San Francisco 49ers Robbed of a Chance to Go to Overtime

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The San Francisco 49ers were one play from a win over the Minnesota Vikings who are the most overrated football team in the NFL. What's sad is that the Vikings did not beat the 49ers today; the officials did.

In the second quarter the 49ers had gotten the Vikings to a third and long situation. Shawntae Spencer made a great play on the ball, but on the play there were two flags. One was for illegal motion, which would have been declined by the 49ers anyways since the Vikings would have had to punt.

Yet the second penalty was the killer. It was an unsportsmanlike penalty on Spencer for taunting yet, Spencer didn't do anything to warrant the penalty.

So, instead of the 49ers having the ball, the Vikings kept it. The 49ers defense stopped the Vikings, but Ryan Longwell kicked a field goal to give the Vikings a 13-7 lead.

Those three points cost the 49ers the chance to take the game into overtime. It just goes to show that the NFL isn't immune to incompetent officials.

Shaun Hill came alive in the second half and got the 49ers rolling. Vernon Davis caught two touchdown passes in the second half and Joe Nedney kicked a field goal which was what got the 49ers their 17 points.

Percy Harving ran a kickoff back 101 yards and Greg Lewis made a spectacular catch with two seconds left to win the game, but should have been the catch to get the Vikings within one and an extra point kick to tie the game.

Let's just go back to the penalty by Spencer. Even the Fox announcers who had been kissing ass all day on the greatness of Brett Favre knew that the taunting call was the wrong one.

Mike Singletary was absolutely livid about the call as well. In fact he let the officials exactly what he thought of it.

This wasn't a game decided by the teams; it was decided by an official who thought he was bigger than the game. That's what the NFL doesn't need. It already has the play from Ed Hochuli last year, but now this year they have to deal with the fact that an official made a horrendous call on what should have been a great game that went into overtime.

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