The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 39

49ers 38 Chargers 15 0) 3 3 GO -n 3 Once 6-0 Chargers are fading fast Game at a Glance Statistics 9 3 49ERS San Diego 7 14 3 14-38 0 3 6 6-15 FIRST QUARTER i 49r-Jones 10 pass Irom Young (Brian kick) 13 29 Drive' 60 yards 11 plays Key plays Watters 5 run on 3rd-and 2 from 49ers 48 Young 1 1 pass to Jones 49ert7SanOlegoO SECOND QUARTER through the third quarter Young threw a quick pass to tight end Brent Jones in the right fiat Seau charged over essentially tried to tackle him with one arm and watched him ramble for 27 yards Seau refused to use the injuries as an excuse but his teammates know So does Ross who hinted he may rest Seau this weekend if his health does not improve really feel like playing handicapped right said 49-ers linebacker Gary Plummer formerly teammate in San Diego should just sit down for a game and I told him that But that type of competitor he feels like he So are the Chargers dust? Are they about to turn that 6-0 start into a distant meaningless memory? still one game Davis said only two games left so the shutting real quick got to ring the doorbell next bled deep in San Diego territory and etill scored 38 points guess the way to win against the 49ers is to have your own powerhouse Chargers safety Stanley Richard said you can keep the 49ers off the field possible to stop them but it takes more than your Chargers players did not always contain their frustration Running back Natrone Means held to 50 yards in 18 carries lost his cool after Ken Norton Jr stopped him on a third-and-one play in the second quarter Means responded by removing his helmet flinging it to the ground and angrily shouting at his offensive linemen So much for harmony and happiness As for Seau he has been bothered by a pinched nerve in his left shoulder and he bruised his left knee Sunday These injuries clearly are turning him into just another linebacker Consider one play midway match up with the 49ers believe at their talent Ross said think the 49ers are an awfully good football team But I still feel not 38-15 better than we The Chargers are 3-5 since their surprisingly fast start They must win one of their remaining two games at the New York Jets home for Pittsburgh to clinch the AFC West was a wake-up call as far as seeing what going to take to be competitive in the defensive tackle Rueben Davis said the kind of team have to face Your engine be running on only a couple of The Chargers displayed few clues in their duel with Steve Young and friends Granted the 49ers can move the ball in their sleep Even so game seemed like a possible Super Bowl preview just two weeks ago Not so fast The 49ers moved the ball at will they twice stum By Ron Kroichick Bee Staff Writer SAN DIEGO Chargers defensive tackle Shawn Lee made the observation Wednesday before the 49ers high-stepped their way through town reflect on being 6-0 because not 6-0 Lee said then No kidding San steep descent toward never-never land moves along gaining speed with each passing week By rolling to their 38-15 victory Sunday the 49ers confirmed an increasingly obvious slice of reality: The Chargers (9-5) reside one sizable level below the top layer of NFL teams Maybe their AFC address Or their avalanche of injuries starting with All-Pro linebacker Junior Seau Or their unimaginative offense Or maybe as coach Bobby Ross suggested his team simply cannot 49ers E3 Chargers Total yards i J411 L- rra Rushing yards Ti9 49ers-Taylor 4 pass from Young (Brien kick) 9 21 Drive' 37 yards 7 plays Key plays Young 20 pass to Popson Young 3 run on 3rd and-1 from Chargers 7 49er 14 San Diego 0 49era-Watters 4 run (Brien kick) 13 09 Drive 58 yards 4 plays Key plays Young 23 pass to McCaffrey 18 yard pass interference against Harper at Chargers 4 49ers 21 San Diego 0 SD-FG Carney 50 15 00 Drive 45 yards 7 plays Key plays' Lee recovery of Young's fumble forced by O'Neal at Chargers 23 Humphries 20 pass to Martin Humphries 17 pass to Jefferson 49era 21 San Diego 3 Passing yards 298 ZEHl THIRD QUARTER First downs AS SO -Means 12 run (run failed) 5 45 Drive 47 yards 1 1 plays Key plays Hum- phries 6 pass to Pupunu on 4th-and 2 Means 1 run on 3rd-and 1 Humprhies 5 pass to Harmon on 3rd and-4 49ers 21 San Diego 9 49ere-FG Brien 22 1044 Drive 71 yards 9 plays Key plays Young 27 pass to Jones Rice 18 run 49era 24 San Diego 9 Third-down success FOURTH QUARTER 4-10 8-15 Time of possession ll 32f06 I QzSlj 49ers- Floyd 1 am (Brien kick) 6 40 Drive 68 yards 10 plays Key plays Young 20 passes to Rice and Taylor Young 1 run on 4th and-1 49ers 31 San Diego 9 SD Martin 2 pass from Humphries (run i failed) 9 32 Drive 73 yards 10 plays Key plays Humphries 21 pass to Marlin Hum-phries 34 pass to Martin 10-yard roughing pass penalty on Harris to the 49ers 9 49ers 31 San Diego 15 49ers-Sanders 90 interception return (Brien kick) 14 28 49ers 38 San Diego 15 Bee graphic BeeRandy Pench Fullback William Floyd (40) runs for a 49ers first down with Chargers defenders Junior Seau (55) and Dennis Gibson in pursuit Young warns team about performing sloppily INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING 49ers-Wat1ers 17-53 Floyd 10-34 Rice 1-18 A Walker 2-10 Young 2 4 Grbac 1-0 San Diego -Means 18 50 Humphries i 2 4 Biememy 1 3 Harmon 1-(mmus 1) Player of the game Bryant Young The defensive tackle had six tackles sacked Stan Humphries once defended a pass and put a sock in Natrone Means San block-of-gramte running back With Young a fastrising rookie from Notre Dame plugging up the middle Means ran 18 times for only 50 yards and never was a catalyst Play of the game First quarter the Chargers facing a fourth and eight after driving to the 31 on their first possession Rather than let John Carney arguably the best field-goal kicker in the NFL attempt a 49-yarder coach Bobby Ross elects to go for it One Tim Harris sack later the 49ers take possession drive and score the first of three unanswered touchdowns Carney who later kicked a 50-yard field goal is 6 for 9 beyond 40 yards this season The key statistic A total of 56 rushing yards for San Diego whose only hope to beat the 49ers was to spring Means for some long gains Instead the Chargers were forced early to the passing game with spotty results Quotebook let us know early on that it was a must win for them It got us fired up and made a statement for the game" Linebacker Ken Norton Jr on the decision to try to convert fourth and eight on their first drive have to be happy to get the win but we have things to work on We came out a little relaxed The game became closer than we wanted Receiver Jerry Rice who caught 1 2 passes for 1 44 yards (the Cowboys) got beat by an AFC team So we wanted to make sure we get beat by an AFC Safety Tim McDonald is no comfort Coach George Seifert whose team needs to win one of Its final two games to clinch the home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs PASSING 49ers- Young 25-32-0-304 San Diego Humprhies 25-43 2 337 49ERS NOTES Plummer joins teammates he beats old team Bee Sports Staff SAN DIEGO Rickey Jackson Toi Cook and Deion Sanders did it twice Ken Norton Jr pulled it off once Which put considerable pressure on linebacker Gary Plummer on Sunday at Jack Murphy Stadium Every time a 49er has faced his old team this season the 49ers have won Plummer upheld that tradition helping the 49ers beat San Diego 38-15 Plummer who spent eight seasons in San Diego contributed five tackles and helped the 49ers limit the Chargers to 56 yards rushing a great Plummer said was a lot of pressure on me during the week by my teammates They kept telling me all week come back on the plane if you come back with a Plummer admitted it was an emotional homecoming started getting jacked up on he said was just like a crescendo during the announcements running onto the field for the introduction going to try to get this jacked up every week because I felt like I played extremely Someone asked Plummer if he felt like he proved something to Chargers owner Alex Spanos who make much of an effort to re-sign him after last season think at one point after a tackle I looked up to his box and he might have been one of the guys Plummer said going to be able to hold my head up high when I come back to San Diego in the Pulling even Quarterback Steve Young threw two touchdown passes to tie Joe single-season record of 31 set in 1987 knew I w'as Young said To me those are very small things to talk Rice reviews Chargers cornerback Damen Gordon played at Stanford While there he occasionally worked out with 49ers receiver Jerry Rice Sunday Gordon learned firsthand why Rice is well Rice He caught 12 passes for 144 yards tormenting the Chargers with short slant routes and passes underneath San coverage In calling Rice best receiver Gordon pointed to his first step off the line of scrimmage gets to top speed right away especially on those slant Gordon said usually takes a -defensive back a couple of steps to gather himself I think he can be stopped I think he can be contained but we do Rice now has 13121 career receiving yards mov- ing ahead of Steve Largent (13089) for second place on the all-time list James Lofton is No 1 with 14020 What you wondered was How many times in a row that Young-to-Rice slant pattern was going to work Young went to Rice with the exact same play on first down four times in the six first-half possessions every one easy money For those not from Cal they call this tripping That blatant leg-hammer 49ers kicker Doug Brien put on Chargers returner Andre Coleman as Coleman raced upfield with the kickoff to begin the second half earning Brien a 10-yard penalty and the wrath of the home fans and possibly saving a touchdown In soccer a breakaway free kick for the Chargers In the NFL: Nope Now your second second-guess Of coach George Seifert who left his first team (including Young) in the game beyond the two-minute warning because he said the lead was only 31-15 But on fourth down with 1:29 to play the coach eschewed a 40-yard field goal that would have put the lead beyond two touchdowns and two-point conversions The 49ers went for it on fourth and three and failed the Char- gers took over Injury report Defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield (left knee) receiver John Taylor (right ankle) guard Jesse Sapolu (right hamstring) linebacker Anthony Peterson (broken nose) linebacker Lee Woodall (patella tendon) and cornerback Tyronne Drakeford (right ankle) are probable for game against Denver 1 RECEIVING 49ers-Rice 12-144 Taylor 5 53 Jones i 3 48 Watters 2-12 McCaffrey 1-23 Popson 1-20 Floyd 1-4 San Diego Martin 9-1 72 Harmon 5-42 Jefferson 4 53 Mitchell 3 44 Pupunu 2-10 Seay 1-10 Means 1-6 TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS 49era-Sanders 7 0 0 Norton 5-2-0 i Young 6-0-1 Davis 5-0 0 Plummer 1 5-0-0 McDonald 4-1-0 Woodall 2-2-0 i Jackson 3-0-0 Stubblefield 2-1-0 Cook 13-0 0 Hall 2 0-0 Hall 1-0-0 Hanks 1-0 0 Harris 1-0-1 Peterson 3-0 0 A Walk-! er2 1 0 Drakeford 1-0-0 Brien 1-0-0 San Diego -Gordon 9-0-0 Seau 9-0-0 I Gibson 7-1-0 ONeal 6-1-1 Richard 7-2-0 Carrington 4-1-0 Griggs 4-1-0 Harper 2-1 0 Clark 2 0-0 Davis 1-0-0 Lee 1-0-0 i Miller 1-0-0 Mims 0-1-0 Biememy 1-0 0 Binn 1-0-0 Castle 1-0 0 Coleman 1-0-0 Harrsion 1-0 0 INTERCEPTIONS 49era-Norton Sanders San Diego -None OFFICIALS Referee-Tom White Umpire-Jim Duke Head linesman -Ron Phares Line udge-Dick McKenzie Back udge-Banks Williams Side udge-Dick Creed Field udge-Richard Reels Continued from page D1 kind of gave us an extra 49ers fullback William Floyd said knew what we had to do San Francisco which won its ninth consecutive game rolled up 417 yards in total offense held San Diego to 56 yards rushing and intercepted two passes Steve Young completed 25 of 32 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns wide receiver Jerry Rice caught 12 passes for 144 yards and defensive tackle Bryant Young was a thorn in the side But the 49ers also gave up 322 yards passing struggled in short-yardage situations and never really put away the Chargers Those nagging negatives prompted Steve Young to deliver a rare postgame address in the locker room His message? clean up our act want to be on guard that we get Young said To me up 31-9 the whole team kind of said go To me we do that We have a responsibility to a man to play for three hours no matter what the situation teammates said the message came at a good time said got a lot of things got to shore up on every side of the ball: offense defense special offensive tackle Steve Wallace said got to look forward to dominating people want to go much further and do a lot more things definitely not any Which is just fine with linebacker Gary Plummer the difference between this team and most other teams in the NFL never being he said go out and win 38-15 and guys are talking about what we could have done to improve: clock management giving up the big play at the end keeping that focus and basically kicking them when down Those are all things you need to have to be a Super Bowl The 49ers looked invincible after their first drive which featured dropped passes by Floyd and John Taylor They stopped San Diego on a fourth-and-eight play from their 31 after Chargers coach Bobby Ross passed up a potential 49-yard field goal think that was the right said Ross whose team fell to 9-5 and missed a chance to clinch the AFC West felt like we needed to do something to possibly make1 something Instead it was the 49ers who did that They scored on their second possession with Young throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brent Jones San Francisco marched to the 6 on its next drive but failed to convert on fourth and one when Young threw incomplete for Floyd The defense stopped the Chargers on the next series but Deion Sanders and Toi Cook dropped sure interceptions The 49ers then scored touchdowns on their next two possessions: Young threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Taylor and Ricky Watters ran in from four yards giving the 49ers a 21-0 lead with 1:51 left in the first half Ken Norton Jr then intercepted a Humphries pass just above the ground at the 29 but Leslie stripped Young of the football two plays later to give San Diego possession John 50-yard field goal as time expired cut the lead to 21-3 at halftime but the Chargers looked dead Humphries had completed just 7 of 17 passes for 95 yards with an interception but he completed 18 of 26 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown with one interception in the second half The Chargers scored on their first possession of the second half with Natrone 12-yard run cutting the lead to 21-9 A 22-yard field goal by Doug Brien and a one-yard touchdown run by Floyd stretched the lead to 31-9 with 8:20 left in the game Humphries completed 6 of 9 passes on the next drive which ended on a two-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tony Martin The two-point conversion failed leaving the 49ers safely in front 31-15 with 5:28 left Just to be sure Deion Sanders returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown with 32 seconds left you make mistakes like we did or execute the play called it makes it a little easier on the Humphries said They have a good football team but we put much out there to give them much of a The 49ers hope things go as smoothly Saturday against the Broncos at stake" Plummer said go out and if you win this week you take the pressure off yourself playing the day after Christmas (at Minnesota) so who knows what your emotions are going to be on that day just have to go out and take care of.