49ers Not in Packers’ Class in More Ways Than One

A review of the NFL conference championship games, and while Green Bay and Denver move on to Super Bowl XXXII, the 49ers have been left behind again to whine, complain and possibly abandon all sensibilities.

Although it has become an annual event for San Francisco--ending the season with a playoff loss to Green Bay--last year the 49ers reacted with such panic they forced George Seifert, the winningest coach in NFL history, to go fishing.

This time, lunacy is running rampant, the 49ers suggesting the game officials favored the Packers, the players lambasting the Packers for not being that good and a San Francisco Chronicle columnist demanding that defensive coordinator John Marshall be fired.

The 49ers ranked No. 1 on defense under Marshall this season!

“If I had to pick, I’d pick Denver [to win the Super Bowl],” said San Francisco wide receiver Terrell Owens. “[The Packers’ defensive backs] are not as good as I thought. I have faced better secondaries this year.”

The 49ers didn’t score a touchdown on offense against the Packers!

“Maybe we have to kiss up to the officials a little bit more,” said San Francisco linebacker Ken Norton Jr. “Where [the Packers] beat us is they had the officials.”

The 49ers haven’t come close to beating the Packers in three consecutive playoff games!

“You can certainly make a case of this game being decided not by the players but by questionable [officiating] calls,” said San Francisco safety Merton Hanks.

The 49ers remain clueless!

San Francisco, which ignored Bill Walsh, the architect of the 49ers’ earlier successes, by drafting Jim Druckenmiller over Jake Plummer before the season began, may not have to worry about losing to the Packers in the playoffs in the next few years. You have to get to the playoffs to get the opportunity to lose.

San Francisco is not in the same class as Green Bay, and won’t be for years. The 49ers, with 36-year-old Steve Young, 35-year-old Jerry Rice, 37-year-old Gary Plummer, 36-year-old Chris Doleman, 35-year-old Kevin Greene, 33-year-old Kevin Gogan, 35-year-old Ray Brown, a retiring 34-year-old Brent Jones, 32-year-old Tim McDonald and 32-year-old Rod Woodson, are the oldest team in the league, and no match for Brett Favre, 28, and Packers, who have been built to remain explosive for years to come.

“I wanted to make sure that I saw all their fans and all their players celebrating,” said Plummer, who remained on the field to watch the Packers party after winning a second consecutive NFC title. “I wanted to hurt. I wanted to hurt all off-season.”

Get used to it.

On the Bright Side

Steve Mariucci, coach of the 49ers, might have lost the NFC championship game this season and the Aloha Bowl to Navy last season as Cal’s coach, but in each losing effort, one of his players returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Now that’s saying something for Mariucci’s teams.

Of course, when the opposition scores as often as it did in those two games, there are all kind of opportunities to return kickoffs.

The Revenge Tour

The Broncos have won three games in the playoffs against teams that delivered crushing losses to them earlier, and while they gained revenge over Jacksonville with a victory in Mile High Stadium, victories at Kansas City and Pittsburgh were more impressive.

The Chiefs and Steelers were a combined 16-1 at home before the Broncos sent their fans home unhappy.

As for Green Bay, the Broncos played in Lambeau Field last December and lost, 41-6. And it has been a long time since the Cheeseheads went home unhappy.

Future Champion

Pittsburgh quarterback Kordell Stewart fell apart against the Broncos, but stood tall, like a champion, afterward, displaying the kind of confidence that should propel him to many a postseason game.

Stewart, finishing his first season as a starting quarterback in the NFL, lacked the experience to keep pace with the tension and excitement that was building in the AFC title game.

“We knew we had him late in the game,” Denver cornerback Tyrone Braxton said. “He was floating the ball--he didn’t know what defense we were playing. He’s not good at reading defenses on the run like John Elway or Steve Young.”

But if his performance after the game in handling such a crushing defeat is any measure of future maturity, Stewart will catch up quickly.

“I think if I would have played my best game, we would have won,” said Stewart, smiling and looking like a young man who had just had the time of his life. “I’m not bitter about myself; I’m not bitter about the season. I had a great time this year and I’m looking forward to next year.”

Simple Formula

If you play for Kansas City, and you want to play in a Super Bowl, let your contract expire and sign with Denver.

Defensive linemen Neil Smith and Keith Traylor followed that formula, and they will be in San Diego playing for the Broncos.

Now if only Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer could resign, and somehow hook on with Denver.

Details, Details

Green Bay punter Craig Hentrich put all five of his kicks inside the 49er 20-yard line. As a result, San Francisco’s average starting position in the game was the 17-yard line. San Francisco punter Tommy Thompson, who averaged 33.8 yards, could place only one kick inside the Packer 20-yard line, and Green Bay took possession, on average, at the 47-yard line.

The Packers have not allowed a touchdown pass in the last 32 quarters and only one in the last 42. . . . Dana Stubblefield, 49er defensive tackle and the NFL’s defensive player of the year, did not have a sack in his final six games. . . . The Broncos will be looking for the halftime lead in the Super Bowl. They have won 22 consecutive games when leading after the second quarter. . . . In seven playoff games at Three Rivers Stadium in the ‘90s, only Denver’s Terrell Davis managed to run for more than 100 yards, gaining 139.

In Small Print

His signing during the off-season didn’t exactly draw headlines, but the Broncos went after Carolina running back Howard Griffith with fervor and persuaded him to sign.

Griffith bummed around with Buffalo, San Diego and the Los Angeles Rams before landing steady employment in Carolina for two years.

The Broncos wanted a lead blocker for Davis, and Griffith not only paved the way for Davis’ sensational season, but against Pittsburgh made a left-handed catch of a pass by Elway for 15 yards and a touchdown.

“That was the best catch I’ve made in my NFL career,” he said, which was easy to determine, given that he has only 65 in his seven-year career.

Track Records

Elway has played the Packers four times and has a 2-1-1 record, with two touchdown passes and five interceptions.

Favre is 2-0 versus the Broncos, with five touchdown passes and five interceptions.

A Hearst, Please

For the 49er running game. Garrison Hearst hadn’t played since November, when he broke his collarbone, but the 49ers insisted on starting him against the Packers, even though Terry Kirby had run for 120 yards a week earlier.

Big mistake. Hearst ran eight times for 12 yards, and the 49ers finished with 33 yards rushing, the fourth-lowest total in franchise history and lowest since picking up 29 in a 49-3 playoff loss to the Giants in 1986.

“No question we’re the better defense,” Packer safety LeRoy Butler said after shutting down the San Francisco running game. “It isn’t even close. All that stuff about the 49ers having the league’s No. 1 defense didn’t mean anything.

“It’s how you perform in big games, that’s what counts. Will you be able to sleep at night knowing how you performed? When you go home and your kids ask, ‘Why aren’t you going to the Super Bowl?’ What do you say to them?”

Maybe, “I play for the 49ers.”