prodigal son never returned this way. Hebert has completed 66% of his passes and the Saints are 2-0 for the first time in their 25-year history.

The Rams, it appears, have rediscovered the meaning of defense, although the concept has taken a while to take hold. Against Phoenix, the Ram defense played so efficiently, so surprisingly, the Ram offense did the “Home Alone” bit--hands to the face, football on the ground. A week later, the offense was better acclimated to the idea; only one fumbled snap against the Giants.

The Rams may not win a wild-card spot, but they are this division’s wild card. They are apt to do anything, finish anywhere. They can beat Lawrence Taylor, they can lose to Tom Tupa. John Robinson has been ambivalent to wearing headsets on the sidelines thus far, but a seat belt has been recommended.

Atlanta? Addition has been subtraction for the Falcons. For two successive drafts, they have supposedly loaded up, and yet they’re 0-2 today with the second-lowest scoring offense in the conference. Jerry Glanville had the same problem in Houston: sensational talent, so-so results.

Has a common thread been detected?

What we have in the NFC West is a champion returning to the pack and two-thirds of the pack regaining once-lost footing. The season is young, and the season could be Young’s yet. No one else in the division has Jerry Rice.

But the makings for a race are in place. The Saints and the Rams could still make a mess of it--the 49ers have their tradition, the Saints and the Rams have theirs--but for the first time in years, they will have a say in the matter.