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Monday, January 31, 2022 SECTION B Paul Farmer . Sports Editor . 427.6926

NFL CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND

Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG

Defensive end Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams celebrates a stop against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half of a NFC championship football game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Sunday.

Familiar collapse sends 49ers home, Rams on to Super Bowl

CAm inmAn

THE MERCURY NEWS

INGLEWOOD — Squandering a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead again cost the 49ers a shot at the Lombardi Trophy.

Two years after collapsing in the Super Bowl, the 49ers relapsed in Sunday’s fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game and fell 20-17 to the host Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.

The 49ers (12-8) could not pull off more downto-the-wire heroics. They were tapped out, after winning elimination games here against the Rams in the regular-season finale just to make the playoffs as a wild-card, followed by harrowing wins at Dallas and Green Bay.

The Rams rallied, and their reward is a spot in the Super Bowl on their home field in two weeks against the Cincinnati Bengals, who dethroned two-time reigning AFC champion Kansas City earlier Sunday in overtime.

This NFC finale did not have the makings of a tense finish, at least not once George Kittle landed in the end zone with a 16-yard touchdown catch to put the 49ers ahead 17-7 with 1:59 left in the third quarter.

But scars from Super Bowl LIV were a reminder that a 10-point lead was not safe. There, in the 49ers’ last playoff defeat, they blew a 20-10 lead in the final seven minutes and fell to the Chiefs 31-20 two years ago.

“Guys didn’t let up,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “… We slowed them down for a while, and I thought we had them on the ropes, but you still have to make plays and get it done, and we fell a little short.”

Sure enough, Sunday’s 10 point lead vanished with 6:49 remaining in regulation, and the Rams went ahead on Matt Gay’s 30-yard field goal with 1:46 to spare.

Garoppolo’s final pass — likely of his 49ers’ tenure — saw him make

ANALYSIS

See 49ers, Page B8

McPherson kicks Bengals past Chiefs in another wild OT finish

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

KANSAS CITY — For the fifth time this season, a Cincinnati game ended with a field goal by rookie kicker Evan McPherson, and this time, the former Fort Payne High School standout’s three-pointer sent the Bengals to the Super Bowl.

McPherson made a 31-yard field goal with 9:22 left in overtime to lift Cincinnati to a 27-24 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday.

The Chiefs seemed sailing toward their third straight Super Bowl appearance when they built a 21-3 lead. And even after Cincinnati rallied to go in front 24-21, things still appeared to be going Kansas City’s way – twice.

After McPherson’s 52-yard field goal with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter put the Bengals ahead by three, the Chiefs drove 69 yards in to the Cincinnati 4-yard line with 1:26 left in the fourth quarter. But consecutive sacks by Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard pushed Kansas City back 22 yards, and the Chiefs needed a 44-yard field goal by Harrison Butker on the final play of regulation to keep the game going.

Last week in their 42-36 victory over the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round, the Chiefs needed a Butker field goal on the final play of regulation to send the game into overtime, then won the coin toss and drove for a touchdown.

Kansas City followed that script again in the AFC Championship Game right up until Cincinnati safety Vonn Bell intercepted a pass tipped out of the hands of Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill by safety Jessie Bates III.

The Bengals drove 42 yards in eight plays to set up McPherson’s winning field goal.

Last week, McPherson nailed a 52-yard field goal on the final snap of Cincinnati’s 19-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans. That was his fourth field goal of the game, making him the first player in NFLhistory with two games with at least four field goals in the same postseason.

On Sunday, McPherson became the first player with three games with at least four field goals in the same postseason as he also connected on a 32-yarder in the first quarter and a 31-yarder in the third quarter.

McPherson became the first kicker to go 12-for-12 on postseason field goals, and only Adam

See Bengals, Page B8

Nadal claims record 21st slam victory in a stunner

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal achieved the most astonishing feat of his glittering career by fighting back from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev and win a record 21st grand slam title at the Australian Open.

Nadal’s 2-6, 6-7, (5-7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 victory moves him clear of his great rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the most successful male player in grand slam history.

When the match, which lasted five hours and 24 minutes, finally finished at 1.11 a.m. local time in Melbourne, Nadal dropped his racket to the court in disbelief before pumping his fists in delight and celebrating with his support team.

The victory also makes him only the second man in the Open era after Djokovic to win each of the four titles at least twice, with Nadal finally adding a second Australia Open crown to the one he claimed in 2009.

But the numbers only tell a fraction of the story. The Spaniard feared he may have to retire only a couple of months ago because of a chronic foot problem and arrived in Australia unsure of what he could achieve.

Reaching the final had already exceeded all expectations and it appeared he would fall just short again in Melbourne when Medvedev, who was looking to follow up his maiden US Open title by becoming the first man in the Open era to win the next major as well, moved two sets ahead.

Nadal had faded physically in the third set of his matches against both Denis Shapovalov and Matteo Berrettini but, at 35 and playing in just his 10th match since early August, he outlasted an opponent nearly a decade his junior.

Sharks beaten before break by Hurricanes

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

RALEIGH, N.C. — It was just the way the Carolina Hurricanes wanted to head into the NHL All-Star break, and the way the San Jose Sharks didn’t.

The Canes outlasted the Sharks 2-1 Sunday at PNC Arena for a fourth straight victory, getting the winning goal from Andrei Svechnikov with 3:46 left in regulation. Outfighting defenseman Brett Burns in front of the net, Svechnikov swept in a loose puck for his 16th goal of the season.

Goalie Frederik Andersen took it from there and will head to Las Vegas for the 2022 All-Star Game with 24 wins for the Canes, who sit in first place in the Metropolitan Division with a 31-9-2 record and 64 points.

Andersen will join Canes center Sebastian Aho at the All-Star Game next weekend competing for the Metro Division team coached by Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour.

The Canes’ Vincent Trocheck scored 4:36 into Sunday’s game for a 1-0 lead. The two teams then spent a lot of time hunting the next goal before forward Rudolfs Balcers tied it 1-1 for the Sharks at 3:36 of the third period.

Andersen finished with 27 saves.

Goalie James Reimer, who helped the Canes reach the playoffs the past two seasons, was making his return to PNC Arena with the Sharks. He also was coming off a Saturday road game against Florida in which he faced 50 shots in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Panthers.

Lincecum’s Giants legacy towers over Hall of Fame snub

John SheA

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Not all superstars get inducted into the Hall of Fame, and that’s perfectly OK in some cases.

Tim Lincecum’s legend wasn’t diminished one bit by his fraction of an inning in the BBWAA’s Hall of Fame polling. He’s no less the Freak, the Franchise, Timmy the Kid, Timmy Ballgame or Big Time Timmy Jim than he was before his abbreviated ballot stint.

It was kind of fitting, really. Lincecum never likes to be seen or recognized and rarely hangs He was gone.

With a 394-person Baseball Writers’ Association of America electorate, Lincecum needed 5% of the votes to remain on the ballot. He received 2.3%. Nine voters marked the box next to his name. (Ed. note: Two of those voters were Bruce Jenkins and Scott Ostler of The Chronicle.)

The world might not fully understand and appreciate Lincecum. All the Hall of Fame voters might not completely grasp the overall magnitude of the former Giants pitcher. Heck, there might be an Angels fan or two who witnessed his downside and never hopped aboard the Lincecum Love Train.

But the Bay Area knows. Anyone who paid top dollar to venture to Third and King for a Lincecum start in his heyday knows. Anyone taking pride in the Giants’ first World Series victory in San Francisco, with Lincecum emerging as the MVP of that 2010 postseason, knows.

Lincecum was a two-time Cy Young Award winner, threetime World Series champion and four-time All-Star. He pitched two no-hitters, led the National League in strikeouts three straight seasons and ranks among the Giants’ premier alltime top-10 draft picks along with Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, Will Clark and Matt Williams.

But Lincecum was more than all that. He was the coolest cat in the room, his carefree attitude and long flowing hair setting him apart from prototypical pitchers, his tiny stature and unique mechanics able to generate incredible velocity and movement as if he were a half-foot taller and 30 pounds heavier.

He resembled one of your neighborhood skateboarders. Or the drummer in the local garage

Jose Luis Villegas/Sacramento Bee/MCT file (2010) Tim Lincecum’s legend in San Francisco with the Giants hasn’t diminished, despite being snubbed for the Hall of Fame.