The (Surprise!)Game of the Year

By LEE GRIGGS SAN FRANCISCO

Memo to football fans: forget Super Bowl XXV in Tampa next Jan. 27. The real National Football League game of the year will be in San Francisco's Candlestick Park on Dec. 3, when the defending Super Bowl-champion 49ers collide with the New York Giants. When they met a year ago, the 49ers won 34-24; expectations about the battle to come have been climbing alongside the win-loss statistics of both teams, which have achieved historic heights.

After 10 games, the bicoastal rivals were the first two N.F.L. teams in more than 50 years to have 10-0 records in the same season, the last pair having been the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears in 1934. The long spell between those streaks is a measure of how evenly matched the N.F.L. has become in the modern era of complex draft picks, free agentry and expansion. But this year the Giants under coach Bill Parcells and the 49ers under George Seifert sprinted away early from their closest pursuers. By early November both had virtually clinched their divisional championships. New York led the National Football Conference East Division by three games, while the 49ers led the N.F.C. West by five.

At stake on Dec. 3 is the home-field advantage for a possible rematch in the Jan. 20 N.F.C. championship. A Giants victory would force the 49ers to play that game -- assuming contenders like the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins do not stage an upset -- in the sometimes frigid, windy confines of Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The winner goes on to the Super Bowl and will be favored to beat the best the rival American Football Conference can muster. Among the most likely A.F.C. candidates are the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Raiders.

The 49ers head into Candlestick with their eyes on Threepeat, the name Niners fans have given to the team's goal: an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl victory in January. That victory would give them a record five Super Bowl wins in as many tries and confirm the 49ers under quarterback Joe Montana as perhaps the greatest football team of all time. But this year the Niners are scrambling their way to the top. In half of their games they have had to come from behind to win. The good news, says inside linebacker Matt Millen, is that "this team never panics. We know that if we play up to our potential, we'll find a way to beat you."

Mostly that solution boils down to Montana, 34, who leads the N.F.C. in passing yards. He may be the best quarterback ever to play the game. In 12 years he has led the 49ers to comeback wins in the fourth quarter an amazing 25 times. Montana is the acknowledged master of the two-minute drill to race the clock to the end zone. In the Nov. 4 game against the Green Bay Packers, with only 38 sec. remaining in the first half and his team down 10-0, Montana took the 49ers 59 yds. in 27 sec. to jump-start a 24-20 victory.

With their ground offense faltering, the Niners are leaning more than ever on their quarterback, who tossed 22 touchdown passes in his first 10 games this season. "The key to our offense," says Montana modestly, "is getting the ball off quickly to our backs and wide receivers. We have to take what they give us and look for an opening."

The 49ers don't figure to get many openings from the Giants, a hard-nosed, grind-it-out team that makes few mistakes. While the 49ers stress improvisation and finesse, the Giants play tough, physical football that builds on a rock-ribbed defense. "So we're methodical," says All-Pro outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor. "Who cares as long as we win?"

The Giants also pack a big offensive punch. Veteran quarterback Phil Simms, 35, is having the best year of his 11-year career, leading all quarterbacks, Montana included, in pass efficiency (a calculation based on completions, yards gained and numbers of touchdowns and interceptions). Simms presides over a varied offense that sets up his passing game with ball control on the ground. Defenders face bruising off-tackle smashes by 12-year veteran running back Ottis Anderson (who seeks to become the first N.F.L. player to gain 1,000 yds. in each of three decades) and sweeps and quick openers by jackrabbit Dave Meggett, who can also turn short passes into scampering long gainers. This year Simms has taken fewer chances throwing into defensive coverage; at one point, he had fired 150 passes without an interception.

Can the Giants juggernaut crush quicksilver Montana? He is still the best there is at escaping the pass rush until he can spot and hit a teammate downfield. Often his target is All-Pro wide receiver Jerry Rice, who led the league in mid-November in touchdown catches (11 in 10 games). The Giants can counter with the league's stingiest pass defense. Its members include blitzing linebackers Taylor and Pepper Johnson, along with cornerback Everson Walls from Dallas and safety Dave Duerson from Chicago, both acquired this season to put extra heat on receivers. Says Taylor: "We don't just beat you on the scoreboard. We beat you physically."

And maybe in the pocketbook. Betting action on Monday night's game has been heavy, with the 49ers favored by four points at Harrah's Reno SportsBook in Nevada. But, says a SportsBook official, "that's just the San Francisco home- field advantage talking. In a neutral stadium this would be a pick-'em game." Just about perfect for the game of the year.