49ers Watched These Last-Second Heroics : NFC: Instead of San Francisco making the big plays in the final minutes, this time it was the Giants.

SAN FRANCISCO —  Tackle Bubba Paris turned his massive back to the field and focused in on a group of fans. He couldn’t bring himself to watch, but he knew their reaction would tell him all he needed to know.

Linebacker Michael Walter’s eyes were riveted on the flight of the tumbling football and he violently twisted his body in an attempt to will the ball to hook away from the uprights.

But Matt Bahr’s 42-yard field goal managed to slip inside the left upright as time expired and the crowd of 65,750 in Candlestick Park stood frozen in stunned silence. Seldom have so many made so little noise.

And Paris’ heart sank. The San Francisco 49ers--the elite team of the 1980s which sought to extend its dominance into yet another decade--saw their reign come to an end Sunday. For one day, at least.

The New York Giants did not cross the goal line Sunday, but they did earn the right to play the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV with a 15-13 victory over the 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

The 49ers’ hopes for a historical bid for three consecutive Super Bowl victories were dashed by one kick.

“It was good by just a few feet,” Walter said. “I gave it all the body English I could, but it just didn’t make enough difference. We kept waiting, and expecting, to put together that perfect game. But we’ve been letting teams drive us down and this time our luck ran out.”

Actually, the 49ers’ fortunes turned 2 1/2 minutes earlier, when running back Roger Craig was separated from the ball and Giant linebacker Lawrence Taylor snatched it at the New York 43-yard line. Seven plays later, the 49ers were reduced to mere mortal status.

“This type of loss really hurts now,” San Francisco Coach George Seifert said, “but, in the next few days, I think we’ll be very proud of this team . . . when the shock wears off.”

Receiver Jerry Rice isn’t so sure he will feel any better tomorrow or the next day. Or even next month, for that matter. He figures the panacea for what ails him won’t be available until next fall, when the 49ers strap on their helmets and again seek to win it all.

“I felt we would win, even when they got the ball back,” he said. “It was just one of those times when the ball didn’t bounce our way. Sure, we had a good season, but this game will leave a bad taste in each player’s mouth.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m just looking forward to coming back and making a run for it next year.”

There weren’t too many 49ers thinking about next year in the moments after Bahr’s kick sealed their fate, taking all the sunshine out a spectacular afternoon by the bay. They retired to their locker room and flopped down in front of their lockers, sitting silently like their legions of fans, trying to deal with the reality of failure.

“I’ve never heard this locker room so quiet,” Walter said. “The only sound was the CBS television crew setting up their cameras. We were that close.

“When you’re that close, you go back in your mind and rerun every play where they got one more yard than they should have. Everyone can think of one thing they could have done to change the outcome. A block here, a tackle there. It’s an awfully fine line between getting there and coming up short.”

Some San Francisco players openly grieved. Some blamed themselves. Others dressed in stony silence and strode out the door and into the off-season.

“When all is said and done, it was a classic battle,” Paris said. “We came up short, but I thank the Lord for the opportunity to compete. One team is humbled and one is exalted and that’s the thing that tests your faith.”

Backup quarterback Steve Young struggled to insert a measure of perspective, but he sounded at times as if he was trying to convince himself.

“How many times in in sports can a group of players approach a pinnacle like this?” he asked no one in particular. “People say that we’ve struggled this year, but I look at a 15-3 record and have to wonder about that. Every team that we played, it was like their Super Bowl for them.”

For the Giants Sunday, it was just one notch short of that. And now they get their chance for the real thing Sunday in Tampa. Still, everyone seemed to agree that both teams had put forth a championship effort. And tackle Steve Wallace wanted to make sure that it was understood that there were no real losers in Candlestick Park on this given Sunday.

It’s just a game after all, light years removed from the real struggles to be faced in this lifetime.

“This is very shocking to us, but life goes on,” he said. “It could be a lot worse. We could be out there fighting the war.”