On one play Sunday, the hearts of San Francisco 49ers fans everywhere were broken. The cause of the demoralizing defeat was a familiar foe and a man that always seems to come through with big plays when facing the 49ers. On the Minnesota Vikings' final play of the game, Brett Favre beat the 49ers' defense with a 32-yard pass to Greg Lewis leaving 2 seconds on the clock. That one play turned a reassuring victory into a bitter defeat.
Even though the 49ers are 2-1 after playing three very tough teams, this was a very painful loss. The chance to move to 3-0 after facing the defending NFC Champion Cardinals, Seahawks, and the Favre and Adrian Peterson lead Vikings would have been a huge lift for this team and its fans. After all, the last time the 49ers started a season 3-0 was in 1998, when they finished the season 12-4. The last time they started the season 2-1 was last season, when they finished 7-9.
Head coach Mike Singletary offered the following words to the team after the defeat: "We'll see them again in the playoffs"
On our Facebook Fan Page, we asked fans their thoughts on two aspects of the game. Here are some of their responses.
49erswebzone.com: Niner fans, what are your thoughts on the officiating during this week's game?
John L: officiaing sucked, nuff said. Don't think it cost niners the game but it was pretty bad
Matt M: the guys in the stripes were straight up trash today, so many calls went the Vikings way. Tough Loss, but we did well fighting through the adversity! Go Niners
Gene V: Taunting call = BS. It directly played a part in the loss seeing as it gave the Vikings 3(free) points by keeping that drive alive...and they won by 3.
Samantha T: They might as well been NBA refs with the bull they were calling. But the Niners looks good, I'm hurting from the loss, but we'll be back
James B: If not for the piss poor officiating we win!
Steve F: The taunting call Gene mentions really stands out to me as absolute horrid officiating. I'd expect the NFL to release an apology to the team at some point over that call.
Timothy B: we were only 1 play away from the win, if the DEs got one extra step forward we would have won...
Michael P: I'm sad we lost but happy to kno that ap will not run all over our d
Gene V: Or if Mark Roman knew how to play defense that would help too...you don't let a guy get behind you on that or if it happens you push him the hell out, don't assume he's already out. Just pathetic by Roman.
Kyle T: Bad calls on both sides. The taunting was BS also the personal foul blow to the head against hill never happened. Those are just the two i remember
Tony K: tough loss however seahawks lost and if the cardinals lose tonight to the colts we are still up 2 games in the west with the rams next week
Omar O: fair officiating overall nothing to controversial went by on this game.
Joseph H: was at the game, awful ending. good overall game.
Katya V: Did anyone catch the Viking DE in the neutral zone on the first play of the game?! Hello, officials, he was practically in our backfield. Taunting call was BS as was the blow to the head. I swear the officials never watch the same game I watch!
Alex H: Tauting? Don't think so! And what replay were the refs viewing -- every replay I saw he foot was on the line!
Patrick K: Officiating could use some work, they called a few bad calls, but what refs don't? They thing that killed the niners was the horrible offensive play calls... if you can't convert on third downs then you won't win in the NFL. We are lucky it was as close as it was.
Jason W: There was definitely a block in the back on one of those punt returns they didn't call. Don't think it was the percy harvin td?
Ryan J: That taunting call was ridiculous.
Rose E: The officiating was horrible. If this was the best refereeing group, they game and the calls need to be reviewed by their superiors. The 49'ers were the recipients of some very suspect calls.
Fernando C: I agree that there were a lot of homer calls. I saw a lot of neutral zone infractions. I need to watch the replay again 0:29 2nd Qtr but I thought one ball that was almost intercepted and it looked like it bounced off an arm (Spencer) and then caught (Goldson) and run into the endzone.
Aaron B: On the return there was a block to the back right in front of a ref. The calls were terrible and I never say that. That taunting call was ridiculous
49erswebzone.com: Niner fans, what are your thoughts on the play calling this week against the Vikings?
Wong S: I give credit to both sides of the ball. Defense held it up and the way you guys played. I rank the Defense in the top 3. Officiating was horrible, but you can't take that away from the way the defensed played. My hats to you all. A game well played. Like Sing said, ' We'll see them in the playoffs'. Let's make sure it goes through CANDLESTICK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jim S: Tough to adjust in an environment like Minn when you lose your bell cow a few plays into the game...I do belive Raye needs to start trusting Hill a bit more, and a bit earlier in the games to open things up. Defensively they were solid once again, tough to defend a 50 yd dart like that, the defender kept the receiver behind him it was just an amazing play. But we contained AP and defended the pass pretty well considering we were on the field for a good chunk of time. Still very encouraging, tough, tough loss but lots of good came out of this game. Now lets hope like hell that Gore's injury is not serious
Alex N: Wrong defense or not, I think we've seen enough of Mark Roman's suck to ever see him play any meaningful minutes again. It's time for that scrub to retire.
Jorge M: I think bad call play on third and long we run the ball when Vikings still had 1 time out left. Raye should have called a short pass to try and get 1st down. Can't give Favre the ball with any time on the clock.
Andrew F: JIMMY RAYE F*****G SUCKS WE SCORE A TD IN THE AIR N THEN WE DO 2 RETARDED RUN PLAYS WHEN WE COULD HAVE TAKEN CONTROL OF THE GAME JIMMY IS THE REASON Y WE LOST Y HAVE HIM??? HES GARBAGE
Jeremy R: not impressed with jimmy raye...
Alex N: You're right, Jorge. You have the opportunity to put the game away but you're just too scared to throw the ball. You play tough all game but you lose cuz you start playing scared at the end. Weak.
Matt S: Not of fan of "hand-off up the middle" on 3rd and long.
David L: poor play calling on the last drive...can't expect to get 0 first downs on 3rd down and win a game...Favre's play reminded me of the catch II....they better hope we dont see them in the playoffs!
LaQuanda R: A couple of questionable calls. Especially, the roughing call on Favre. Very suspect. But, in the end it all comes down to making the plays. The 49ers deserved the win, but lost it on a miracle catch. Reminds me of the Giants lost to the Pats in regular season a couple of years ago. That game gave Eli and company the confidence to win it all. We now know that Shaun Hill and the 49ers can hang with anyone, anywhere. We'll see the Vikes in the playoffs!
Kyle T: why all the runs, let hill air it out more
Gus H: Too conservative, more play action. Let Hill play, he has done well so far. Hate prevent defense!
John F: Don't blame Roman. He had coverage. That ball had to be perfectly placed with a great reception and footwork for the TD and it was. GO BACK TO THE NINERS LAST TWO DRIVES. Why keep running up the gut when they're stacked against it? Could have put the game away and gotten our first third down conversion with a simple swing pass or quick crossing pattern. 49ERS PLAYED NOT TO LOSE. You gotta go for the throat there. Step on them when they're down. Put it away!
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