Expansion Panthers Upend Struggling 49ers On Road

Call it what you want - shocking, stunning, or inconceivable - but you’d better believe it.

Carolina became the first expansion club to win four games and defeat a defending Super Bowl champion in its inaugural season, downing the San Francisco 49ers, 13-7 Sunday.

“We’re hurting. I thought it couldn’t get any worse,” said San Francisco safety Tim McDonald.

It was just the opposite for Carolina.

“This is a very special day for us,” Carolina coach Dom Capers said.

In the end, the 49ers were without their top two quarterbacks and committed five turnovers. Three occurred inside the Carolina 10, including Tim McKyer’s 96-yard interception return for a touchdown.

“I saw Tim grab the ball and I thought, ‘Oh, baby! Home, sweet home,” Carolina linebacker Sam Mills said. “He took it in there and that was a big play.”

Carolina (4-5) surpassed the previous high for an expansion club with its fourth straight victory and is by no means out of playoff contention in the NFC West.

“It seems like one of the more improbable things to come in as a rookie and beat the world champions on their home turf,” Panthers quarterback Kerry Collins said. “We expect to win. Today it happened.

“We have to realize we can do something special next week (against the Rams) and that’s to be a .500 team,” added Mills. “We can’t waste focus on the whole picture.”

San Francisco (5-4), which faces Dallas next week, was again without Steve Young. He missed a third straight game because of his still healing bruised passing shoulder.

Said a glum San Francisco guard Jesse Sapolu, “Nobody expects us to win next week. We’re going to go out there and give it our best shot.”

Elvis Grbac, who threw for 327 yards, went down with an ankle sprain late in the fourth quarter, and 49ers were left with third-stringer Cary Conklin leading them on a last-ditch drive that fell far short.

Shut down by Carolina’s defense and their own mistakes for three quarters, the 49ers finally scored on Derek Loville’s 1-yard run with 13:43 remaining, sparing San Francisco the indignity of its first shutout in 18 years.

But the 49ers failed to score again. Grbac threw a second interception early in the final period, and Tony Zendejas badly shanked a 32-yard field goal try with 6:37 left.

Carolina’s Derrick Moore went down late in the game with a sprained right knee. He was scheduled for an MRI scan today and there was no word on how long he’ll be out.

The 49ers committed their fourth turnover, and third after getting inside Carolina’s 10-yard line when John Taylor had the ball knocked loose at the end of a 40-yard pass early in the third quarter.

Tyrone Poole, who earlier forced a Jerry Rice fumble to deny a San Francisco score, caused Taylor to fumble and linebacker Sam Mills recovered.

Scoring all of its points off San Francisco turnovers, Carolina took a 13-0 halftime lead and the 49ers trotted into the locker room to a cascade of boos.

John Kasay kicked field goals of 39 yards and 47 yards. Both were set up on fumbles after catches by Pro Bowl receivers Rice and Brent Jones, who played despite a right knee and ankle sprain that was supposed to sideline him 2-4 weeks.

The mistakes by San Francisco began on the opening series when linebacker Sam Mills stripped the ball from Jones and recovered at the Carolina 38.

Collins drove the Panthers to the 22 but threw second- and third-down incompletions and Kasay came on for the 39-yard field goal.

San Francisco with a drive of its down and after receptions of 26 yards to J.J. Stokes and 27 yards to Rice, the 49ers had a first down at the Carolina 10. Two plays later, Grbac tried to force a pass to Loville, apparently unaware McKyer was breaking in front of him. McKyer, who broke into the league with the 49ers, caught the pass on the run and outraced Grbac and tight end Ted Popson for the score.

A poor exchange between Moore and Collins led to a fumble recovered by Dennis Brown at the Carolina 20. On a third-and-2 from the 12, Grbac passed to Rice, who turned up field and was only about a yard away from the end zone when Poole lunged at him and popped the ball loose.

The ball rolled out of the end zone and because it was fumbled forward, possession was awarded to Carolina.

Collins guided the Panthers 51 yards in 14 plays ending in Kasay’s 47-yard field goal.