Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301100132
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM ROBINSON LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
NO REPEAT PERFORMANCE
One slippery football broke their hearts. One terrible fumble during a damp Saturday afternoon at Candlestick Park on which fumbles were cheap, and the Washington Redskins' championship run ended.In an intermittent drizzle after a week of rain, loose balls skittered all over the soft turf as the Redskins, who fell behind soon after the kickoff, battled to stay afloat against the San Francisco 49ers in an NFC playoff semifinal.
The effort was in vain, in that Washington lost 20-13, ensuring the Super Bowl trophy a new owner in three weeks.
But the Redskins were able to keep the outcome undecided until the final minute mostly because Steve Young, the 49ers' quarterback and the NFL's most valuable player, lost three fumbles that led to all the Redskins' points.
However, the miscue that hurt most slipped off the fingers of Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien as he led his team on a fourth-quarter drive that seemed certain to end with the go-ahead touchdown.
With the Redskins' behind 17-13, Rypien lost the ball as he reached out to hand off to Brian Mitchell at the 49ers' 23-yard line. The ball hit Mitchell in the thigh, bounced to the ground and wound up in the arms of San Francisco linebacker Mike Walter.
With 9 1/2 minutes left, in theory plenty of time remained for the Redskins, down 17-3 at halftime, to try it again. That didn't account for the possibility that the 49ers would rattle off their second-longest possession of the game - a seven-minute, 14-play offensive that ended with Mike Cofer's 33-yard field goal with 2:22 to play.
Now a touchdown would only force overtime, but for the Redskins no miracles remained. They got to their 41, burned their final timeout after Rypien was sacked on first down, then had three more Rypien passes fall incomplete, the last with 33 seconds left.
San Francisco knew it had the victory in spite of itself. The Redskins just knew it could have been different.
"We fought hard and came back from a two-touchdown deficit," Rypien said. "It's just very frustrating. The worst thing was that I think Mitchell had a big hole.
"There was a little residue or whatever on the ball, and the ball just came out. It's kind of the way our season went. Mistakes killed us."
Saturday, they were what the entire game was about, from the first play. When the 49ers opened with a short pass from Young to Jerry Rice, cornerback A.J. Johnson missed the tackle and Rice raced 35 yards into Redskins' territory, where San Francisco spent ample time.
Five plays later, with the 49ers at the 5, Young threw a pass head-high at Johnson in the end zone. But the ball squirted through his hands and into the arms of John Taylor for the touchdown that gave the 49ers the lead they never lost.
Young, uncharacteristically, did his darndest to breathe life into the Redskins. After a 9-yard scramble halfway through the first quarter, Young was stripped of the ball by Fred Stokes at the Redskins' 37.
When a 10-play drive stalled at the 2, the Redskins settled for Chip Lohmiller's 19-yard field goal and trailed 7-3.
It was 10-3 late in the second quarter when Young, a left-hander who completed 20 of 30 passes for 227 yards, rolled right from the Redskins' 29 and threw back across the field. The weak toss was a sitting duck for Johnson, who plucked the ball from the air. The Redskins handed it back, though, when Mitchell, after a 12-yard reception, fumbled at the Washington 35.
San Francisco needed only five plays to make it 17-3 just before halftime when Young hit tight end Brent Jones for a 16-yard touchdown. Jones made it exciting by fumbling just shy of the goal line, but he immediately fell on the ball in the end zone.
A rout was on, or so it seemed. Especially when Rypien, who was 19-for-40 for 270 yards, was intercepted on the Redskins' first two possessions of the second half.
But Young wasn't through coughing it up. Scrambling again deep in Redskins' territory, Young slipped down after a 13-yard gain but, untouched, got up and tried to continue.
He collided, however, with his center Jesse Sapolu and lost his second fumble that the Redskins turned into points - a 32-yard field goal by Lohmiller that made it 17-6.
Young's third turnover came on San Francisco's next possession - he lost his grip as he rolled out to pass at his own 23. Charles Mann recovered, Rypien soon sneaked in for a 1-yard touchdown and, with 14 1/2 minutes left, the Redskins trailed 17-13.
From there, it was anybody's game. But for Rypien's fateful fumble, the Redskins (10-8) might have made it theirs. In spite of Young's strange day, the 49ers (15-2) carried the day and will play host to the NFC title game next Sunday. \
see microfilm for box score