A Passing Grade for Montana : Pro football: 49er quarterback plays for first time in two seasons and throws for two touchdowns in 24-6 victory over Lions.

All Joe Montana had to do was regain his nerve.

Montana, returning from an absence of nearly two years, led three fourth-quarter scoring drives in the rain Monday night and helped the San Francisco 49ers pull away for a 24-6 victory over the Detroit Lions.

“I didn’t think I’d be so nervous,” Montana said. “I was being too cautious. Once I settled down, I got a lot more confident.

“It’s been a while, so I figured I’d be rusty. I just tried to tell myself not to be over-cautious. I just didn’t want to make a big mistake.”

Montana, sidelined since the start of last season because of a torn right elbow tendon, played the second half against the Lions (5-11) in relief of starter Steve Young.

The 49ers (14-2) had a 7-6 lead when Montana entered the game, but he helped them pull away by throwing a nine-yard touchdown pass to Brent Jones and an eight-yard scoring pass to Amp Lee after Mike Cofer kicked a 37-yard field goal.

Coach George Seifert declined to say whether Montana has displaced Steve Bono as the team’s No. 2 quarterback heading into the playoffs.

“He did a fine job,” Seifert said. “We’ve certainly got time to decide. There’s no reason to make a decision now.”

The 49ers began to put the game away after Don Griffin’s interception of Andre Ware’s pass gave San Francisco the ball at the Detroit 26.

Montana, who finished with 15 completions in 21 attempts for 126 yards, scrambled 16 yards for a first down. Lee gained a yard and Montana threw an incomplete pass before finding Jones for the touchdown with 11:21 remaining.

Montana took the 49ers 76 yards in nine plays for the third score of the quarter, hitting Lee over the middle with 1:15 left.

“I think it’s very tough for a person to come in and perform as well as he did under these kinds of conditions,” 49er offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan said.

Montana, who led the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories in the 1980s, last played in a game that counted on Jan. 20, 1991, when the 49ers lost to the New York Giants in the NFC championship game.

He played in an exhibition game against the Chicago Bears in Berlin on Aug. 3, 1991, and his elbow gave out a few days later.

He had surgery to reattach the tendon in October of 1991, and two subsequent procedures to remove scar tissue.

Montana was greeted by a standing ovation and completed his first pass, a four-yarder to Marc Logan. The completion put him over 35,000 passing yards in his career.

Montana was also greeted by an ovation an hour before the game, when he came out to warm up with Young and Bono. The crowd erupted again when he threw a 40-yard pass to Jerry Rice.

Montana’s appearance could be his last in a game for the 49ers unless Young is injured in the playoffs. He has said that he would be unwilling to remain with San Francisco as a backup to Young, who finished as the league’s passing leader for a second consecutive season.

Young, named last week to start in the Pro Bowl, is the only quarterback to have an efficiency rating of 100 or better in two consecutive seasons since the current ranking system began in 1973.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Detroit Coach Wayne Fontes said. “It’s been a long year. We may have a poor record, but we’re not that bad a football team. We gave them all they could handle for one half.”

The 49ers trailed, 6-0, after field goals of 44 and 50 yards by Jason Hanson, but took a 7-6 halftime lead on Logan’s one-yard touchdown run with 3:14 left in the second quarter.