Big Rating for 49er-Packer Game

The San Francisco 49ers’ come-from-behind 30-27 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday drew TV’s biggest sports audience since the 1998 Winter Olympics.

The Packer-49er game on Fox had a 24.2 overnight rating, the highest NFL wild-card game since Chicago-New Orleans in 1991. It surpassed last season’s Detroit-Tampa Bay game in a similar time slot by 27%.

Arizona-Dallas, Buffalo-Miami, and Jacksonville-New England also had increased viewership over games in similar time slots last year.

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Green Bay Coach Mike Holmgren has permission to talk with Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Seattle about coach/general manager positions, Packer General Manager Ron Wolf said Monday.

Holmgren could still return to the Packers and sign an extension that would make him the highest-paid coach in the NFL at about $4 million a season, but he’d still not have the final say on personnel matters that he wants.

He has 20 days to make a decision.

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Former USC offensive coordinator Mike Riley, in demand up and down the West Coast after Oregon State narrowly missed its first winning season in 28 years, is scheduled to interview today for the San Diego Chargers’ head coaching job and is believed to be the front-runner.

Stanford’s Tyrone Willingham is also reportedly a candidate.

Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard has said he’d like to make a decision by Wednesday.

As an enticement to keep Riley in Corvallis, Oregon State has offered to add four years to his contract, which has three more years to run, and add about $50,000 to his base salary of $135,000, Cowan said.

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Former San Francisco 49er coach George Seifert was introduced as coach of the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C. Seifert received a five-year contract that will pay him an average of $2.4 million annually. . . . Atlanta Falcon offensive line coach Art Shell will interview for the Cleveland Browns’ head coach position next week. Shell, the first black NFL head coach in its modern era with the L.A. Raiders, will be the third candidate interviewed, joining Minnesota offensive coordinator Brian Billick and Denver offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak. . . . The Chicago Bears said they have received permission to interview five NFL coordinators for the team’s vacant coaching job. The five are Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, Kansas City defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, Kansas City offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, Green Bay offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis and Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Pendry. Former UCLA coach Terry Donahue will also be interviewed. . . . Oakland cornerback Charles Woodson, the Heisman Trophy winner at Michigan in 1997, was named the Associated Press defensive rookie of the year. Woodson, who had five interceptions and played a key role in transforming the NFL’s worst defense last season to one of the best, received 24 of 47 votes. Green Bay end Vonnie Holliday received 22 votes. . . . All-American Champ Bailey, who starred at receiver and cornerback for Georgia, filed paperwork with the NFL to enter the draft a year early . . . John Tait, a junior offensive tackle at Brigham Young, announced he will enter the NFL draft.

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NFL Playoffs

This weekend’s second round:

SATURDAY

* San Francisco at Atlanta

9:30 a.m., Channel 11

* Miami at Denver

1:15 p.m., Channel 2

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SUNDAY

* Jacksonville at N.Y. Jets

9:30 a.m., Channel 2

* Arizona at Minnesota

1:15 p.m., Channel 11