As arguably the most anticipated matchup of the NFL Conference Championship games, the New York Giants traveled across the country to face one of the toughest defenses in the NFL. With the San Francisco 49ers putting on a show against the New Orleans Saints just one week earlier in the Bay Area, head coach Tom Coughlin knew his team would be in for arguably the toughest challenge of the season in order to advance to the Super Bowl.
After an emotional and thrilling late-game victory over the Saints, the 49ers were playing at the top of their game on both sides of the football. With that being said, San Francisco were dubbed the favorites to come out on top in the NFC Championship game and move on to the Super Bowl to face the New England Patriots on Feb. 5. Despite the slight edge in the point spread, the 49ers would also be challenged against one of the best teams in the league over the past month or so. The Giants have just defied the odds every single week since taking down the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC East division title in the last week of the NFL regular season and would not go down without a fight.
Just as the AFC Championship game ended with a missed field goal and crucial mistakes late in the game, the San Francisco 49ers fell to the New York Giants in similar fashion. With a 17-17 score at the end of regulation, the 49ers and Giants headed into overtime with New York getting the football first. Now that new overtime rules are in place in the playoffs, this possession was not a death sentence for the 49ers as they would have a chance to counter if a field goal was scored by the Giants.
Unfortunately, these teams both shared possessions which forced the game into sudden death and that made every play crucial. After forcing the Giants to punt, the 49ers awaited the football with wide receiver Kyle Williams waiting to receive. Once Williams received the punt and started his run, the first Giants to make contact forced a fumble in which New York recovered in field goal range.
Ultimately, Giants’ kicker Lawrence Tynes kicked the game-winning 31-yard field goal and sent the New York Giants back to the Super Bowl. With this win over the 49ers in overtime (20-17), the Giants will now head to Indianapolis for a Feb. 5 showdown against the New England Patriots which is a rematch of the 2007 Super Bowl in which Eli Manning and company ended the Patriots perfect season.
Even though the San Francisco 49ers did show that they are worthy of a Super Bowl appearance, the fact is that they made the crucial mistake with the game on the line and the New York Giants took advantage. There is no question that Jim Harbaugh’s first season in the Bay Area was a resounding success with a promising future to come for the 49ers, but they came up just short this time around.
