San Francisco 49ers: Top 10 games of the decade

No. 1: Saints @ 49ers: NFC Divisional Playoff — Jan. 14, 2012 

One win away from the Super Bowl. Many teams have been there, some more than others. The 49ers have been in this enviable position more times than fans of less-fortunate teams would care to remember.

January 2012 was no different, as San Francisco returned to relevance after eight seasons as a proverbial NFL doormat. The arrival of Jim Harbaugh saw a man who was able to do what former head coaches, Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary, could not.

Football and sports history, in general, is rife with teams which had the pieces in place to be great, only to be let down by inept coaching and bad management decisions.

The 49ers from 2003 to 2010 were the epitome of this.

Harbaugh remedied that with a season for the ages. San Francisco finished the coach’s inaugural season with a 13-3 record and a home playoff game. The divisional playoff against the Saints would go down as one of the greatest postseason contests of all time.

After being staked to a 17-0 lead, thanks to three consecutive Saints turnovers, the 49ers looked to be riding their vaunted defense to victory that day. Enter the fourth quarter and a 23-17 49ers lead, and that notion was dispelled with relative quickness.

Drew Brees found running back Darren Sproles out of the backfield for a  44-yard score and a 24-23 New Orleans lead with 4:02 to play.

Alex Smith and Vernon Davis were not to be denied, as the former led a drive that hit a crescendo with 2:11 left on the clock. Smith ran a naked bootleg around left end for a 28-yard score, and the 49ers were once again in front. After a failed two-point conversion, San Francisco led 29-24.

The Candlestick Park crowd was rocking the stadium as no crowd had since the glory days of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. The game felt all but over, of course facing Brees and the high-flying Saints offense, it was anything but.

San Francisco 49ers

The Saints gunslinger moved his team from their own 12-yard line to their 34-yard line in a matter of three plays. The fourth would prove to be a 49ers death knell, or so it would seem. Tight end Jimmy Graham hauled in a prayer of a pass from Brees and after evading three defenders, rumbled 66 yards to pay dirt and a successful New Orleans two-point conversion.

Saints 32, 49ers 29 with only 1:32 left in regulation.

The next 1:32 of actual game play is time most won’t forget. Of course, any fan can boast they know where they were, what they were doing, etc., as the final scoring drive of the game began.

Smith completed back-to-back passes to Gore, moving from their 15- to their 33-yard line. A first-down pass down the right sideline to wide receiver Brett Swain fell harmlessly to the turf.

Smith dropped back, saw Davis had gained a step on cornerback Malcolm Jenkins and fired a perfect pass over the middle of the field. The tight end caught Smith’s dart in stride and took off for a 47-yard gain to the Saints 20-yard line with 40 seconds to play.

Already in field-goal range and the chance to take the game to overtime seemed the likely course of action. Harbaugh and Smith had no intention of giving New Orleans another chance. After a 6-yard pass to Gore brought the ball to the Saints 14-yard line, Smith ran up and spiked to ball and the clock sat at 14 seconds.

One timeout remaining, 3rd-and-3 from the opponent’s 14-yard line. Smith took the shotgun snap from center Jonathan Goodwin, stood in the pocket knowing all along where he was going with the ball. Davis broke free in between linebacker Scott Shanle and safety Roman Harper on his patented “Vernon Post.” Smith fired a laser just over the outstretched reach of Shanle. Davis took a perfectly timed hit from Harper as the ball arrived, held onto the pass and the defensive back crumpled to the end zone turf, as Davis and the 49ers arose victorious.

Former play-by-play announcer Ted Robinson and color commentator Eric Davis were ecstatic as it was all but determined that the 49ers would be playing for the NFC Championship the following week. Robinson said as much and ended it with a vehement, “Can you feel Candlestick?!”

Yes, Ted, we could. In many ways… we still can.