49ers Send Saints a Message : Pro football: Young passes for three touchdowns, two to Rice, as San Francisco rolls to 42-7 victory.

It was supposed to be the night the New Orleans Saints made their great escape--from the memories of recent failures, from an image as also-rans, from the strangehold of the San Francisco 49ers.

However . . .

It was a night when Steve Young spiked a ball farther than any of the Saints ran it.

It was a night when Jerry Rice was so tired from dancing past Saints defenders, after one touchdown he just lay in the end zone, arms spread, catching his breath.

It was a night when the only escape the Saints made was to their locker room after absorbing a 42-7 defeat Monday that altered but one perception.

The 49ers are no longer in a class with the Dallas Cowboys as the best football teams on the planet? As Troy Aikman says on those sweat-shirt commercials, get real.

“You can bring on whoever you want right now,” said Rice after catching two touchdown passes. “I don’t care. We’re ready for them.”

Lost in the pregame hype about the Saints’ desire to send the rest of the league a message on national television was that the 49ers wanted to send a message of their own.

“We wanted to show the world that we were still the 49ers,” said tackle Harris Barton. “And after what happened . . . somebody better stand up and take notice.”

Who could miss them, what with their four-game winning streak since losing to the Cowboys last month. During those four games, they have outscored opponents, 155-59. They are the first team since the 1982 San Diego Chargers to score more than 40 points in three consecutive games.

The Saints (6-4), who were tied with the 49ers (7-3) for first place in the NFC West before the game, took notice Monday on their seventh play from scrimmage.

Wade Wilson threw a pass behind Eric Martin, safety Merton Hanks intercepted it, fell down, jumped back up, and ran 65 yards to complete a 67-yard touchdown return.

“After that, they kept getting weaker . . . and we kept getting stronger,” said cornerback Don Griffin.

How strong?

--The 49ers scored on five consecutive possessions in the second and third quarters. The barrage included scoring drives of 85, 75, 81 and 47 yards.

--The 49er defense did not give up a drive of more than 49 yards until the Saints’ final possession, which resulted in the Saints’ only touchdown.

--The 49ers outgained the Saints, 455 yards to 261.

--Steve Young, the 49er quarterback who started the season with a sprained thumb and terrible statistics, completed 14 of 21 passes for three touchdowns, and added another touchdown on a seven-yard run.

Wade Wilson, the Saint quarterback who started the year as the second coming of Archie Manning, completed six of 15 passes for 46 yards, with three interceptions, before being benched.

“We attacked, we went after them,” Young said. “We were very poised, very together.”

Rickey Jackson, one of the highly touted Saint linebackers who were shut down by an improved 49er offensive line, offered a different perspective.

“This is the worst loss we ever had, the worst loss in team history,” he said. “They turned us every which way but loose.”

So demoralized were the Saints, who entered the game with the league’s sixth-ranked defense and eighth-ranked offense, that players on both sides wondered if Jim Mora’s team didn’t just quit.

“It’s time for some of our guys to play ball or get the hell out of their positions,” Jackson said. “We need to shake things up around here.”

Jesse Sapolu, the 49er center who was offended by some of the Saints’ comments after the Saints won the first meeting between these teams in September, shook his head.

“For a team to want to get off the field, that’s not good,” he said. “They should have been fighting the whole time, trying to make something positive to bring to their next game.

“If they really wanted just to get off the field, they are in big trouble.”

Critics thought the 49ers should leave the field earlier this season after a Monday night loss at Cleveland and the loss at Dallas.

But then Young improved, the injured offensive lineman healed and the new secondary began playing better together under the direction of safety Tim McDonald.

“We matured,” Rice said.

They have matured so much that they have begun having flashbacks.

“You know, this really does kind of take you back to the old days,” Barton said.

When it was announced that Young had broken a club record Monday by completing his 155th consecutive pass without an interception, it seemed fitting that the record had been held by Joe Montana. And when it was announced that Rice had became the all-time team leader with 11,507 receiving yards, it was only appropriate that he had surpassed Roger Craig.