Sunday
Opinion, Top PostsMiracle dart by Favre steals a win for Vikes
EDDIE LEE
NFLPosts.com Editor
A golden thunderbolt from a living legend rescued a lost game for the Vikings with two seconds left to spare.
Brett Favre’s desperation torpedo from 32 yards out was somehow secured by a crossing Greg Lewis at the back of the 49ers end zone, inches ahead of two defenders, to give Minnesota a thrilling 27-24 victory over San Francisco.
The win moves Minnesota to 3-0 but perhaps more importantly, writes the first concrete chapter of No. 4 into Viking lore. And makes a pretty decent home debut.
Prior to this game, the 39-year-old Favre had been content to play Captain Checkdown, his chief duty against the Browns and Lions was to ensure that all-universe RB Adrian Peterson received handoffs securely.
On Sunday, Favre, the owner all major career NFL passing records, dialed up the time machine.
Minnesota trailed 24-20 with 89 seconds left in the game, no timeouts, and the ball was at its own 20-yard line.
An array of short passes to TE Visanthe Shiancoe and WRs Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin moved the ball slowly into San Francisco territory. Outside of an ill-advised deep rainbow to Rice that landed out of bounds, the man who has been known to throw the football up for grabs, remained conservative. But the clock kept ticking.
With 12 seconds left, Favre was flushed and under the heavy duress he was under most of game, somehow spotted and heaved the football into a window the size of a breadbox to Lewis, a receiver who signed with Vikings after being released by the Patriots 17 days ago.
An obligatory official review upheld the catch and Vikings fans exhaled.
Favre finished 24-of-47 for 301 yards, 2 TDs and an INT. It was the first 300-yard passing game by a Viking since Daunte Culpepper in 2005.
The implausible throw and catch will unfortunately mask a gutsy effort by a 49ers squad that lost Frank Gore, its main offensive weapon, on his first carry of the day.
Thus a juicy match-up between Peterson and Gore, the Nos. 1 and 3 rushers in the NFL, against two of the league’s best defenses disappated quickly.
Gore re-aggravated an ankle injury and did not return. X-rays showed no broken bones and the team has scheduled an MRI for Monday.
The 49ers, reeling without Gore, went 3-and-out in their first four possessions. And the Vikings pounced, scoring on a Favre 30-yard TD strike to Rice and Ryan Longwell 40-yard FG to make it 10-0 before the Niners even had a first down.
It seemed the rout was on.
But there’s something gritty about this San Francisco squad, especially its sandpaper defence.
They’re mostly unheralded yet compete with a pugnacity imbued by their coach, hall of fame linebacker Mike Singletary. They’re disciplined and tackle in gangs. They bend but won’t stop fighting.
In 2007, Peterson was named NFL offensive rookie of the year. The defensive honor went to San Francisco LB Patrick Willis.
After falling behind, Willis and his mates firmly held their ground against an impressive Vikings attack. Outside of a 35-yard sideline burst in the first quarter, Peterson was reined in (19 carries, 85 yards), all day.
The 49ers held the Vikings mainly to field goal attempts and blocked one at the end of the half, which Nate Clements returned for a 59-yard score and gave the Niners an undeserving 14-13 lead.
Their defensive resiliency had kept them in the game again.
A third-quarter FG by Joe Nedney actually pushed the 49ers ahead 17-13 but that is where the Vikings’ explosiveness turned the tide.
First-round draft pick Harvin, who had scored a TD in each of his two previous NFL games, took the kickoff and promptly exploded up the middle of the field for a 101-yard TD return.
The Vikings defense, with three Pro Bowlers in its front four — Kevin Williams, Pat Williams and Jared Allen, is no pushover either and it seemed they’d make the lead stand up against the undermanned Niners.
But plucky QB Shaun Hill (15-of-25, 195 yards) finds a way to complete passes to a most rudimentary set of receivers. So far this season, in victories against Arizona and Seattle, he seems to have one key, time-consuming TD drive per half in his back pocket.
Sunday he capped both with TD tosses to TE Vernon Davis, the second of which gave the Niners that fateful four-point lead. With 8 minutes left, the Vikings were looking for a savior but were instead forced to quickly punt twice before Favre made his mark.
With this offense — they went 0-for-11 on third downs, San Francisco (2-1) will be the author of a number of ugly wins this season. There are no style points for consistently punting and watching your defense but the Niners make it work.
Already they’ve harrassed and grounded Kurt Warner and the Cardinals, knocked out Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks and promised to do the same to the Vikings.
If not for a killer shot from an old gunslinger, they would be the ones riding into that September sunset 3-0.
As for Favre, it’s a nice way to set up that Monday night match-up with Green Bay isn’t it?
