NFC CHAMPIONSHIP / DALLAS 30, SAN FRANCISCO 20 : It’s Back Into the Shadow of No. 16 : 49ers: Steve Young had a great season but couldn’t get to the Super Bowl, so they will be clamoring for Joe Montana in San Francisco.

Because they used to do the same thing for Joe Montana, a security guard escorted quarterback Steve Young to his car outside Candlestick Park Sunday afternoon after the NFC championship game.

Except Young didn’t need him.

Less than an hour after 66,364 fans rattled their rain slickers in appreciation of Young’s comeback effort for the San Francisco 49ers, some of those same people treated him like stranger.

As he walked 50 yards between groups of fans standing three-deep behind barricades, he was enveloped in silent stares. When two people dared to shout words of encouragement, the sounds were so unusual he turned and acknowledged them.

Back in the 49ers’ locker room, where the team was mourning a 30-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, center Jesse Sapolu shoved a playbook into a duffel bag and grimaced.

“Anywhere else, Steve Young is a hero,” he said. “But he plays here in the footsteps of No. 16, and so anything less than a Super Bowl win is not going to be enough for anybody.

“It’s not fair. But I guess that’s life.”

And so life for Steve Young will probably not change much this summer, even though he was the NFL’s most valuable player and top-rated passer.

People will forget about his regular season and think about Sunday.

People who watched Sunday will forget about his 313 yards passing and think about his two interceptions.

People will forget that he completed 25 of 35 passes, and remember only that he could not win the big game.

The newspapers, as they did this weekend, will run plenty of letters urging the 49ers to bring back No. 16, better known as Joe Montana.

“One game should not make a career,” said Guy McIntyre, 49ers guard. “But sometimes it can.”

Young acted as if he understood this concept as he answered postgame questions with blank looks.

“I left my body and soul out on that field,” he said. “I feel like I’m a walking shell.”

That’s how he looked after the third play of the game, when he connected with Jerry Rice on a 63-yard pass play for an apparent touchdown that was nullified seconds later when McIntyre was rightfully called for holding Russell Maryland.

“We called an audible, and I just didn’t get set,” McIntyre said. “(Maryland) got a good jump on me and I had to lunge and . . . I’m going to have to carry that weight around with me every day. I’m to blame.”

Young said, in all seriousness: “That may have been the turning point.”

On the next play, Young overthrew Odessa Turner down the middle. For the rest of the first half, he threw for only 63 yards and failed on important third down plays on two other drives, forcing the 49ers to attempt field goals.

On one third-down play, he was forced to scramble and gained only four yards. On the other third-down play, he threw the ball into former teammate Charles Haley’s face.

Joe Montana, as Young will probably be reminded this summer, was at his best on third down plays.

“This winter, when I think about this game, I will probably think about those plays,” Young said.

The smiling face of Ken Norton might also cross his mind. With the 49ers trailing, 24-13, with 10:18 to play, Young brought the offense 27 yards to the 49ers’ 45-yard line. Then he tried a first-down pass across the middle to Brent Jones in Cowboy territory.

The ball, however, landed directly in Norton’s arms. He returned it 14 yards and started a Cowboy drive that, while it did not result in any points, shaved three more minutes off the clock.

“I thought Norton’s body was going in the other direction,” said Young, who was knocked down after throwing the ball. “When I got up, I realized that Norton’s body was not going in the different direction.”

Young’s final interception occurred with 1:58 to play when Mike Sherrard forgot to look for a pass that was caught by Cowboy safety James Washington.

Even the mild-mannered Young refused to take the blame for this one.

“That’s right, Mike didn’t look for the ball,” he said.

By that time, though, the Cowboys had already ruined Young’s comeback heroics, which took place with 7:06 remaining. He completed eight of nine passes to lead the 49ers on a 93-yard touchdown drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Rice.

That closed the gap to 24-20, but then Young was forced to watch the Cowboys rebound with a touchdown only 39 seconds later.

“Watching that was devastating,” Young said.

Some think that if he is allowed to leave the 49ers as a free agent this summer, that will also be devastating to the team. But Young said not to worry.

“I want to come back and lead us all the way next year,” he said.

What would Joe Montana think? After watching Sunday’s game from the sidelines as the world’s most famous backup, Montana left the park before anybody could ask. Except, perhaps, his security guard.