It must be tough on Joe Montana, playing in Steve Young's shadow like this.
No matter what Montana does this season, the fans are going to be saying, "Nice work, but he's no Young."Who is? Even Young is no Young. He keeps topping himself.
The Lions had no chance on Sunday. It was obvious before the 49ers even touched the ball for the first time that the Lions were dead meat.
There were at least four signs:
- Barry Sanders, who is the Lions' offense, was wearing civilian clothes, out of action with a knee injury.
Worse, TV cameras caught Sanders sitting in the press box, eating. Doctors say that his recovery could be delayed an additional three to four weeks because he was eating press-box food.
- The 49ers defense was overachieving. This is the unit that has a reputation for being as useful to the overall 49er effort as Roger Clinton is to the presidency.
But on the game's first series, Ted Washington, Don Griffin and Tim McDonald all made big plays. McDonald, who is supposed to bring some Ronnie Lott-ness to the defense, drilled Detroit ballcarrier Derrick Moore a yard short of a first down on third-and-six, and that was your ballgame.
- Next play, Dexter Carter fielded the punt. 'Nuff said.
- Steve Young jogged onto the field wearing his helmet with the face bar in front.
This was a terrible sign for the Lions. The way Young is playing this season, the only hope for opposing teams is that Steve will be so dazed from blows to the head that he won't be sure which sport he is playing.
Uh, is it my serve?
So opponents look for little telltale signs, like Steve wearing his helmet sideways, or wearing his shoes on the wrong feet, or his eyeballs aiming in opposite directions.
If Young is reasonably clear of head, he works on the defense like Zorro works on the Christmas turkey.
On Sunday, Young threw three long touchdown passes on the first three 49er possessions. Fourteen plays, 21-0.
That's 1.5 points per play. This ain't World Cup soccer.
By the time my TV set got bored halfway through the third quarter and switched itself over to a PBS nature show (hippos and sloths were named to the All-Madden Nature Team), the 49ers had scored 45 points, which is 25 more than any team had scored against the Lions in the Silverdome this season.
Detractors will say it was just another easy win against another crummy opponent. But there were many conclusions to be drawn from the game, such as:
- The 49ers have become the Barry Bonds of football. When it is their turn to do something with the ball, you don't go out for a hot dog.
They have reclaimed a title the 49ers held for most of the Montana Era: Prettiest Team in Football.
This means they will soon be dealing with critics who dismiss them as a "finesse team." During the '80s, the way the 49ers handled that criticism was to punch the critics in the nose with their Super Bowl rings.
- When Ricky Watters returns to action, defenses won't be able to zero in on Steve Young, and that should open up the 49er passing attack.
Granted, Dexter Carter showed great stuff on his long TD run in the fourth quarter, but that was a fluke. Detroit defenders say that because of the tricky conditions in the dome, they simply lost Dexter in the lights.
- John Taylor is no Jerry Rice, and vice versa. On his 80-yard touchdown catch, Rice was single-covered because the Lions chose to double-cover Taylor. Oops.
The Young-Montana debate will long rage, but there's no question about this: The firm of Rice & Taylor is more effective now, at (combined) age of 62, than ever.
Of the 49ers' 279 yards passing in the first half, 157 of those yards were through the air and 122 were RAC (run after catch) yards.
The Lions forgot to watch film of the last two 49er games, when it was shown that you can hold Rice reasonably in check by either jamming him hard off the line or guarding him with Deion Sanders.
The Lions employed neither of those strategies, and Rice had a devastatingly average day.
- George Seifert is getting sung.
His rep is that of an underrated coach, a quiet guy who gets little recognition for fielding a great team. But now people like John Madden are starting to sing about Seifert being unsung.
Fortunately, because he is low-key, there is little danger of Seifert soon vaulting into the next category: Oversung.
The only problem is that the 49ers have discovered the secret of playing great ball on the road, and now they might not have another road game until the Super Bowl.