MINNEAPOLIS — The finish was just about as good as the Vikings could have imagined: Brett Favre zipped a pass to a little-used reserve wide receiver in the back of the end zone in the final seconds Sunday for a classic Favre finish.
Greg Lewis leaped for a 32-yard touchdown with two seconds left while a flattened Favre watched from his stomach, and the Vikings stunned the San Francisco 49ers 27-24 to stay unbeaten.
In his first real home game with his new team, Favre overcame a bunch of bad throws and a few more hard hits to his almost 40-year-old body and found that winning touch again.
“It’s hard to even recall all of ’em. This one was pretty special,” said Favre, who now has 42 comebacks from fourth-quarter deficits or ties on his career record.
An official review confirmed Lewis’ feet were inbounds, sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy.
“I’ve had some hard losses. This is just another one for the list,” 49ers cornerback Nate Clements said. “We just have to keep chopping away.”
The first five series of the second half: three punts, Favre’s first interception, and a turnover on downs. The Vikings (3-0), who gained only 85 yards on Adrian Peterson’s 19 carries, still had three timeouts left and were able to force a punt. They got the ball back at their 20-yard line with 89 seconds remaining.
“I didn’t say a whole lot,” Favre said. “I knew what I was thinking: ‘We blew our chances.’ “
Well, not quite all of them.
The last play began with 12 seconds left, and Favre stepped forward in the pocket and slid to the right by design to buy time for his receivers to move in position. Instead of throwing a ball up for grabs, he figured he could get close enough to the line of scrimmage to fire a line drive that would be tougher to defend.
Lewis watched the quarterback’s eyes, and broke the other way — Favre said he didn’t even know who was running across the end zone — to find room near the right corner. Naturally, the 49ers’ players were devastated, but coach Mike Singletary wouldn’t have it.
“You have nothing to be looking at the floor for!” Singletary yelled, not worried reporters were in the adjacent room. “You didn’t steal anything! You didn’t do anything wrong! OK? We’re going to get better! We’re going to get there! We will see them again in the playoffs, all right? You hold your head up!”
