They’re History

Jerry Rice joked about riding off into the sunset on a white horse. In the end, he settled for a seat on the shoulder pads of his teammates, who hoisted him off the field to a hip-hop rendition of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”

Rice, 38, perhaps the greatest receiver in NFL history, played his final home game in a San Francisco 49ers uniform Sunday--a 17-0 victory over the Chicago Bears--on an afternoon that was both sentimental and surreal.

Even with the 49ers determined to get him the ball, Rice didn’t carry the load. Terrell Owens made an NFL-record 20 catches for 283 yards.

In the postgame celebration, though, Owens walked around the edge of Rice’s platform all but unnoticed. Later, Owens insisted the day belonged to Rice, and Rice alone.

“What I did by no means overshadowed what he’s done,” Owens said.

Rice, who had seven catches for 76 yards, ran a victory lap after the game, dragging a sea of photographers in his wake. Then, he delivered an emotional thank you to the thousands of fans who simply refused to leave 3Com Park.

“It’s time for me to go,” Rice said from a hastily-constructed platform at midfield. “But San Francisco, I’ll always love you guys.”

Rice’s 9-year-old son, Jerry Jr., stood at his side. And his daughter, Jacqui, 13, sang the national anthem before the game. His wife, Jackie, clutched a bouquet of red and gold balloons.

When he tried to talk about his family, Rice choked out a few words, then lowered his head and wiped his eyes. His voice wavered too, when he discussed the difficulty of leaving a place where he has spent 16 seasons, been part of three Super Bowl teams, set a slew of records and won countless awards.

But he made something clear: He plans to play somewhere next season. Asked if he has ruled out retirement, he said: “Yes. This is something I chose to do a long, long time ago. It has to be my decision to walk away from it. I know people are going to say, ‘Well, it’s time for him to move on.’ But this is the type of game where you can’t walk away for a year and come back. So I want everything out of me when it’s time to move on.”

Not all of his teammates feel the same way. Tackle Derrick Deese said he intends to work on Rice in the off-season, try to convince him to hang up his cleats as a 49er then, five years from now, gracefully stroll into the Hall of Fame.

“It would be weird, especially if you had to play against him,” Deese said of seeing Rice in a different uniform. “You understand it’s a business and all that, but that’s Jerry Rice you’re looking at. You’ve grown up knowing Jerry Rice, watching him on TV and all of a sudden you’re playing with him. So you’re saying to yourself there’s no way he’d ever be in another uniform.”

It happened with Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott and Roger Craig. It could happen with Rice. This much is known: Rice and the 49ers are parting ways. It’s a friendly farewell; they simply can’t afford his $2.5-million salary for next season and they have turned their attention to their younger receivers.

Meanwhile, Rice doesn’t intend to take a whopping pay cut and still feels he has a season or two left in his legs. Of course, he isn’t the first great athlete to reach this impasse.

“Four years after I retired, I’d still wake up in the morning and think I had to be at practice,” said former NFL receiver Gene Washington, now the league’s director of football operations, who attended the game. “If you’re a singer, you can sing until you’re 70. If you’re an actor, you can act in your 80s. If you’re an athlete, you just can’t do it.”

The waning moments of the game were awkward and angered some of the Chicago coaches and players. With 1:08 to play, the 49ers had a first down at the Bear 34. Garcia took a knee in an effort to run out the clock.

Suddenly, the 49ers had a change of heart. They wanted to get Rice the ball one more time, in part because neither of his previous two receptions--one of which resulted in a fumble--were memorable.

So, on second down, with everyone in the stadium knowing the ball was going to Rice, the future hall of famer beat his defender and reeled in a 24-yard reception.

Some of the Bears thought that was a bit much, that the 49ers violated an unwritten rule of good sportsmanship. Chicago defensive coordinator Greg Blanche didn’t feel too badly about it.

“In the morning, I might feel differently,” he said. “But I understood what they were trying to do. They were trying to get the ball to one of football’s greatest players in front of their home crowd for the last time. At that point in the game, what’s one more pass completion?”

It might have been just another completion for the battered Bears, but it was more than that to Rice. It was a poetic ending.

“This is my home,” he said. “It will always be my home.”

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GOOD HANDS PERSON

San Francisco’s Terrell Owens upstaged Jerry Rice on Sunday by setting the NFL record for most receptions in one game. The top three:

Terrell Owens, S.F.: Catches - 20; Opponent - Chicago; Date - Dec. 17, 2000

Tom Fears, L.A. Rams: Catches - 18; Opponent - Green Bay; Date - Dec. 3, 1950

Clark Gaines. N.Y. Jets: Catches - 17; Opponent - San Francisco; Date - Sept. 21, 1980

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MAKING THEIR MARKS

Jerry Rice’s Career Statistics:

Games - 237

Receptions - 1,275

Yards - 19,186

Average - 15.0

Touchdowns - 176

All-Time NFL Leaders

Receptions:

Jerry Rice 1,275

Cris Carter 1,016

Andre Reed 951

Receiving Yards

Jerry Rice 19,186

James Lofton 14,004

Henry Ellard 13,777

Total Touchdowns:

Jerry Rice 187

Emmitt Smith 154

Marcus Allen 145

Receiving Touchdowns:

Jerry Rice 176

Cris Carter 123

Steve Largent 100

Total Yardage:

Walter Payton - 21,803 - 16,892 rushing / 4,911 receiving

Jerry Rice - 19,817 - 631 rushing / 19,186 receiving

Barry Sanders - 18,308 - 15,269 rushing / 3,039 receiving

Most Receiving Yards, Game:

336 - Willie Anderson, L.A. Rams, 15 catches, Nov. 26, 1989/New Orleans

309 - Stephone Paige, Kansas City, 8 catches, Dec. 22, 1985/San Diego

303 - Jim Benton, Cleveland, 10 catches, Nov. 22, 1945/Detroit

302 - Cloyce Box, Detroit, 12 catches, Dec. 3, 1950/Baltimore

291 - Jimmy Smith, Jacksonville, 15 catches, Sept. 10, 2000/Baltimore

289 - Jerry Rice, San Francisco, 14 catches, Dec. 18, 1995/Minnesota

286 - John Taylor, San Francisco, 11 catches, Dec. 11, 1989/L.A. Rams

283 - Terrell Owens, San Francisco, 20 catches, Dec. 17, 2000/Chicago

272 - Charlie Hennigan, Houston, 13 catches, Oct. 13, 1961/Boston

269 - Del Shofner, New York Giants, 11 catches, Oct. 28, 1962/Washington