ANALYSIS : Once Again, NFC Appears Superior

The NFL owners will meet in Dallas on Wednesday to talk about any number of issues. One topic that won’t be on the agenda, but should be, is a measure that would reverse the AFL-NFL merger. Surely there must be some “best interests of the game” clause that would at the very least allow the league to ban an AFC representative from the Super Bowl in those years in which none of its teams are worthy. Which is just about always.

The Philadelphia Eagles, who probably will be an NFC wild-card team, are better than anything the AFC has to offer. So are the probable wild-card Washington Redskins, the wild-card New Orleans Saints (who still may win the division), the probable NFC East champion Cowboys, even the Vikings and Packers, one of which probably won’t make the playoffs.

But there’s one team that’s better than all of the aforementioned. This team doesn’t have a goofy recreational vehicle, or a stadium whose bleachers bounce like a trampoline. But it does have the league’s MVP, arguably the MVP runner-up, a backup quarterback who’s the greatest ever to play the position and likely home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Reintroducing ... the San Francisco 49ers.

Because Ronnie Lott and Bill Walsh have been gone for awhile and Joe Montana has been sidelined, we tend to think the Niners have sort of slipped back into the pack. They haven’t. A Hail Mary play by the Falcons cost them a spot in the playoffs last season, but the 49ers (12-2) have won 18 of their last 20 games.

Sunday in Minneapolis, they beat the desperate Vikings, 20-17. The Niners defense, which is supposed to be the team’s soft spot, allowed only a field goal. An interception for a touchdown (amazingly, the Vikings’ sixth this season) and a special-teams play made for some drama.

As quarterback Steve Young said afterward, “We have such high expectations around here, we win one so close and we start saying, ‘Should have, could have won by more,’ instead of saying, ‘This is an awesome win.’ ”

The most impressive thing about it was the 134-yard rushing performance by rookie running back Amp Lee, who was playing for injured Ricky Watters who has looked suspiciously like a young Roger Craig. A year ago, the Niners, despite a 10-6 record, didn’t have one dependable back; now they have two.

Frighteningly, the offense looks as potent as it ever did under Montana, even though the very suggestion of it sounds sacrilegious. Young is the top-rated passer in the league, the Niners have gained more yards than anybody and now Coach George Seifert has the delightful problem of what to do with two young backs who can each go for 100 yards in a game against good defenses.

Jamie Williams, the veteran tight end, talked about how the dramatically improved rushing game “makes route-running easier, makes blocking easier, makes play-action more effective. ... Ooooooh, it makes a difference.”

Nobody else has three guys -- don’t forget Young -- who can control the game on the ground. And all this does is make Young more effective. You can call it a tossup between Emmitt Smith and Young for MVP if you want. But it says here the league’s MVP is Steve Young, period. (I’m not sure Jerry Rice doesn’t edge out Smith for second.) Young is not just having a great season, he’s having one of the best seasons a quarterback’s ever had.

He’s completed 67.4 percent of his passes and thrown 22 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Not only has he stepped into Montana’s shoes, but he’ll have corns on his toes if he plays any better. The only time Montana ever completed a higher percentage of passes (70.2) was in 1989, his signature season. The only time Montana ever had a 3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, as Young has now, was 1989 when he threw 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

We are comparing a man with the greatest quarterback who ever lived, and not only is it not a reach, but Young’s season stacks up against the legend’s best.

Even in his most wondrous days, Montana never rushed for 498 yards, which is an average of 7.2 yards per carry, which is what Young has averaged. No wonder Montana doesn’t care much for Young. And the crazy thing is, all anyone in the Bay Area wants to know is when is Montana coming back. Okay, of course we’ve got Mickey Mantle, but can’t we just see Joe DiMaggio one more time?

Montana’s going to come back either this week or next to test himself at home against low-lifes Tampa Bay and-or Detroit. Bet on it. “It’s a consideration, very definitely,” Seifert said. “But it’s not absolute.”

Joe Montana, backup quarterback.

No wonder the Niners couldn’t get excited about beating the Vikings by three.

This is not good news for the rest of the NFC. You think the Redskins’ 17-5 December record since 1987 is good? The Niners are 20-2.

My ranking of the best teams in the league with two weeks to go is: Niners, Cowboys, Saints, Redskins, Eagles, Packers, Vikings, Dolphins, Chargers, Bills, Steelers.

The strange thing about the Redskins-Eagles game next week in Philly is that the loser could really be the winner for the short term. The loser of that game (assuming the Redskins beat the Raiders and the Eagles beat the Giants in Week 17) would play at Minnesota. And the Vikings, until they get a real quarterback, are beatable.

The Redskins, in fact, already proved that back when everybody was hurt. The winner of the Eagles-Redskins game will probably have to play at New Orleans, an infinitely harder game against a Saints team that miraculously is discovering an offense to go with the best defense in the league.

On the other hand, if you can get past the Saints the first week, you get Dallas, not the Niners, the second week. Of course, a trip to San Francisco -- for somebody -- appears inevitable. Read ‘em and weep.