This year, San Francisco has a running game, too

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Thursday, December 31, 1998 3:00 AM CST

By Tom Mulhern

Lee Newspapers

GREEN BAY Some things in the NFL just don't go together.

Like quarterback Vinny Testaverde and the Pro Bowl. Or the Arizona Cardinals and the playoffs. Or the San Francisco 49ers and the league's top-ranked running game.

``Who'd a thunk it, huh?" 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said on Wednesday. ``Woody Hayes."

Well, not quite. San Francisco has not abandoned its vaunted passing game for 3 yards and a cloud of Pacific fog. After all, quarterback Steve Young and wide receiver Jerry Rice are still around.

But for the first time in several years, the 49ers have a running game that rates more than after-thought status. Garrison Hearst is second in the NFC with 1,570 rushing yards and his average per carry of 5.1 yards is tied with Denver's Terrell Davis for the NFL's best among ranked backs.

What in the name of Joe Montana is going on here?

``When I first took the job here (in 1997), I soon learned that life was being made rough for Steve Young and the passing game because of not running the ball very often," Mariucci said.

``It was difficult to pass protect and throw the ball efficiently because everybody was teeing off on the passer. So, we felt we needed to run the ball more effectively."

The 49ers thought they had reached that stage last season, when Hearst became the team's first 1,000-yard rusher since Ricky Watters in 1992. But then Hearst missed the final three regular-season games, and the first playoff game, with a broken clavicle.

He returned for the NFC Champ-ionship Game against the Green Bay Packers but rushed for just 12 yards on eight carries in the first half and was pulled.

``The thing is, I wanted to be on the field and wanted to play," Hearst said. ``I just couldn't do what I wanted to do."

As a result, the 49ers were outgained, 106-33, on the ground, a running theme, so to speak, in the series. In two of the previous three meetings, the 49ers' leading rusher was a quarterback.

But a healthy Hearst showed what kind of impact he could have in November in the regular-season meeting against the Packers, rushing 17 times for 99 yards. It was Hearst who helped bring the 49ers back from an early 16-0 deficit, to a 22-19 lead going into the fourth quarter. After which point, Mariucci didn't call his number again the rest of the game, which the Packers won, 36-22.

As fate would have it for the 49ers, Hearst was injured again last week, suffering what is being described as a minor hamstring pull. But Hearst, said he is fine and would be ready to go for Sunday's playoff game against the Packers.

Given the beating Young endured in November, getting sacked nine times, there is nothing the 49ers would like better than to give the Packers a steady diet of Hearst.

``Obviously, (he) has been, not only a consistent ballcarrier, but a big-play guy for them," Packers defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur said. ``He's turned a couple games around. He has the capacity to take it all the way. He has that great speed when he gets in a crack. It causes you to have to be a little more cautious about how you play against him."

Hearst has three touchdown runs of 70-plus yards and two receptions of 60-plus yards. With that kind of threat, a coach doesn't mind taking the ball out of Young's hands.

``I just think we've had more of a chance to run it this year, and we've made some big plays," Hearst said. ``I think that's part of those guys (coaches) sticking with it."

The Packers still go into the game focused on slowing Young, but that becomes a lot more difficult if Hearst is gaining yards.

``Steve Young makes your running game better just because he's playing," Packers coach Mike Holmgren said. ``Just because you have to deal with him as a runner and a passer, you should have a better running game because of that."

Spoken like a former quarterbacks coach.

Tom Mulhern is a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison.

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