1998 San Francisco 49ers season

The 1998 San Francisco 49ers season was the team's 49th year with the National Football League.

The season saw the return of Jerry Rice, who missed most of 1997 with a major knee injury.

After defeating the Packers in the Wildcard round, thanks to a game-winning catch by young Terrell Owens, San Francisco's season ended with a defeat to the Atlanta Falcons the following week. The Falcons then defeated the 15-1 Minnesota Vikings in the title game, but they lost to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.

The Divisional round was Steve Young's final playoff appearance as he suffered a concussion in Week 3 of the next season, ending his 15-year NFL career.

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. New York Jets

The game lead tied or changed eight times in regulation as the Jets under Bill Parcells came to Candlestick Park. Glenn Foley matched Steve Young's three touchdowns and one pick with three scores and one pick of his own; Foley put up 415 yard to Young's 363 yards. The two teams traded punts in overtime; the Niners had to start at their four-yard line and coach Steve Mariucci called "90 O", a run play intended to get away from their own endzone; Garrison Hearst burst through a hole and raced 96 yards straddling the sideline, getting key blocks from Dave Fiore despite an injured leg, and from Terrell Owens for the touchdown and 36–30 Niners win.

Week 2

The Niners crushed the Redskins 45–10 with 504 yards of offense and three touchdowns by Steve Young. The Redskins coughed up the ball three times in the loss.

Week 3

Bye week

Week 4

Hosting the 2–1 Falcons, the Niners picked off Chris Chandler three times and won 31–20 behind 387 passing yards, 50 rushing yards, and three touchdowns from Steve Young. |Weather= 62 °F (Light Rain)

Week 5

The Niners traveled to Rich Stadium to face the Bills and crashed hard 26–21 despite 21 fourth-quarter points. The Niners committed 22 penalties eating up 178 yards (compared to Buffalo's 12 fouls for 106), while punters Chris Mohr and Reggie Roby combined for 323 punting yards.

Week 6

Still smarting from their poor performance at Buffalo, the Niners traveled to the Superdome and crushed Mike Ditka's Saints 31–0. The game was another penalty-laden affair with a combined 24 fouls eating up 240 yards. The Niners shut down Danny Wuerffel and Billy Joe Tolliver, limiting them to 15 completions for 174 yards and a pick.

Week 7

The Niners hosted the Colts and their new quarterback Peyton Manning; they immediately served notice for the future as the Colts raced to a 21–0 lead behind two Manning scores to Marvin Harrison and a 65-yard score from future Ram Marshall Faulk. The Niners clawed back as Steve Young threw three touchdowns and ran in a fourth; a botched point after kick led to a Jerry Rice two-point conversion catch from Young to tie the game, then Wade Richey's 24-yard field goal won it 34–31 for the Niners. |Weather= 68 °F (Sunny)

Week 8

Hitting the TWA Dome the Niners cruised to a 28–10 win over the Rams as Steve Young overcame two picks with three touchdowns and budding superstar Terrell Owens ran in a 21-yard score. The Niners picked off Tony Banks three times.

Week 9

For the fifth straight time the Niners fell to the Green Bay Packers, this time 36–22 at Lambeau Field; the Niners overcame a botched punt snap for a safety and erased a 16–0 Packer lead to lead 22–19 in the third; from there despite three Brett Favre interceptions it all fell apart for the Niners as the Packers unleashed 17 unanswered points.

Week 10

Ty Detmer took over for Steve Young against the 1–7 Panthers, throwing for 276 yards and three touchdowns (to J.J. Stokes and Terrell Owens), but three interceptions kept the Panthers in the game and they took a 23–22 lead before Wade Richey's 46-yard field goal ended a 25–23 Niners win. |Weather= 57 °F (Cloudy)

Week 11

The battle for the NFC West had now become a true battle as the 7–2 Falcons hosted the 7–2 Niners and things got ugly for San Francisco. Steve Young managed 342 passing yards but only 21 completions; the Falcons grabbed a fumble at the Niners goalline for a Jessie Tuggle touchdown and when Young connected on long-range scores to Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice, Chris Chandler put the game away on his 78-yard strike to Terance Mathis. The 31–19 Falcons win wound up being the last the Niners would see of the division crown that season.

Week 16

Following four straight wins the Niners traveled to Foxboro Stadium to face a struggling Patriots squad. Regular starter Drew Bledsoe was out for the year with a broken throwing hand so backup Scott Zolak took over. The Niners scored 21 second-quarter points (including a touchdown from backup Ty Detmer), but the Patriots battled back and tied the game, then won it in the final seconds on Adam Vinatieri's 35-yard field goal. Terrell Owens was held to three catches for 61 yards; a pass for Owens was intercepted by Ty Law.

Standings

Playoffs

NFC Wild Card vs Green Bay Packers

For the first time in the Brett Favre era the 49ers pulled off a victory over the Packers. After a late Packers touchdown the Niners trailed 27–23 and a continuing issue during the game was dropped passes by receiver Terrell Owens. In the final ten seconds Steve Young dropped back in the Packers redzone, stumbled but stayed on his feet, then heaved the ball to the endzone where Owens caught it, landed in the endzone with four seconds left, and the Niners had pulled out one of the most dramatic wins in their history. This play is often referred to by 49ers fans as "the Catch II", the 1st "Catch" being the touchdown from Joe Montana to Dwight Clark in the final minute against the Cowboys in the 1981 playoffs. It's the final playoff win that Young would achieve.

NFC Divisional Playoff at Atlanta Falcons

The game started poorly for the 13–5 49ers, who lost 1,500-yard rusher Garrison Hearst to a broken bone in his left leg on the first play of the game. Backup Terry Kirby was able to only rush for 46 yards. With their running game hobbled, the 49ers trailed 14–0 at the half, and 20–10 going into the fourth quarter. With 2:57 remaining, Young scored on an 8-yard run and the team converted a two-point conversion after a botched snap, to bring the score to 20–18. The 49ers had one more chance to win with the ball deep in their own territory but Young threw a pass that was picked off by the Falcon's William White.^[1]

Awards and records

• Franchise Record, Most Rushing Yards in One Game, 328 Rushing Yards (vs. Detroit Lions on December 14, 1998) ^[2]
• Led NFL, Total Yards, 6,800 Total Yards ^[3]
• Garrison Hearst, Franchise Record, Most Rushing Yards in One Season, 1,570 Rushing Yards^[4]
• Steve Young, Franchise Record, Most Touchdown Passes in One Season, 36 Touchdown Passes^[4]
• Steve Young, Led NFL, Touchdown Passes, 36 Passes^[5]

References

• 49ers on Pro Football Reference
• 49ers Schedule on jt-sw.com