49ers Know Their Stuff

By SAM FARMER

Dec. 23, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO —

After banging his head against the wall last week, San Francisco 49er Coach Steve Mariucci was delighted Saturday to watch someone else do it.

“Man, that seemed like a hundred plays,” said Mariucci, whose players stopped Philadelphia on seven consecutive plays from point-blank range, only to intercept the eighth try on their way to a 13-3 victory. “It was unbelievable. Just kept stuffing them, stuffing them, stuffing them. That’s such a demoralizing thing for an offense.”

And Mariucci knows demoralizing. When New Orleans lost Monday, the 49ers (11-3) were assured of their first playoff berth since 1998--a notable accomplishment for a team that finished 4-12 in 1999 and 6-10 last season.

Things were conspicuously quiet around 49er headquarters, though. Or so it seemed to Mariucci, who didn’t hear a peep of congratulations from John York, the team’s owner, General Manager Terry Donahue, or special consultant Bill Walsh.

That silence was combined with a swoosh of rumors, specifically about Mariucci splitting for Notre Dame and Donahue, the former UCLA coach, happily taking his place.

“The Notre Dame thing set it in motion,” said Mariucci, who--before the ill-fated hiring of George O’Leary--turned down the school’s request to interview him. “It was rumor after rumor. It just snowballed. It was ridiculous.”

All that seemed like a distant memory Saturday, when his team broke a 3-3 tie in the second half with two more field goals from Jose Cortez and a 32-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Garcia to Terrell Owens with 6:52 to play.

Garcia, who played with severe tenderness in his ribcage, got a game ball. But a truckload of them went to the 49er defense, whose super-sized effort on the goal line was the main reason the Eagles (9-5) staggered away with their first road loss of the season.

The series unfolded like this:

The Eagles had a second and goal at the one-yard line but couldn’t break the plane with a run by Duce Staley and a reception by James Thrash. On fourth down, McNabb rolled right and was hammered out of bounds by linebacker Derek Smith. Philadelphia got new life when safety Lance Schulters was flagged on the play for defensive holding, giving the Eagles a first down inches from the goal.

“That made me even more angry,” Schulters said of the penalty. “The crowd didn’t die out at all.”

Neither did the 49ers. Again, back-to-back runs by Staley produced nothing. Then, on third down, McNabb faked a handoff and fired a pass for tight end Chad Lewis in the back of the end zone, but Smith made the interception.

“You could feel the urgency of the defense,” Smith said. “Nobody had the look of, ‘Oh, no, here we go again.’ Everyone had the look of, ‘Let’s do what we have to do to get off the field.”’

It was a welcome sight for Jim Mora, the 49er defensive coordinator whose 17th-ranked defense was No. 31 in 1998 and 29th last season. During the stand, he was on his knees on the rain-soaked field, pounding his fist into the mud.

“I get emotional in games,” explained Mora, the son of Indianapolis Coach Jim Mora. “The players get to hit somebody. I had to find something to hit.”

Energized, San Francisco’s offense didn’t let the momentum wither. The 49ers drove 80 yards on their ensuing possession--picking up 34 on a pass-interference call--and scored when Garcia floated the touchdown pass to Owens, who had slipped behind the Eagles’ secondary.

The Eagles, who had scored at least 20 in six of seven games, got their only points on a 20-yard field goal by David Akers in the second quarter. Their pride took more of a bruising than their playoff hopes; they can secure the NFC East title with one more victory or a tie or loss by the New York Giants, who play Seattle today and at Philadelphia next Sunday.

“We’re going to be sitting around [today] and watching the Giants and hoping that they lose so we can clinch our division,” Coach Andy Reid said. “We don’t want the Giants to control our fate.”

Likewise, Mariucci wants as much control as possible over his personal destiny. That’s why he was strung piano-wire tight this week, especially in the wake of a newspaper article that talked about a growing rift between him and management.

The story, which ran in Thursday’s edition of the San Jose Mercury News, said he is feeling increasingly isolated from Donahue and Walsh. The story cited team sources who said Mariucci was miffed about a Donahue quote on the 49er Web site in which he credited “cap management” and an overhaul of the personnel department as the leading factors in the club’s turnaround.

The day the story ran, team officials--including York, Walsh and Donahue--sat down to clear the air with Mariucci, who has two seasons remaining on a contract that pays him $2 million a year.

“We got together to make sure everybody was on the same page,” York said. “Everybody reiterated the same thing. We are an organization and a team together.... That means Steve is the coach and he is happy being the coach, and Bill and Terry came in, and now Terry is the general manager and he wants to be the general manager. That’s how it is.”

Just before the game ended Saturday, York walked past Donahue, then stopped, turned and extended his hand.

“Congratulations, Terry,” he said as the men shared a knowing laugh.

“And one more thing,” York said. “Don’t forget I told you congratulations.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Playoff Scenarios

AFC EAST

New England can clinch playoff berth with:

1) a loss by the Jets

2) a loss by the Ravens

3) a loss or tie by Seattle

AFC CENTRAL

Pittsburgh has clinched the division title and can clinch a first-round bye if it defeats Detroit today.