Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

49ers Win Game Marked By Individual Milestones Young, Rice, Sanders Come Out No. 1 In Regular-Season Finale

Associated Press

Steve Young won another passing title, and Jerry Rice finished with an NFL-high in receptions before they took the rest of the night off and watched Barry Sanders get his third rushing championship.

Playing only the first half in what amounted to a playoff tuneup for San Francisco, Young threw for two touchdowns and Rice hung on to beat Detroit counterpart Herman Moore for the reception title in the 49ers’ 24-14 win over the Lions on Monday night. It was the final regular-season game of 1996.

San Francisco, headed to the playoffs for the 13th time in 14 years, ended at 12-4, while Detroit (5-11), likely playing its final game under coach Wayne Fontes, wound up losing nine of its last 10 games.

Fontes brushed off questions about his job status.

“Don’t ask it because I can’t answer it,” he said. “God bless you. It’s been a long year.”

Sanders ran for 175 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown run, to finish with 1,553 yards for the season, overtaking Denver’s Terrell Davis, who has to be content with the AFC rushing title with 1,538 yards.

It was Sanders’ third straight season with at least 1,500 rushing yards, the first time that’s been done in NFL history.

“I’m sure there’s a guy from Denver who is upset with our defense right now,” San Francisco linebacker Gary Plummer said. “It’s amazing what this guy (Sanders) can do.”

Sanders did it against a defense that hadn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher for 20 straight games until Erric Pegram gained 103 yards in San Francisco’s 25-15 win at Pittsburgh last week. The yardage by Sanders was the most since Pegram gained 192 against San Francisco while with Atlanta on Sept. 18, 1993.

“I had no reason to believe we could run for that many yards against the Niners,” Sanders said.

Neither could Young have expected to get another passing title after missing all or parts of eight games due to injuries. But he finished the season with five solid games, including Monday night’s 11-for-14 performance for 96 yards and 1-yard touchdowns to Ted Popson and Derek Loville.

That was enough to lift his passing rating of 97.2, edging Green Bay’s Brett Favre (95.8) for his fifth passing title in six years.

Rice had five catches for 49 yards to boost his season reception total to 108, two more than Moore, who had eight receptions to finish with 106.

San Francisco, which will play host to Philadelphia in a first-round game Sunday, was locked in as a wild card when Carolina clinched the NFC West title and a first-round bye with a win over Pittsburgh on Sunday.