1971 Lions at Niners GOTW week 14

this was the big one when their cleats hit the artificial turf of candlestick park's ground floor the 40 men of the san francisco 49er football team already knew what they had to do in the east the los angeles rams had beaten the pittsburgh steelers to climb into a tie with the 49ers and now san francisco had to beat the detroit lions to win the nfc west division title and grab the last remaining playoff slot it would not be an easy task only last week the lions playoff hopes had been dashed on the rocks of the minnesota defense so they're a big obstacle for the 49ers a 49er win puts them in the super bowl chase but the lions would love to play spoiler and have dedicated themselves to a successful season despite their non-playoff status a division title had avoided the albertan abraham tittle in his glory years at san francisco but last year the 49ers had made it and now desperately needed a win to repeat so the season boils down to one game for the 49ers as they take on the tough detroit lions a win and they're in a loss and it's wait till next year i'm bob delaney and this is the nfl game of the week both the lions and the 49ers rely on their strong runners to set up the home run pitch and san francisco started out true to form but the active lion linebackers were waiting first wayne walker number 55 stopped vic washington and then he teamed with mike lucci number 53 playing despite a knee injury expected to sideline him the run was going nowhere so on third down john brody brought out the rocket launcher but his missile to dick witcher was shut down by lam barney who returned 23 yards to the san francisco 40. [Music] [Applause] [Music] lion quarterback greg landry also wanted to establish the ground game and he first sent alti taylor number 42 over left tackle for 12 yards the other running back steve owens number 36 was on the verge of a 1 000 yard season and he got two yards closer to it and picked up a crucial first down for the lions but landry's first pass netted a minus seven as cedric hartman hit landry just as he threw causing him to throw high and breaking the timing of the play the lost stole the lion drive but a 31-yard arrow man field goal gave detroit an early three to nothing lead trailing by three there was no need to abandon the game plan and brody again used his ground forces to tighten up the detroit defense and when brody went up top this time the lions were had a good play fake to ken willard froze the detroit defense enabling ted kowalik to work loose on a repeat we can see why the play works so well watch as the fake to willard catches number 21 al clark for just the instant that it takes for kowalik to get open with another good play action fake witcher was able to work free and his bobbling catch put the niners on the lion 13. [Music] brody has been criticized for not using witcher more often since gene washington the other wide receiver is usually double covered but when brody found single coverage on witcher again he hit him for six [Music] [Applause] the 49ers now led by four and landry was anxious to come right back so he too went to the air ron jesse number 89 leads the league in kickoff returns relying on pure speed and on past patterns his swiftness can be devastating only mel phillips diving tackle kept jesse out of the end zone with a first down on the 49er 17 landry again went upstairs and found tight end charlie sanders open but a great play by phillip saved the touchdown again on second down owens broke left and appeared to have an alley to the end zone but number 86 nasty hartman bounced number 24 mel far and nailed owens facing third down landry perhaps the best running quarterback in the league found his receivers covered kept the ball himself and bowled into the end zone but on the play the lions were detected holding on a repeat watch the bottom of the screen as number 75 jim yarbrough hooks hardman with his left arm bringing about the flag with a third and 32 landry was forced to throw but jimmy johnson broke up his pass to earl mccullough the lions had to settle for a field goal and trailed seven to six for detroit it was a disappointment to still be behind when it appeared that they'd taken the lead and then the ensuing kickoff vic washington almost made their disappointment even deeper jesse number 89 caught washington from behind at the 38th and on the first play of this 49er possession larry schreiber tacked down 23 yards to the detroit 39. but from there the lions defense got their claws out and dug in first vic washington was stopped by the front of paul newman number 50 and the back of lem barney number 20. then jerry rush number 82 went for a fake describer but recovered and nailed washington for no gain san francisco settled for the field goal and led by four after an exchange of possessions the 49ers started goldward again first ken willard picked his hole and picked up ten and then brody faked an ender round and spotted gene washington behind the lion defense washington might have gone all the way but due to good lion line pressure the ball was underthrown from the 10 brody attempted a fake but vic washington slipped still brody was able to make the fake and spotted willard for the score [Music] san francisco had built their one point lead to 11 but despite being 11 down the lions did not turn to the bomb instead they stayed on the ground and the strategy worked [Music] [Applause] first taylor got seven then taking a page from the oklahoma playbook landry ran the lion option play for 12. [Music] to keep the 49er defense honest landry went to the air only four times on the 80 yard drive completing just one [Music] then with a critical third and two landry ran a sneak got the first down and broke tobin wrote single season quarterback rushing record that had been untouched since 1951 two plays later steve owens became the first lion ever to rush for over 1 000 yards in a season from the 49er 14 alti taylor didn't break anyone's records but got the lions to within four points [Music] when san francisco got the ball again there were over two minutes to play and with the 49er offense working so well brody tried to get on the board again [Music] but when brody tried to hit qualic it was the lions who almost scored lem barney nearly intercepted and only qualik's good defensive play kept barney from going in for a lion touchdown [Applause] the half ended at 17-13 but the lions had fought back to within four and had almost taken the lead the momentum was building on the lion's side of the ledger detroit's strong first half finish carried into the second half when bobby williams took the kick off and returned it 40 yards up the left sideline before going out of bounds detroit had excellent field position and steve owens their record-setting full-back soon improved on it owens running and a penalty brought detroit to the 49ers 16 where landry's passed to charlie sanders through a pass interference call on mel phillips phillips disagreed but the lions now had the ball on the 49er 3-yard line [Music] two plays later steve owens slanted off left tackle for the touchdown that put the lions ahead 20-17 [Applause] detroit seemingly had taken control of the ball game but john brody and his san francisco 49ers came right back [Applause] [Music] after ken willard had taken a short pass for good yardage willard and vic washington slashed for huge chunks of yardage through the lion defense [Music] now with detroit weary of the run john brody went for gene washington who had beaten his defender rookie al clark brody's pass was awry but his strategy was not john brody had been waiting for the right moment to test the rookie two plays later rhodey tested him again [Music] a repeat of this touchdown shows clark was no match for gene washington's speed as he feudally slapped at the pass that had beaten him the 49ers had gone 66 yards in just seven plays and once again led the lions 24-20 [Applause] washington's catch was the third brody touchdown pass of the day his 19th of the season and the 202nd of his 15-year career that figure makes him only the seventh quarterback in pro football history to throw 200 or more touchdown passes the lions were not impressed they came roaring back on the strong right arm of greg landry after larry walton took a pass in the left flat for 14 yards landry unloaded a bomb [Music] earl mccullough made a fingertip catch behind bruce taylor for 56 yards to the san francisco 4-yard line the lions had first and goal on the four but a fine play by number 64 linebacker dave wilcox stopped steve owens for a loss of two but wilcox soon relinquished his hero's mantle for on third down though landry passed incomplete interference was called on wilcox a repeat of this key play from the end zone reveals that after the ball was released wilcox coming across in the foreground did push owens out of the play it was a close call but it was a correct call wilcox the eight-year veteran from oregon naturally didn't concur [Music] two place later landry on a sneak apparently went over from the one but the lions were guilty of backfield in motion and instead of a touchdown were penalized five yards me now back on the six landry looped to pass over mel phillips to charlie sanders and detroit again had gone ahead of san francisco once again the 49ers didn't agree with the officials they claimed sanders had pushed phillips and was guilty of offensive pass interference a repeat again vindicates the officials as long as the ball is in the air both players can go for the ball [Music] it was a big play for detroit and their huge tight end charlie sanders both sanders and earl mccullough had missed the big game of the vikings in which the lions were eliminated from contention the week before now both were back and both had made big plays to put their team back in the lead the third quarter had seen three consecutive drives that ended in touchdowns but that streak ended when vic washington dropped a brody pass on third down [Music] this was a heated to hard-fought game and surprisingly there were few turnovers but penalties played a major role for both teams especially on the next play [Applause] the lion's touchdown from the fumbled snap was called back because of an illegal procedure call and detroit ended up taking possession on their own 34. [Music] an end-a-round attempt by mccullough resulted in a seven-yard loss and landry's third down pass to sanders was inches short of a first down as the third quarter came to an end [Applause] [Music] the lions made a dramatic decision they disdained a punt and went for the first down on their own 40. the decision was a disastrous one greg landry's quarterback sneak was short and san francisco's offense took the field with fine field position here on the detroit 40-yard line john brody enjoyed one of his finest moments in a 15-year pro career he converted one third down situation with a circle pass to rookie larry schreiber two plays later again on third down vic washington was seemingly stopped by a fine defensive effort but again a penalty rocked the lions jim mitchell had been offsides and john brody had a first down two running plays got nowhere and again brody was in a third down situation he couldn't find an open receiver so he asked his 36 year old legs to do what his arm could not and one of the most important plays in a long career john brody had brought his team from behind and given them the lead that they so desperately needed san francisco now was ahead 31-27 and candlestick park went wild [Music] now it was up to the 49er defense to stop detroit again bobby williams took the kick off on the two turned on the jets and turned the corner with a clear field ahead [Music] williams slip gave the lions the ball on their own 32 and dick nolan's defensive squad went to work until this point they'd been unable to hamper the lion attack on the day detroit had averaged over six yards of play but now the defense dug in and on third down covered well and forced greg landry to run instead of pass he was forced out of bounds two yards shy of a first down with eight minutes 25 seconds remaining the offense took over john brody was determined to kill as much time as possible and ken willard's running allowed him to do it detroit knew brodie wouldn't throw unless faced with long yardage willard's great display of running allowed brody the luxury of staying on the ground time after time willard made the necessary yardage despite the fact the lions were waiting for him willard has received much publicity this year for losing weight and changing to a more elusive style of running but now he was running on sheer power when willard finally came off the field for a breather he'd helped his team control the ball for over seven minutes only on fourth down when brody and washington collided on a handoff did detroit finally get possession of the football [Music] the 49er offensive team had done its job well by controlling the ball now once again it remained for the defense to hold detroit one more time with just one and a half minutes left in the game [Music] frank nunnelly's interception virtually ended the game and gave the 49ers the title in the nfc's western division san francisco has won nine of 14 games and finished a half game ahead of their arch rivals the rams ironically they beat the lions today by the same score that in 1957 the lions had defeated them for a conference title [Applause] so for the second consecutive year the 49ers were in the playoffs next they'll play the redskins for the conference championship but last sunday nearly 46 000 screaming fans could think of nothing but today's dramatic victory and the heroes it produced the playoffs the championship and the super bowl would come soon enough today was a day for victory in northern california and a sweet victory it was in this the season's 182nd game the very last game of the nfl's regular schedule and what a game and what a year it has [Music] been [Music] so so [Music] [Applause] you

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Id: JxISSHc-MYA

Length: 23min 4sec (1384 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 19 2020