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Victory: Broncos 38, 49ers 9
Finale: One last salute
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Souvenirs: Fans make a play for seats
Good seats: Workers, kin watch game on big TV in new stadium
Voices: Qutoes from Mile High's last day
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Dave Krieger: Frigid night of football frozen in time, mind
Bernie Lincicome: The burning question: How to say goodbye
The stars: Rating the best Broncos team ever

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Thinking back: Readers remember Mile High Stadium

Broncos bring down house with rout of 49ers in likely finale for stadium

By Lee Rasizer
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

The Denver Broncos — and their fans — didn't wait for the wrecking ball to bring the old house down.

In Mile High Stadium's likely finale, the Broncos treated their usual gathering of 76,098 to one more foot-stomping fiesta Saturday.

Denver's maligned defense brought back memories of the Orange Crush with a dominating effort. The offense was back to churning out points at its accustomed pace after being held scoreless a week before. And the Broncos completed their best-ever second half to a season with 7-1 record after a 38-9 pounding of San Francisco.

Denver (11-5) now awaits the outcome of today's Carolina-Oakland game to determine whether it will get an opportunity for one more last hurrah at its hallowed home field.

"Whether we're the second, third or fifth seed, whatever the situation is," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said, "I believe we're ready to play."

If the Raiders lose, the Broncos will treat their fans to one more round of Mile High magic in the playoffs as AFC West champions. Losses by Oakland and Miami (or a Dolphins tie), and Denver will have a first-round bye.

A Raiders win, on the other hand, will leave Broncos fans watching the next game from their living rooms. Denver would play the AFC Central runner-up, either at Tennessee or Baltimore, in a wild-card game next weekend.

"Hopefully, I guess, we don't have another home game," linebacker Keith Burns said with a smile, "because we don't have any South Stands now."

Jubiliant Broncos backers in that famously raucous area of the stadium held benches overhead as the team returned to the field for a curtain call to the strains of We Are Family.

"If we have another game at home," Shanahan quipped, "we're going to ask those people to bring those seats back."

During the postgame celebration, receiver Rod Smith donned an orange cowboy hat with blue sash he had pulled from a woman in the stands. Linebacker John Mobley took the hand of his daughter, serving as one of the Broncos junior cheerleaders, and led her to midfield. Tackle Tony Jones ushered his young son into the locker room, an entrance flanked by signs reading "Bye, Bye Mile High."

"We couldn't go out there and let them down," Smith said. "We knew that we didn't want to be the team to go down in history that closed this place down with a loss."

San Francisco (6-10) never had a chance as the Broncos rode the emotional wave of the team's 248th consecutive non-strike sellout.

Joe Collier, John Elway and Tom Jackson were introduced in Denver's pregame locker room to further stoke the fire. And with numerous other Broncos greats watching on the sidelines and Rocky Mountain Thunder providing the soundtrack, Denver gave its most dominating all-around performance since a Week 2 thrashing of Atlanta.

Running back Mike Anderson scored two touchdowns and became the fifth player in NFL history to rush for 1,500 yards as a rookie. Wide receiver Ed McCaffrey set a Broncos record with his 101st catch of the season — a spinning 25-yard TD to end the opening drive of the second half. Smith joined him in triple digits with his 100th reception in the fourth quarter — as he and McCaffrey became the first AFC tandem to accomplish that feat.

Broncos quarterback Gus Frerotte — subbing most of the way for Brian Griese, who was reinjured in the first quarter — led Denver to 30-plus points for the fifth time in seven appearances, excluding three mop-up roles.

And the defense more than held up its end, a week after getting torched by Kansas City.

The 49ers had entered the game ranked No. 3 in the NFL in offense and were expected to engage Denver in a shootout. The Broncos' 29th-ranked defense instead stymied them. San Francisco was kept off the scoreboard until 9:04 remained but managed to avoid its first shutout since 1977.

The 49ers gained only 192 total yards. Wide receiver Jerry Rice, playing his 238th and likely final game as a member of the 49ers, was a non-factor, despite a team-high six catches for 61 yards.

"We got pumped up," Mobley said of the defense. "I could look in everybody's eyes before the game and could tell that this was going to be a special day."

The lone blight on the afternoon came when Griese's shoulder was reinjured. He had been sidelined the previous five games because of an injury to the shoulder.

Yet the Broncos recovered nicely by scoring on six consecutive possessions in the second and third quarters. Denver — one week after the offense was held scoreless for the first time since 1992 — built a 27-8 advantage in first downs and a 345-114 edge in yardage after three quarters and led 38-0.

"Fortunately, we've been able to have a lot of (repetitions) with both guys," McCaffrey said. " ... If Brian goes down, Gus comes in and we don't miss a beat."

Griese's injury occurred when Niners right defensive tackle Brentson Buckner found his path to the quarterback unimpeded on the fifth offensive snap. He drove Griese's throwing arm into the turf just after the QB had released the ball.

Griese said afterward the pain wasn't as severe as the first two times his shoulder was injured. Nonetheless, his status for the first playoff game is questionable.

"I don't think there's any reason that I can't be optimistic and think I can play next week," he said. "If I can play, I'm going to play."

In the din of the postgame fireworks, large shards of wood sat upright in the South Stands, having been confiscated by police. Across the way, in the northeast corner, a lone sign remained in the soon-to-be demolished stadium. It read, "Thanks for the magic."

Denver's players would just as soon Saturday be the last time they utter a goodbye until late January.

"It's playoff time, baby," Broncos linebacker Al Wilson bellowed. "It's time to rock and roll."

Contact Lee Rasizer at (303) 892-5100 or rasizerl@RockyMountainNews.com.

December 24, 2000