Week #8
Sunday, Nov.04, at 3COM Park, 1:05pm PDT
vs
21
  
13
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens spikes the ball after scoring against the Detroit Lions in the third quarter Sunday, Nov. 4, 2001, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The San Francisco 49ers hope Marty Mornhinweg gets his first victory very soon. They are thrilled it didn't come this week.

Terrell Owens caught two second-half touchdown passes from Jeff Garcia as the 49ers kept Detroit winless in Mornhinweg's first season as coach, beating the Lions 21-13 on Sunday.

Mornhinweg, the 49ers' offensive coordinator in the previous four seasons, got the Lions off to a fast start in his return to the San Francisco Bay area, where he grew up. But Detroit (0-7) couldn't find a way to stop Owens and Garcia, who grew into Pro Bowlers last season under Mornhinweg's tutelage.

With Mornhinweg jumping and screaming with enthusiasm on the sideline, the Lions - who managed 131 total yards to San Francisco's 427 - made one final drive from their 9 to midfield.

But Detroit's Larry Foster dropped a pass that would have given the Lions the ball inside the 5 with 1:20 left. The 49ers (5-2), who blew a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter last week in an overtime loss to Chicago, finally took a breath when Charlie Batch's fourth-down pass fell incomplete.

Owens, whose criticism of Steve Mariucci's game plan in last week's loss brought a sharp rebuke from his coach, likely had no complaints this time.

Owens caught a 30-yard TD pass from Garcia early in the third quarter to put the 49ers ahead for good. He added a 7-yard scoring catch early in the fourth quarter to cap an 87-yard drive.

The wideout, who caught nine passes for 125 yards, and Mariucci didn't congratulate each other after either of Owens' big TD catches. Garcia was 26-of-35 for 296 yards and three TDs.

Even more impressive than Owens or Garcia was the 49ers' defense, the prime culprit in their decline in Mornhinweg's last two years with the team.

In addition to the huge yardage disparity, San Francisco held the Lions without an offensive touchdown. Detroit's only TD came on Robert Bailey's 74-yard interception return on the 49ers' opening drive.

The Lions, the NFL's last winless team, haven't won in seven trips to San Francisco since 1975.

Detroit blocked two field goal attempts by Jose Cortez - the second from 19 yards with 1:54 left. But Batch and rookie Mike McMahon, who quarterbacked two series, couldn't get the Lions rolling until their frantic final drive.

Bailey got his interception when Garcia's arm was hit at the line of scrimmage, and he ran practically untouched for a score.

Detroit took a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter on the first of Jason Hanson's two field goals. Robert Porcher, who briefly was motionless on the field after a first-quarter play, stayed in the game and got two sacks as Detroit kept Garcia uncomfortable.

The 49ers finally got rolling in the final minutes of the first half, with rookie tight end Eric Johnson catching a 4-yard TD pass 54 seconds before halftime.


 

 
FINAL
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Total
Detroit
7
3
3
0
13
San Francisco
0
7
7
7
21
..... 
 
SCORING SUMMARY DET SFO
1st Quarter
DET TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass left side intercepted by Robert Bailey (DET). Returned for a 74 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jason Hanson (DET) is good.
7
0
2nd Quarter
DET FG 39 yard field goal by Jason Hanson (DET) is good.
10
0
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass left side complete to Eric Johnson (SFO) for a 4 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
10
7
3rd Quarter
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass left side complete to Terrell Owens (SFO) for a 30 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
10
14
DET FG 45 yard field goal by Jason Hanson (DET) is good.
13
14
4th Quarter
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass left side complete to Terrell Owens (SFO) for a 7 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
13
21

 
 
TEAM STATISTICS
  DET SFO
FIRST DOWNS 12 27
Passing 5 17
Rushing 4 7
Penalty 3 3
 
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 3-10 7-12
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-1 1-1
 
TOTAL NET YARDS 131 427
Total plays 49 72
Average gain 2.7 5.9
 
NET YARDS RUSHING 62 145
Rushes 20 35
Average per rush 3.1 4.1
 
NET YARDS PASSING 69 282
Completion-attempted 10-25 26-35
Yards per pass 2.8 8.1
Sacked-yards lost 4-21 2-14
Had intercepted 0 2
 
PUNTS-AVERAGE 4-50.5 1-26.0
 
RETURN-YARDAGE 157 91
Punts-returns 0-0 4-25
Kickoffs-returns 4-83 4-66
Interceptions-returns 2-74 0-0
 
PENALTIES-YARDS 8-62 6-84
FUMBLES-LOST 0-0 3-1

 

Passing
LIONS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Charlie Batch 8 20 74 40.0 3.70 2 8 0 0
Mike McMahon 2 4 16 50.0 4.00 2 13 0 0
Lamont Warren 0 1 0 0.0 0.00 0 0 0 0
49ERS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Jeff Garcia 26 35 296 74.3 8.46 2 14 3 2

Rushing
LIONS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Reuben Droughns 10 36 3.6 15 0 0
Cory Schlesinger 4 13 3.2 7 0 0
Mike McMahon 2 11 5.5 11 0 0
Lamont Warren 3 3 1.0 3 0 0
Charlie Batch 1 -1 -1.0 -1 0 0
49ERS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Garrison Hearst 21 82 3.9 12 0 0
Kevan Barlow 8 53 6.6 16 0 0
Jeff Garcia 5 7 1.4 3 0 0
Fred Beasley 1 3 3.0 3 0 0

Receiving
LIONS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Larry Foster 2 32 16.0 22 0 0
Desmond Howard 2 20 10.0 12 0 0
Johnnie Morton 2 20 10.0 12 0 0
Bert Emanuel 1 11 11.0 11 0 0
Cory Schlesinger 2 8 4.0 8 0 0
Lamont Warren 1 -1 -1.0 -1 0 0
49ERS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Terrell Owens 9 125 13.9 41 2 0
J.J. Stokes 6 72 12.0 22 0 0
Eric Johnson 4 35 8.8 23 1 0
Kevan Barlow 2 22 11.0 14 0 0
Garrison Hearst 2 17 8.5 11 0 0
Tai Streets 1 13 13.0 13 0 0
Fred Beasley 2 12 6.0 7 0 0

Kicking
LIONS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jason Hanson 3 2 66.7 -- 1 1 100.0 7
49ERS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jose Cortez 0 0 0.0 -- 3 3 100.0 3

Punting
LIONS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TOUCHBACKS
John Jett 4 50.2 -- -- -- --
49ERS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TOUCHBACKS
Jason Baker 1 26.0 -- -- -- --

Kick/Punt Returns
LIONS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Desmond Howard 3 73 24.3 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
Cory Schlesinger 1 10 10.0 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
49ERS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Vinny Sutherland 4 66 16.5 -- -- 4 25 6.2 -- --

Defense
LIONS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS INT/TD
Ron Rice 10 7 3 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Chris Claiborne 10 6 4 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Barrett Green 10 9 1 0.0 0 1 0 -- --
Kurt Schulz 7 7 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Todd Lyght 6 4 2 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Robert Porcher 4 3 1 2.0 14 1 0 -- --
Terry Fair 4 2 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Shaun Rogers 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Tracy Scroggins 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Travis Kirschke 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Allen Aldridge 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Robert Bailey 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Kelvin Pritchett 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Tommy Bennett 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
49ERS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS INT/TD
Derek Smith 6 5 1 1.0 8 0 0 -- --
Jeff Ulbrich 5 3 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Zack Bronson 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Andre Carter 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Dana Stubblefield 3 3 0 1.0 9 0 0 -- --
Bryant Young 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Julian Peterson 3 3 0 1.0 4 0 0 -- --
Ahmed Plummer 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Lance Schulters 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
John Engelberger 2 2 0 1.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jason Webster 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Bobby Setzer 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --

....