He’s been knocked around so much that his head must feel like a pinata by now, but all-time concussion king Steve Young said he’s not about to give up the game of football just because he’s been hit in the noggin a time or two.
Asked after the game how long he wants to continue playing, Young replied: “Until I die. Throwing the ball is a lot of fun.”
While Young will stay on, 49ers tight end Brent Jones ended his career with Sunday’s loss, and almost sat out the game with a torn calf muscle.
“I came tremendously close to not playing,” Jones said. “In all the times I’ve come back, I really didn’t think I would be able to play today. I was pretty down the last day or two. Crying a lot. To be honest, I thought it was all over. It didn’t end the way I wanted it to.”
Jones limped off the field afterward, but said he didn’t care if he injured his calf severely by playing.
“The worst thing that probably could’ve happened to me is I pulled it all the way off and would have to have some minor surgery,” he said. “You play 12 years and it might not seem like the smartest decision in the world, but it’s all I had.”
Levens the mudder: Dorsey Levens said he asked friend and injured Packer Edgar Bennett for “a couple of tips” before taking the muddy field Sunday. Bennett has a reputation as a great bad-weather runner.
“He said, `Just run hard. That’s all I can tell you,’ ” Levens said.
Levens carried 27 times for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Next up: What advice would 49ers safety Tim McDonald give to the Denver secondary in preparing to face Brett Favre?
“Good luck,” McDonald said. “You’re going against the best. Brett Favre is a special thing. You have to play the best game you can play in order to beat them.”
Was Sunday’s loss as bitter as the last two playoff losses to the Packers?
“They’re all bitter,” Ken Norton Jr. said. “Anytime you lose to the same team over and over again, obviously it works on you a little bit. A lot more was at stake today, though–the Super Bowl–so this goes a little bit deeper.”
Last chance? Young, Norton Jr., McDonald and several other 49ers players know what it’s like to win a championship ring, so Sunday’s loss wasn’t as difficult to swallow as it might’ve been.
“I feel real bad for some of the guys who have been around a long time and haven’t gotten a ring,” McDonald said. “Those are the guys we really played for this year–Kevin Greene, Rod Woodson, Chris Doleman–those guys. We really wanted those guys to get to the next level and win one and see what it felt like because it was such a glorious feeling for us. “
Fine chapeau: Cheeseheads were everywhere in tailgating parties before the game, and they even took over one section of the parking lot to outchant the 49ers fans. But one San Francisco fan had a hat that topped even the Cheddarheads. Dolly Sotello of Sacramento was wearing a Sourdough-bread head hat at the game.
Slants R Us: The Packers’ offense didn’t do anything the 49ers didn’t expect, but they kept succeeding on basic slant plays all day long.
“They were basic routes, and they were catchable,” Woodson said. “They got a lot of slants on us today. And when you do that, you don’t have to do anything else. When the base offense is really clicking for a team, there’s no reason to go anywhere else. In the second half, we didn’t play very well. Very disappointing.”
Bad call: The Packers got a break on the first play of the second half when fullback William Henderson appeared to fumble a catch the 49ers recovered. Officials ruled it an incompletion.
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“Clearly an incompletion, I think,” said Packers coach Mike Holmgren, whose fight to restore instant replay last year was defeated.
Favre fun: Holmgren and Favre disputed an intentional grounding call by referee Dick Hantak in the first half that pushed the Packers out of field goal range.
Favre then was seen laughing at 49ers coach Steve Mariucci.
“Steve was saying, `Take ’em back, take ’em back,’ ” Favre said. “I said, `All right, it’s not over yet, Steve.’ I did want to beat him bad. In games like that, it’s like with your best friend. You want to hit the home run before he does.”
Tying Lombardi: Holmgren’s playoff record of 9-3 matches the number of playoff victories by Vince Lombardi, who coached before the layers of playoffs and won five NFL titles.