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No scarlet-and-gold confetti rained from the sky.
No trophy presentation followed the 49ers' last game of the 2003 season.
Stopping short of the playoffs and exiting Candlestick Park with a 24-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks wasn't the end many 49ers expected.
"I felt like I was going to have a Super Bowl ring on my finger, honestly,"
linebacker Julian Peterson said of his preseason prediction.
While the Seahawks (10-6) kept their playoff hopes alive with their comeback
victory, the 49ers (7-9) slithered into an offseason filled with uncertainty.
What happened in 2003? Why so many close losses? Who's coming back? How far
has this organization fallen after reaching the past two postseasons?
"We're a better team than what the record shows," 49ers owner John
York said. "We came up short in the kicking game, and occasionally on offense
and defense."
York apparently relayed encouraging words to his team in the sullen locker room
afterward, touching on the 49ers' unfulfilled potential and the potential mass
exodus of free agents.
"He said we have a lot of talent on this team, and with free agency, we'll
do our best to make sure all of us are here as a unit," defensive end Andre
Carter said.
"In the second half of the season, we showed that we're real close. That's
what Dr. York was trying to say. We're pretty close," kicker Todd Peterson
added. "It's not as if there's some gaping hole that we have to fill. We
don't have to go out and sign some guy that's not here."
But how many guys can they re-sign, considering nearly half the players on the
roster don't have contracts for 2004, including mainstays such as wide receiver
Terrell Owens, linebacker Peterson and cornerback Ahmed Plummer.
Owens, out with a broken left collarbone he sustained in Sunday's upset at Philadelphia,
walked out on Saturday's game with 2 minutes, 56 seconds remaining, when Shaun
Alexander reeled off a 23-yard run for a Seahawks first down.
Decked out in a tan outfit with his left arm in a black brace, Owens sauntered
across the south end zone -- while the Seahawks were running a play toward the
north end zone -- and eventually into a tunnel toward the locker room.
"I really think that the odds are stacked against T.O. coming back to this
team," quarterback Jeff Garcia said. "It's more so him than anything
else. It's been a situation -- I can't sit here and speak for him -- but in
actions, actions speak louder than words a lot of times. I think in many ways
he would like change."
After Owens exited stage right, the Seahawks' Josh Brown tacked on a 33-yard
field goal with 1:56 remaining for the seven-point cushion.
The 49ers' last-gasp drive ended at the Seahawks' 49, with a low Garcia pass
falling incomplete near a diving Tai Streets on fourth-and-one.
It was a fitting final chapter for an unfulfilled offensive attack that was
to be more deep-pass oriented under first-year coach Dennis Erickson.
After three consecutive stellar outings, Garcia was off Saturday, going 22-for-38
for 248 yards with two touchdown passes and one interception.
"Today the throws came out feeling good, but were not necessarily on target,"
Garcia said. "That's frustrating to me because that's going to be my last
taste of football for six months. To carry that with me throughout the offseason
doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth."
The 49ers' finale turned Seattle's way on a perfect throw by quarterback Matt
Hasselbeck and a sensational touchdown catch by Koren Robinson in the third
quarter. Robinson barely got both feet down in the back left corner of the end
zone for a 30-yard scoring grab, putting the Seahawks in front 21-17 with 3:28
left.
The 49ers offense couldn't answer, and the Seahawks escaped with their first
road win of the season.
"It was a disappointing end to a disappointing season," said Erickson,
who was hired in February to replace Steve Mariucci. "Seven-and-nine isn't
what we wanted. We felt we could go to the playoffs."
With victories this season over the NFC's top two teams -- the St. Louis Rams
(12-3) and Philadelphia Eagles (12-4) -- the 49ers indeed played at times like
a playoff team. Other times, they didn't.
Kicking woes plagued the 49ers all season long, including five missed point-after
attempts and 26 of 37 field-goal attempts by three kickers combined.
Peterson provided a fitting conclusion to that problem, clanking a 29-yard field
goal attempt off the right upright four seconds before halftime to keep the
score tied at 14.
The 49ers captured a 14-0 lead on second-quarter passes by Garcia, including
an 18-yarder to tight end Jed Weaver and a 14-yarder to Cedrick Wilson. The
Seahawks cut it to 14-7 when Alex Bannister got past cornerback Mike Rumph down
the left sideline for a 31-yard touchdown reception.
Defensively, the 49ers couldn't keep Hasselbeck from further rallying the Seahawks.
He was 24-for-37 for 315 yards, two touchdown passes and two interceptions.
He got sacked only once -- by Jeff Ulbrich, who also intercepted Hasselbeck
on the next play to set the stage for Wilson's touchdown.
"After a couple of those defensive stands, and after jumping ahead by 14,"
Todd Peterson said, "I was walking up and down the sideline saying, 'We're
not playing next week. That doesn't make sense. We're stopping a 10-win team.'
The only reason we lost that game is because of what we did."
Added Julian Peterson: "The pride and the heart of this team is not a loser's
mentality. Our record indicates we're 7-9, but it's not like we're losers. We
just didn't get it done this year."