| An absolute thriller sets up the tournament's Final Four, and the battle saw multiple lead changes in the 4th quarter as these two teams were both dead game. San Francisco opened the scoring in the first with a 28 yard TD run by Amp Lee. The two teams exchanged TD's in the 2nd to leave the score at 14-7 SF at the half. The Bucs mounted a decent drive in the third quarter, setting up a Grammatica FG, then intercepted Steve Young to set up a go ahead score early in the 4th quarter in the game's only turnover. San Francisco marched down the field themselves in a textbook drive, as the Bucs stellar pass defense suddenly went soft, surrendering a 28 yard throw to Jerry Rice to help put SF in range to retake the lead - which they did. The Buc's offense was abe to take the ball to the 49er 48, with a little over two and a half minutes left. Mike Alstott took a draw play 23 yards, and Joe Jurevisious took a Brad Johnson pass 25 yards and a TD, for a 24 - 21 lead at the two minute mark. perhaps Jurevicious should have fallen down at the one or something, because Tampa scored too quickly as it transpired. In the next 49er possession, Steve Young converted three 3rd downs on QB scrambles, and drew a personal foul on one of them to move the ball to the 25. A 13 yard and an 11 yard pass set up a 1 yard TD plunge by Ricky Watters to end the game, and move San Francisco into a matchup with 1998 Denver. The 49ers converted a remarkable 69% of their 3rd downs, and used an effective ground game supplemented by 66 yards rushing from Young to score enough to knock out the surprisingly tough Bucs. |
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Total | |
| 1992 San Francisco | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 28 |
| 2002 Tampa Bay | 0 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 24 |
| Scoring Plays | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qtr | Clock | Poss | Scoring Description(Extra Point) | Score | ||
| 1 | 0:57 | 1992 San Francisco | A.Lee 28 yd. run (M.Cofer kick) | 7-0 SFN | ||
| 2 | 10:57 | 2002 Tampa Bay | M.Pittman 16 yd. pass from B.Johnson (M.Gramatica kick) | 7-7 TBN | ||
| 2 | 0:52 | 1992 San Francisco | T.Rathman 1 yd. run (M.Cofer kick) | 14-7 SFN | ||
| 3 | 0:50 | 2002 Tampa Bay | M.Gramatica 35 yd. field goal | 14-10 SFN | ||
| 4 | 12:31 | 2002 Tampa Bay | M.Alstott 6 yd. run (M.Gramatica kick) | 17-14 TBN | ||
| 4 | 6:02 | 1992 San Francisco | R.Watters 5 yd. run (M.Cofer kick) | 21-17 SFN | ||
| 4 | 2:00 | 2002 Tampa Bay | J.Jurevicius 25 yd. pass from B.Johnson (M.Gramatica kick) | 24-21 TBN | ||
| 4 | 0:01 | 1992 San Francisco | R.Watters 1 yd. run (M.Cofer kick) | 28-24 SFN | ||
Team Statistics | ||
| 1992 San Francisco | 2002 Tampa Bay | |
| First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total | 13-12-0-25 | 4-13-0-17 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 11-16-69% | 8-15-53% |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 0-0-0% | 0-1-0% |
| Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct) | 21-21-100% | 17-21-81% |
| Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play | 390-70-5.6 | 334-57-5.9 |
| Total Net Yards Rushing | 194 | 83 |
| Total Rushes | 33 | 23 |
| Average Per Rush | 5.9 | 3.6 |
| Passes Completed/Attempted | 21/35 (60.0%) | 20/34 (58.8%) |
| Net Yards Passing | 196 | 251 |
| Avg Yards Per Pass | 5.8 | 7.4 |
| Sacked/Yards Lost | 2/7 | 0/0 |
| Punts/Average | 5/39.6 | 5/49.0 |
| Punts Received/Return Yardage | 3/39 | 1/3 |
| Kickoffs/Returns | 4/87 | 3/76 |
| Interceptions/Returns | 0/0 | 1/0 |
| Penalties/Yards | 5/30 | 5/44 |
| Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost | 0/0 | 0/0 |
| Time of Possession | 30 mins 42 secs | 29 mins 18 secs |
| Average Drive Start | SFN 29 | TBN 20 |
Passing Stats | ||||||||||||
| Att | Comp | Yds | Comp % | Yds/Att | TD | TD % | INT | INT % | Long | Sack | Rating | |
| Steve Young | 35 | 21 | 203 | 60.0 | 5.8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.9 | 28 | 2/7 | 64.3 |
| Brad Johnson | 34 | 20 | 251 | 58.8 | 7.4 | 2 | 5.9 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0/0 | 101.5 |
Rushing Stats | |||||||||||
| No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | 2 Pt Conv | Fumbles/Lost | |||||
| Ricky Watters | 18 | 85 | 4.7 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Steve Young | 9 | 66 | 7.3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Amp Lee | 4 | 39 | 9.8 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Tom Rathman | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Mike Alstott | 11 | 54 | 4.9 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Michael Pittman | 7 | 24 | 3.4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Brad Johnson | 3 | 7 | 2.3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
| Aaron Stecker | 2 | -2 | -1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
Receiving Stats | |||||||||||
| No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | 2 Pt Conv | ||||||
| Jerry Rice | 6 | 71 | 11.8 | 28 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Mike Sherrard | 4 | 42 | 10.5 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Brent Jones | 4 | 28 | 7.0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Tom Rathman | 3 | 13 | 4.3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Ricky Watters | 2 | 26 | 13.0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Amp Lee | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| John Taylor | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Joe Jurevicius | 7 | 116 | 16.6 | 32 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Michael Pittman | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 16 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Keyshawn Johnson | 3 | 18 | 6.0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Ken Dilger | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Mike Alstott | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Rickey Dudley | 2 | 46 | 23.0 | 40 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Keenan McCardell | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Field Goals | |||||||||||
| 1-19 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ | Totals | % Made | |||||
| Martin Gramatica | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 100 | ||||
Punting | |||||||||||
| No | Avg | Net | Tb | Inside 20 | Long | Blocked | |||||
| Klaus Wilmsmeyer | 5 | 39.6 | 39.0 | 0 | 5 | 47 | 0 | ||||
| Tom Tupa | 5 | 49.0 | 41.2 | 0 | 2 | 70 | 0 | ||||
Kickoff Returns | |||||||||||
| No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | |||||||
| Amp Lee | 3 | 62 | 20.7 | 26 | 0 | ||||||
| Marc Logan | 1 | 25 | 25.0 | 25 | 0 | ||||||
| Aaron Stecker | 3 | 76 | 25.3 | 27 | 0 | ||||||
Punt Returns | |||||||||||
| Ret | FC | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | ||||||
| Alan Grant | 2 | 0 | 26 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 | |||||
| Don Griffin | 1 | 0 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 | |||||
| Karl Williams | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 3 | 0 | |||||
Individual Defense | |||||||||||
| Tackles | Sacks | Fum Rec | |||||||||
| Don Griffin | 8 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Merton Hanks | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Bill Romanowski | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| David Whitmore | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Michael Walter | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Pierce Holt | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Eric Davis | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Michael Carter | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Dana Hall | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Kevin Fagan | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Keith DeLong | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Shelton Quarles | 12 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Brian Kelly | 9 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| John Lynch | 9 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Derrick Brooks | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Warren Sapp | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Al Singleton | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Simeon Rice | 3 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Ronde Barber | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Dexter Jackson | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Anthony McFarland | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Dwight Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Interceptions | |||||||||||
| No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | |||||||
| Ronde Barber | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Game Story | |||||
| In a back-and-forth game the visiting team from San Francisco bested Tampa Bay by the score of 28 to 24. Ricky Watters led all rushers, carrying the ball 18 times for 85 yards scoring 2 times. San Francisco won the matchups on third down, converting on 11 of 16 opportunities. They controlled the ground game, out-rushing Tampa Bay 194 to 83 yards. San Francisco took the lead into the locker room at the half 14 to 7. Brad Johnson threw 34 times for 251 yards and 2 touchdowns for Tampa Bay, in a losing cause. | |||||
