PRO FOOTBALL : SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 27, RAMS 10 : Rice Takes Stroll Down Memory Lane : 49ers: Along the way he shakes off four Ram tacklers on an unlikely 62-yard pass play that leads to victory.

The Rams were the ones counting Jerry Rice touchdown receptions in their dreams Saturday night, but at least they could sleep.

Not Jerry Rice.

“I woke up at 5 in the morning, and it took me an hour-and-a-half to go back to sleep,” Rice said.

“I kept lying there, thinking. When I first came to the 49ers, when we took the football field, we took it with pride. We went out there believing that we were going to take control of the football game.

“That’s something we’ve been lacking this year.”

Rice and the San Francisco 49ers, four-time Super Bowl champions, h had fallen into the ranks of the NFL rabble, entering the fourth weekend of the season tied with the Rams at 1-2.

So there was Rice, staring at the ceiling, wondering where the feeling went, trying to place all the missing parts.

Bill Walsh. Gone.

Ronnie Lott. Gone.

Roger Craig. Gone.

Joe Montana. Bad elbow, good as gone.

Rice needed someone to talk to, someone who might be able to understand where he was coming from.

He decided the new 49ers would do.

“I’m not the type to give motivational speeches,” Rice said, “but if I feel something’s not going right, I’m going to say something. . . .

“We’d had so many distractions--with Ronnie leaving, with Roger leaving--and it was taking away from a lot of the players. So I just told them about the way we used to play. We’d jump on a team, make something happen, score and keep scoring. I told them to just play 49er football.”

Three-and-a-half quarters later, Rice illustrated his point.

It was a nothing pass, really, a quick cut inside by Rice when he recognized the blitz, and a quick toss by Steve Young, who merely was hoping to beat the rush. “A four-yard gain,” was Ram Coach John Robinson’s first impression.

But then cornerback Sammy Lilly slid off Rice’s shoulder pads.

And tackle Robert Young didn’t.

And strong safety Michael Stewart, after chasing Rice for half a football field, took his shot and missed.

That left free safety Pat Terrell to ride Rice’s back the last few yards into the end zone, a co-pilot landing a 62-yard scoring play.

Four failed tackles, a three-point game becomes 20-10 and the 49ers are playing 49er football again.

“That was vintage Rice, vintage Rice, man,” San Francisco tight end Jamie Williams said.

“I’m telling guys on the sidelines after he catches that ball, ‘They better wrap him up.’ Because if they don’t, he’s got that attitude.”

That attitude? “If I see any way to get to the end zone, I just turn the momentum up,” Rice said.

“There aren’t that many opportunities you get. When you get it, you got to take advantage of it.”

Conversely, when your team gets four cracks at Rice, you had better take advantage of one of them.

“If you’re going to hit me, you’ve got to knock me on my butt,” Rice said.

“The guys who hit me on that run didn’t hurt me. Those hits felt good.”

As long as the 49ers have Rice, the 49ers are OK. Sunday, the 49ers fumbled once, missed a 35-yard field goal attempt, went nearly a half without scoring a touchdown, led, 13-10, with nine minutes to play. But because Rice picked his moment, the 49ers cruised home, 27-10.

“Obviously,” Robinson said, “Jerry Rice’s play broke the game open. Those kind of football players--they bring a dimension to the game that no matter what you try to do or how you try to control them.

“They have a way of doing the things that he has done and probably will continue to do in his career. He turned a four-yard gain or whatever it was into a touchdown.

“He may be the greatest receiver of all time.”

Former UCLA receiver Mike Sherrard, Rice’s understudy, would like to see Rice speak up more often.

“Charles Haley is the guy who is normally one of the team leaders, but if Jerry wanted to, he could become a leader,” Sherrard said.

“When he got up to talk before the game, we knew that we had to listen to him.”

And if not listen, look.