The San Francisco 49ers made a brilliant comeback behind Frank Gore and Colin Kaepernick from a 17-0 hole to register a thrilling 28-24 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game. With this victory they have reached the Super Bowl and will face the Baltimore Ravens in the title game.
"Everybody does a little," the Associated Press quoted 49ers' coach Jim Harbaugh as saying, "and it adds up to be a lot."
Running back Gore had 91 yards in 21 carries with two touchdowns, to take San Francisco to their first Super Bowl since 1995. For Atlanta, the quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 396 yards, which included 3 touchdowns and one interception.
Atlanta got off to a good start when Ryan passed to Julio Jones to the left for a 46-yard TD for a 7-0 lead with 11.24 remaining in the first quarter. Then Bryant hit a 35-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-0 with 3.20 left.
Ryan threw for his second TD to further increase Atlanta's lead over the 49ers to 17-0 in the first minute of the second quarter.
LaMichael James had a TD with 8.08 left in the second quarter to open the scoring for San Francisco. With the help of Colin Kaepernick's 4-yard TD pass to Vernon Davis, the 49ers cut the Falcons lead to 14-17 with 1.55 remaining, but Ryan again threw for a touchdown to extend Atlanta's lead to 24-14 and entered the second half with a ten-point lead.
San Francisco looked a completely different team, rallying behind Gore in the second half. He scored a TD with 10.47 left in the third quarter to cut Atlanta's lead further to 21-24. The 49ers defense did not allow Atlanta to score in the second half.
"I take my hat off to Atlanta. They played hard. They've got a great team," Gore said. "But we fought, man. We fought and we deserved it."
In the fourth quarter, Gore rushed for 9-yard gain and put San Francisco in the lead 28-24 with 8.33 left in the final quarter.
"We didn't make the plays when we had the opportunity," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "There were five or six plays, like in most hard-fought games, that make a difference. There were ebbs and flows and changes in momentum, and they made more plays than we did."
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