Green Bay 21, Tampa Bay 7
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers better have eliminated the rust. Their next opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, won’t be as charitable as the Tampa Bay Bucs.
“Each game gets harder and harder,” said Dorsey Levens, whose outstanding running sparked a 21-7 playoff victory on Sunday. “You have to play great in big games to put yourself among the elite.”
The Packers and 49ers have been the elite teams of the NFC this season, both going 14-3. But San Francisco looked more efficient in its playoff win against Minnesota than Green Bay did vs. Tampa Bay.
“Maybe there was a tad bit of rust there,” coach Mike Holmgren said. “We were a little sloppy early.”
Levens, who had his worst two games of a 1,435-yard season against Tampa Bay, atoned with a team playoff record 112 yards rushing and the clinching touchdown, lifting the Packers into their third straight NFC title game.
The defending NFL champions didn’t need to do a lot on their own to beat the Buccaneers but will need to play better against the 49ers, whom they knocked from the playoffs the last two years.
Green Bay simply pounced on the mistakes by Tampa Bay, playoff novices who botched three chances for field goals and got an 11-for-36 passing performance from Trent Dilfer, who was intercepted twice.
Then Levens took over in the second half with 88 yards rushing and the touchdown. He had just 98 yards total in the two victories over the Bucs during the season.
“I get excited for big games,” said Levens, a backup until this season, when Edgar Bennett was injured in training camp. “I want to play well and not be a liability. Hopefully, the guys can depend on you and you won’t be one of those who blows a game.”
The Packers, in their first meaningful action in nearly a month, did enough wrong to blow this one if the Bucs — making their first playoff appearance since 1982 — weren’t so cooperative.
Brett Favre was victimized by six drops — Antonio Freeman and William Henderson both dropped sure touchdowns — and was picked off twice. But he also connected with Mark Chmura for a 3-yard TD and ran in a quarterback draw for a 2-point conversion.
“It looked like we had been off for two weeks,” the three-time league MVP said. “We didn’t do things like we should have, but we still scored 21 points and won, and that’s the good part about it.”
The Bucs, 11-7 in a turnaround year after 14 straight losing records, beat Detroit 20-10 in the wild-card round. They simply didn’t have the experience and Dilfer didn’t have the touch to hand Green Bay its first home playoff loss.
“The opportunities were absolutely there today,” Dilfer said. “In the first half, we had the ball inside the 30 three times and came away with no points. That’s frustrating.”
Coach Tony Dungy added: “You’re not going to be able to beat Green Bay if you make a lot of mistakes. We have to get to the point where we can execute a little better. I think that will come as our guys mature.”
Denver 14, Kansas City 10
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos couldn’t get to the Super Bowl the easy way last season. Now they’re one game away from making it the hard way.
The Broncos, knocked out of the playoffs last year when they had home-field advantage, eliminated the Kansas City Chiefs 14-10 on their home turf Sunday on two 1-yard touchdown runs by Terrell Davis, the second 2 1/2 minutes into the fourth quarter.
Denver (14-4) now goes to Pittsburgh for next week’s AFC title game hoping to do what only three teams have done before Ñ get to the Super Bowl after playing a first-round game. The Steelers defeated the Broncos 35-24 in Pittsburgh on Dec. 7.
For the Chiefs (13-4), it marks the second time in three seasons they were beaten at home in their first playoff game as the top seed after going undefeated at Arrowhead Stadium in the regular season. Two seasons ago, it was a 10-7 loss to Indianapolis, a game in which kicker Lin Elliot missed three field goals and quarterback Steve Bono threw three interceptions.
And it marks another loss by Kansas City coach Marty Schottenheimer to Denver’s John Elway, who was 10-of-19 for 170 yards, none more critical than a 43-yard pass to Ed McCaffrey that set up the go-ahead score. Schottenheimer’s playoff record is now 5-11, and he has lost three times to Elway, twice in the AFC championship game when he coached Cleveland.
Both teams had chances in this game.
Pete Stoyanovich, whose 54-yard field goal beat the Broncos here in November, had a 34-yarder negated by a holding call in the first half. Then he missed from 44 yards, and Denver set off on its first touchdown drive.
And a late-hit penalty on the kickoff after Kansas City’s only touchdown allowed Denver to start in Chiefs territory. Two plays later, Elway and McCaffrey combined to set up the second score by Davis, who gained 101 yards on 25 carries despite playing with bruised ribs.
But the Broncos, whose loss here in November began a fall from the top of the conference, also made mistakes — fumbling twice in scoring position and incurring a pass interference penalty that gave the Chiefs 29 yards late in the game.
That meant the game wasn’t clinched until Darrien Gordon tipped away Elvis Grbac’s fourth-down pass for Lake Dawson in the end zone with 12 seconds left.
In the first half both teams were tentative.
The Chiefs stacked their defense to stop Davis — and they did. And Grbac, who was seeing his first meaningful action since he broke his collarbone Nov. 3, threw short most of the time. But he opened up in the second half, finishing 24-of-37 for 260 yards.
Green mum on future
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Despite speculation that he might begin next season in the same area where this one ended, Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green refused to discuss his future.
“I haven’t thought about it,” Green said of his status after the Vikings were ousted from the playoffs Saturday in a 38-22 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. “I really haven’t. Right now I’m just trying to get out of town.”
Green could be back across the San Francisco Bay with the Oakland Raiders next season following a rocky six-year tenure in Minnesota. Although he never has had a losing record and has made the playoffs five times, Green’s career has been clouded by allegations of sexual harassment, a 1-5 playoff record and October’s threat to sue some of the Vikings’ 10 owners for control of the team.
Team president Roger Headrick said after the game that he would talk with Green as early as this week to discuss the coach’s future and the team’s. Headrick has been Green’s biggest supporter among the owners, who also are negotiating to sell the team — both issues that have been divisive in the board room.
“I think anybody who’s been in the playoffs five out of six years, I think that’s pretty good,” Headrick said.
Green has one year left on his guaranteed contract at $900,000. He is tremendously popular with the players, a sentiment reiterated in the locker room Saturday despite the uncertain offseason the team is about to begin.
Green’s straightforward approach is a trait his players admire.
“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see anybody better for the job,” said offensive tackle Korey Stringer. “He’s a great leader. He lets you know everything that’s going on. He’ll never confuse you, never trip you up with anything. He’s not going to be pulling any punches.”
Quarterback Randall Cunningham, his own future in question after a solid five-game performance in place of injured starter Brad Johnson, said he would like to come back to Minnesota if Green remains the coach.
“I pray he’s back with the team next year, because if he is with the team I think I’ll be back in Minnesota,” said Cunningham, who came out of a one-year retirement this season and will be a free agent this offseason.