Fouts, Montana Come Out OK; 49ers Win, 17-3

SAN FRANCISCO —  In the comeback of quarterbacks, the San Diego Chargers’ Dan Fouts was pitted against the San Francisco 49ers’ Joe Montana Thursday night. Fouts’ best pass didn’t count, but Montana’s best pass was the go-ahead touchdown.

So, give Montana the nod in the exhibition game as he and his 49ers won, 17-3, before a crowd of 52,733 at Candlestick Park.

But give Fouts a cigar--and that’s just what Fouts’ dad, Bob, did--because he made it through the game in one piece.

Montana may have had a disk problem last season, but he didn’t take any direct hits Thursday night. Fouts, on the other hand, got kicked in the back and thrown on his back.

He got up.

That probably was the best Charger news of the night, because there wasn’t much else but missed blocks and quarterback sacks and botched running plays and 11 punts by Rolf Mojsiejenko.

Fouts’ father, a former 49er radio broadcaster, caught Dan as he headed off the field, and said: “Congratulations, son. You’re OK.”

The younger Fouts, 36, who played only the first quarter, got smashed on his very first play from scrimmage but still managed to complete a pass to diving Kellen Winslow. Three penalties--one on a pass interference call against 49er safety Jeff Fuller--got the Chargers down to the 49ers’ 29-yard line.

Fouts barked out his signals on the next play, and his cadence fooled 49er defensive end Charles Haley. Haley jumped offside and then froze, never touching a San Diego player. The ball was snapped, and Fouts seemingly had a free play. He lofted a pass toward the right corner of the end zone, and receiver Trumaine Johnson caught it for the apparent touchdown.

But it didn’t count. The officials had blown the play dead.

The Chargers settled for a field goal, and Vince Abbott--who is trying to unseat veteran Rolf Benirschke--made a 41-yard kick off the infield dirt.

The coaches thought Fouts played well, even though he completed just 3 of 11 passes for 14 yards. His longest completion was only 8 yards, and he was sacked once, but he also had a ball dropped by Johnson.

“I don’t know if anybody likes to play exhibition games,” Fouts said, “especially when you’re an old quarterback. . . . But for the amount of offense we had in, I felt good. But we really had our hands tied by design.”

In other words, the Charger offense bore no resemblance to their regular-season offense.

“I thought Dan looked great!” running back Lionel James said. “All we did was split guys right. Have you ever seen the Chargers use a split-right formation for a whole game?”

The 49ers tied the game on a 42-yard field goal by Ray Wersching in the second quarter. And then, with just 2 1/2 minutes left in the first half, Montana directed a precision two-minute drill, completing 6 of 9 passes, including the seven-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wilson to make it 10-3.

Steve Young, Montana’s backup, put the game away. He threw a bomb that was tipped by rookie cornerback Louis Brock and caught by former Dallas Cowboy Tony Hill. The play covered 44 yards, and Terrence Flagler ran for the final touchdown with 5:45 left.