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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Some things never change when the San Francisco
49ers play the San Diego Chargers.
Jerry Rice catches touchdown passes, the crowd cheers and the
49ers end up with a blowout victory. Six years after embarrassing
the Chargers in the Super Bowl, the 49ers did it again, beating San
Diego 45-17 on Sunday.
|  | | The Niners were on the road, but chants for Jerry Rice were still evident. |
One week after the Chargers snapped their 11-game losing streak,
they were brought back to reality, matching the team record with
their 12th loss.
Both teams have struggled since that Super Bowl, but one story
line that remained was Rice beating an overwhelmed San Diego
secondary.
Rice caught two touchdown passes from Jeff Garcia, and after the
second TD, midway through the fourth quarter, something happened
that touched the NFL's career leading receiver.
Thousands of 49ers fans began chanting "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"
Rice, who came out of the game after that catch, finally pointed
to the fans to acknowledge them.
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TOM DONAHOE'S BREAKDOWN |
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Question on the 49ers: Could the 49ers be next year's NFC West
Cinderella?
Donahoe: The 49ers have been playing great football of late. On
offense, they've had the capability to be explosive all season. But now
their defense appears to be maturing and playing much sounder football.
Whether it's a simplification of the defensive scheme or simply the
development of some players, there has been a big difference over the last
month. It has to be exciting for coach Steve Mariucci and his staff to see
things come together. The way fortunes change from year-to-year in the NFL,
it would not be out of the question for the 49ers to turn their team around
in one year. They would need a good draft and a good offseason to be in
position to do that, but stranger things are happening in the NFL today.
Question on the Chargers: What should the Chargers do with the No. 1
pick?
Donahoe: The biggest decision the Chargers have to make in the final
weeks of the season concerns quarterback Ryan Leaf. If Leaf will be their
quarterback of the future, then they can look at other positions in the
draft. It appears the Chargers need help on the offensive line; they may not
have a go-to running back on their roster; and the secondary could use some
speed and better cover people on the corners. There are many ways the
Chargers could go with that No. 1 pick -- they could also consider trading
down to add more picks, if that makes sense for the long-term. But the
status and the future of Ryan
Leaf is the question that must be answered first.
Tom Donahoe, ESPN.com's NFL analyst, was formerly the Steelers' director
of football operations.
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"For them to do that, it left me speechless and almost a little
embarrassed. But I'm very appreciative," said Rice, who caught
three touchdown passes in the 49ers' 49-26 Super Bowl win over the
Chargers.
Embarrassed?
"It's an away game," he said. "For them to react like that
... and I was looking around and there were so many '80' jerseys,
so it really warmed my heart. I don't know, man, I feel like some
kind of rock star, coming into an opponent's stadium and getting
all that adulation."
Junior Seau would like the crowd to cheer for the Chargers, of
course, but he understood.
"What he did today was something that was valid in terms of
people cheering," the linebacker said. "When you have a great
player such as Jerry, you're going to have fans that follow him,
and rightfully so."
The 49ers (5-8), coming off their bye week, won their third
straight game and their 45 points were a season-high.
Garcia completed 18 of 32 passes for 323 yards, his fourth
300-yard game of the season.
He threw a 1-yard scoring pass to Rice as the 49ers scored 17
straight points in the second quarter to take the lead for good.
Garcia also threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Rice midway through
the fourth quarter, on the first play after Monty Montgomery
intercepted Ryan Leaf.
Leaf had a horrible fourth quarter, throwing interceptions on
four straight possessions. Montgomery and Zack Bronson had two
apiece, with Montgomery returning a pickoff 46 yards for a
touchdown with 1:39 left.
Three Chargers quarterbacks have combined for an NFL-high 27
interceptions, with Leaf throwing 15. Leaf was 24-of-47 for 266
yards.
"If anything, it's all on me," Leaf said. "It just kind of
got out of hand at the end."
The Chargers set the franchise record with 12 losses in 1975,
then matched it in 1986, 1997 and this year.
After falling behind 7-0 on Terrell Fletcher's 7-yard run midway
through the first quarter, Garcia led the 49ers on three straight
scoring drives in the second quarter. He threw five passes of 28
yards or longer in the first half, connecting for big plays on each
of the scoring drives.
He threw a 34-yarder over the middle to tight end Greg Clark to
set up Wade Richey's 22-yard field goal, then hit J.J. Stokes on a
53-yarder down the left sideline that led to a 1-yard TD run by
Fred Beasley for a 10-7 lead.
Garcia then had completions of 28 yards to Rice and 39 yards to
Tai Streets on the drive that Rice finished by catching a 1-yard
pass in the right front corner of the end zone for a 17-7 lead with
1:10 left in the quarter.
Garcia said the 49ers knew it would be hard to run on the
Chargers.
"We needed to kind of declare some mismatches, and we felt that
that was outside, with our big receivers against their corners. We
were able to hit some big plays and soften them up a little bit."
The 49ers put the game out of reach in the third quarter, with a
28-yard field goal by Richey and a 4-yard run by Charlie Garner to
make it 27-10. Garner's TD was set up by tight end Freddie Jones's
fumble.
Game notes
Rice extended his streak of receptions in consecutive games
to 221. With seven catches for 69 yards, Freddie Jones set season
bests with 63 catches for 698 yards. ... Each team lost a player to
a season-ending injury. San Diego S Michael Dumas broke his right
leg and 49er S Lance Schulters tore a ligament in his right knee.
Schulters will have surgery Tuesday.
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ALSO SEE
San Francisco Clubhouse
San Diego Clubhouse
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