1998: A Year to Remember For the 49er Faithful

It would be rather easy for a San Francisco 49er fan to select either 1981, '84, '88, '89, or '94 as their favorite individual season. However, for this article I have decided to force myself into choosing a favorite season that fell short of the ultimate glory that is a Super Bowl championship.

Now age clearly comes into play while making this decision. As a 17-year-old I have a much shorter selection of seasons to which I can choose from and of those, only one sticks out more than any other.

The 1998 regular season which climaxed with a classic wild-card game at  Candlestick Park against the Packers, abruptly ended the following week in Atlanta against the Falcons.

The 1998 season was filled ups and downs but it was the last season in which the 49ers had a complete roster, led by a Super Bowl winning quarterback. It was an end to an era of nearly 20 years of football driven by Joe Montana and Steve Young.

The 49ers still had Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Bryant Young and numerous others from their 1994 Super Bowl champion team heading into the 1998 season but they also had an up and coming stud running-back in Garrison Hearst and a future big time star in a young Terrell Owens.

Steve Young would once again lead the 49ers to an incredible 12-4 mark but the season began with arguably one of the most exhilarating runs by a 49ers running back in franchise history.

Starting out the season in Candlestick, the 49ers headed into overtime against the visiting New York Jets. And who could forget the heroics that were to come from Garrison Hearst.

After receiving the ball for their first drive deep in their own territory,the 49ers lined up from the four yard line on their first play and that ended up being the only play of the drive.

Out of an I-formation, Garrison Hearst took the hand-off from Young and penetrated through the right-side and up the gap and the broke loose to the outside. Hearst broke tackle after tackle and raced 96 yards down the sideline for the game-winning touchdown.

For the season Hearst finished third in the NFL with 1570 yards rushing and nine touchdowns, while quarterback Steve Young threw for 4170 yards and 36 touchdowns, 15 of which to Terrell Owens.

The absolutely terrific regular season campaign gave the 49ers a division championship and a home playoff game against a long time rival in the Green Bay Packers.

Leading the Packers was none other than Brett Favre who once again led the NFL in passing yardage during the 1998 season and had offensive weapons all over the field.

The game ended up going down as one for the ages as Young and Favre led their teams back and forth the whole game, with numerous lead changes throughout.

The 49ers thought they had the game wrapped up when they had a 23-20 lead late in the fourth quarter but a quality drive from Brett Favre culminated in a late go-ahead touchdown.

However, the Packers left Steve Young with a couple of minutes on the clock to drive down for a go-ahead touchdown of their own. After moving down the field at a solid pace, the 49ers drive stalled when Jerry Rice apparently fumbled (or so the Packers thought) but Rice was ruled down by contact.

Whether or not the call was correct is debatable. Actually, its not debatable as Rice clearly fumbled but as fate would have it, the 49ers retained the ball and still had an opportunity to beat Favre in Candlestick for the first time.

Despite the luck in fortune, the 49ers drive once again stalled and with eight seconds left, San Francisco was left with one final play to try and win the game. Young took the snap from under center at the 25 yard line and nearly fell after stumbling over his center's foot on his drop back. However Young regained his footing and threw a laser strike down the middle of the field.

And wouldn't you know it, the man who had dropped numerous catches all game long came up with the game winning touchdown. Terrell Owens caught Young's pass in the end-zone and held on despite a strong hit by Packers safety Darren Sharper.

Head coach Steve Mariucci said he called for the "four jet all go" pass play and Owens found a lane through the defense for the winning score that propelled the 49ers into the divisional round and handed Favre his first loss in San Francisco.

The 30-27 victory gave the 49ers plane tickets to Atlanta to take on the Falcons in the divisional round the following week. However, tragedy struck early in the first quarter in Atlanta. Garrison Hearst broke his ankle on an extremely gruesome play where he lost his footing trying to cut on the turf.

Many 49er fans, including myself, argue that the 49ers would have gone on to win an unprecedented sixth Super Bowl championship if it weren't for Hearst going down with injury against Atlanta.

Without Hearst, San Francisco went on to lose that divisional game but in my mind it is still my favorite 49ers team that wasn't able to finish on top.