wesley jordan, super bowl champion?

unlikely, yes, but tonight the improbable became reality and the niners won their 4th super bowl in 7 years. they defeated the new england patriots for the second time, 23-19 in one of the best games ever seen in the FUCKING UNIVERSE.

the game started with a lot of what would characterize pretty much the first 50 or so minutes: defense. tom brady was intercepted on the first play of the game:

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and then wesley jordan (playing for the still-injured bunting at QB) threw the ball right back to the patriots. both teams punted once, and then brady threw another interception.

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this continued for quite some time. except for one sustained drive in the second quarter that ended with a bowes run:

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the teams totalled (between them) less than 100 yards in the first half, and only picked up 6 first downs. by halftime, the patriots' punter had punted 8 times. it was 10-3 at the break.
things were worse in the third quarter (or better, if you like defense). the pats tacked on another field goal, making it 10-6. but otherwise, things were scoreless. midway through the fourth quarter, the pats kicked another field goal to make it 10-9 when wesley jordan fumbled it to them twenty yards out during a QB scramble. it looked like it might stay that way until the end, but finally the defenses collapsed. the niners strung together a good drive, but "missed" a field goal when the kick passed through the uprights:

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real life, ftw!
the pats then drove down and scored another field goal, taking the lead for the first time in the game, 12-10. with only five minutes left on the clock, the niners started a drive at their own 12...and promptly seemed to blow the game when wesley jordan fumbled into the end zone on a sack and it was recovered for a touchdown, making it 19-10. with only one timeout, the niners trailed by two scores with less than five minutes left.
unexpectedly, backup QB jordan was up to the challenge. his first drive ripped the pats defense apart and resulted in a touchdown pass to bowes with 3:10 still left on the clock. the pats got the ball back, and picked up a seemingly game-clinching first down on the ground. they were forced to punt with 40 seconds left, and the niners took over 82 yards away from victory with no timeouts left. they threw two incomplete passes, and then, with 27 seconds left, this hail mary pass hit prewett on the left sideline:

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the safety covering him went up for the interception (for some reason) and he was only in single coverage (for some reason). one broken tackle later, it was all over:

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prewett was off to the races, scoring the game-winner and NFL-winning touchdown in a game that looked to already have been decided.

what a weird season...i was thinking of updating to a post-2003 madden after this season, but none of my custom players are retiring yet, and i like obsessively building stats. so...maybe i'll give season 8 a go...