49ers Earn Spot in Super Bowl 47

By Carly Nevis

The first quarter was over, and the 49ers were already down by 10. The second quarter had just begun, and San Fran was in a 17-point hole. The first half was in the books and Kaepernick’s troops carried a 10-point deficit into the locker room.

And then, by luck, by chance or most probably by skill, San Francisco pulled off the comeback. The 49ers defense allowed no points in the second half, while scoring fourteen of their own to steal the game away from the Falcons.

AP Photos/ John Bazemore

Colin Kaepernick was not perfect by any means, but he came through when his team needed him the most. After completing just one pass in the first quarter, the quarterback connected with Crabtree, Moss and Davis for eight in the second. LaMichael James rushed 15 yards to get San Fran on the board for the first time.

Later in the quarter, Kaepernick found Vernon Davis for a touchdown. Although the 49ers were still down by ten going into the break, the thought of a blow out became out of the question. And if it was not out of the question in the first half, the 49ers made it clear that they were not going down without a fight in the second.

San Fran scored one touchdown in each of the final quarters, both by Frank Gore and stole a spot in the Super bowl from Atlanta.

"I take my hat off to Atlanta. They played hard. They've got a great team," The running back told ESPN after the game. "But we fought, man. We fought and we deserved it."

But the reason why San Francisco was able to take away this game from Atlanta was the second half defense. Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan, who led his team to score on their first three possessions, went silent in the second half. The 49er defense forced incomplete pass after incomplete pass. They sacked the QB. After being trampled on in the first half, the San Francisco defense did the trampling in the second.

Linebacker Patrick Willis fueled the defense with twelve tackles, but all of the defensive players chipped in across the board. Chris Culliver also intercepted Matt Ryan’s pass after the 49ers had just scored in the third. This play was like a symbolic passing of the torch, as the 49ers were just minutes away from taking the lead in the game. San Fran rode this lead all the way to victory.

Atlanta, whose big first half lead was also erased in their game against the Seahawks last week, had a chance to take the game back with 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarterback. But San Fran had come too far for them to let that happen. When the Falcons came as close as the San Francisco 10-yard line, the defense made play after play to keep them out of the end zone.

Victory in Atlanta was sweet, but victory in New Orleans would definitely be sweeter.