What's Worse: Kyle Williams '12 NFCC Fumble(s) or Roger Craigs in '90

Originally posted by djfullshred:
The Craig fumble IMO. Niners were the best team in football that year, and fell short of expectations. They had the game almost wrapped up when the fumble happened. This years Niners exceeded all expectations. They survived the second half of the game with great defense, but totally ineffective offense. The loss sucked big time, but was not as shocking to me as the last time against the Giants.

Exactly. This season was a giant shock and I guarantee you none of us going into this year expected to be in the NFC championship game, much less host it. A giant success this season was, whereas the 1990 one everyone expected us to be in the Super Bowl again as 8 point favorites over the Giants.

1990, the G-Men took Joe out and Craig fumbles, that was tough.

I say Craig's since we had the game won.

Originally posted by JBatta49erfansince81:
I say Craig's since we had the game won.

We would have won this game but Williams did it twice. Not once. Twice.....

The 9ers already won the 2 previous Super Bowls. The 9ers of this year hadn't been to the Super Bowl since 1995!!!!!!

Originally posted by JustMike:
Williams messed up twice and also mad a third stupid decision earlier in the game diving for a punt. While he did catch it, it was just idiotic. So really Williams was worse because he made multipal stupid plays.

that comes from nerves inexperience first chance to prove you're worth as a punt/kick returner etc and in the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME when you are young and nervous vets should know how to control their nerves inexperienced players are more prone to it

Originally posted by blizzuntz:
Craig's fumble bc we had the game won and were on the way to 3-peat.

Team was some what dismantled after that and we knew it was a mini rebuilding stage.

This - That fumble was devastating. The game was in hand -- a historic three-peat was right there. And to make it worse, it sadly forever marred Craig's epic career with the 49ers with many fans.

Def Roger Craig, we had the lead 13-12 and 1st and 10 at the Giants 40 with under 2.30 remaining.
We all forget that Roger fumbled the ball twice on that drive, luckily the first one we recovered, you
would think he'd have both hands on the ball after the first fumble. Not to mention we were on our
way to a 3-peat.

Craig DID have both hands on the ball, but it was knocked out by a helmet driven into his gut. The fumble was crushing, but it simply wasn't Craig's fault. Erik Howard (who forced the fumble) said that Craig couldn't have avoided the fumble, and John Madden said that Howard's play was the best he'd ever seen by a nose tackle. Just a great play by the defense. Whereas BOTH of Williams' fumbles were his fault, results of pure negligence. Which is why I think Williams' gaffes were worse, by a mile.

By the way, I am also of the opinion that the Bills would've beaten us in '90. The only reason the Giants won was that they controlled the ball for 40 minutes, and they still needed to get lucky at the end. We had no running game to speak of, so we couldn't have used that strategy, and Young would've had to carry the offense by himself, in his first-ever playoff start. (Don't forget how shaky his first-ever playoff start turned out to be, and that was after two solid years of starting.) I wish we could've seen it, but it's hard to imagine how we would've pulled that one off.

First of all Roger helped us win 3 Lombardi's up to that point.
When you got cash in the bank you're allowed a few debits. Great players are allowed a f*ckup every now and then.
The 49ers were on their way to a 3-peat that year, least we forget. Kyle Williams had nothing in the bank and got charged
an overdraft fee. The penalty? Watching the SuperBowl instead of playing in it and being ridiculed by millions.

I have a feeling Williams is ahead because a lot of you werent around for Craigs fumble. That team was a dynasty! They were assured of a third consecutive ring. That hurt way more. Niners werent expected to get this far this year, were a flawed team and should get back there.

I think some people are not understanding the question. It is simply

Roger Craig fumble
vs
Williams fumble(s)


Not: Giants knocking out Montana & Fumble


The chances of Young stepping in on ONLY 1 week & defeating the Bills was very slim. The fact we still are undefeated in Super Bowl & it taking the knock of Joe (helped his mystique) to defeat that team is kind of special.

Let's imagine Bahr finally misses a LONGER field goal and we end up in the Super Bowl vs the Bills. We end up losing by 8 points. Would take some shine off. Yes you want the opportunity though.



The Williams argument is simple. Backup fumbles 3 times, 2 of which lead to the only scores Giants put up in the 2nd Half. Game still ends up in Overtime.

IMO, if Kyle Williams doesn't have the worst individual performance in NFL playoff history....we are the new 2001 Patriots & on our way to a few titles. Now anything can happen.



Here's one significant difference between the two........multiple 24/hour sports stations & endless amount of clips on youtube to relive the pain. I just watched the fumbles again. I can't believe we had the punt return on and he got stripped by the ONLY defender in front of him. Brain dead....Blank stare

gonna hand it to Kyle Williams at least he's very consistent with his kick returning fumble reaction @ Arizona State & now with the Niners. Will #10 goes for the tri-fecta in 2012 NFL Season...?

Same stupid ass brain dead blank stare stance & look

I JUST WANTED TO MAKE A PLAY (in over time)
- 3rd string backup

Voted Craig.......I was 9 when Roger fumbled but I still understood the impact of what that play ultimately did to our chances of a 3-peat and a record 5 Super Bowl wins in a decade.