A SUPER YEAR FOR 49ERS, BRONCOS, BUT ...

Byline: NORMAN CHAD The NFL 

Before getting to the imminent bad news for the cities of San Francisco and Denver, it is only fair to celebrate the sustained excellence of the 49ers and the Broncos.

In the last 15 years, the 49ers have had the NFL's best regular-season record, going 179-59-1 with 15 straight 10-plus-win campaigns, 14 playoff appearances, 12 division titles and five Super Bowl championships. In the last 15 years, the Broncos have had the AFC's best regular-season record, going 147-91-1 with nine playoff appearances, six division titles and three Super Bowl trips, albeit all losing ones.

The 49ers are the triumph of an organization, the Broncos are more of an achievement of one quarterback.

With the advent of the Edward DeBartolo Jr. ownership era, there are now two sure things in sports: (1) in season, the 49ers are the best-run team in football; (2) offseason, all 49ers get comped at Caesars Palace!

Credit DeBartolo with this: When he makes a coaching hire, it's never Rick Venturi.

The 49ers' last three coaches have been Bill Walsh (102-63-1), George Seifert (108-35) and Steve Mariucci (14-3). This contrasts markedly from the previous three 49ers coaches: Ken Meyer (5-9), Pete McCulley (1-8) and Fred O'Connor (1-6).

The 49ers have survived injuries and retirement, free agency and the salary cap, to establish themselves as the preeminent American sports franchise of the last generation. Of course, it helps that during this 15-year period they have had Joe Montana and Steve Young, two of the finest quarterbacks of their time.

Meanwhile, in Denver, the Broncos' decade-and-an-half run of prosperity coincides entirely with the career of John Elway, the winningest quarterback in NFL history.

(Today's Trivia Question: Which active quarterback has the best winning percentage as a starter? The answer appears below, unless this column somehow ends up in USA Today as a pie chart.)

(Today's Quarterback Report: Here are your remaining starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl derby - Brett Favre, Steve Young, John Elway and Kordell Stewart. Wow. But here are your remaining backup quarterbacks for those teams - Steve Bono, Jeff Brohm, Bubby Brister and Mike Tomczak. That first group's the Beatles; that second group's the Bangles.)

(Today's Dallas Cowboys Note: If and when Jerry Jones gets around to telling Barry Switzer to store his side arms in another stadium, The Man believes the Cowboys' iconoclastic owner/master of ceremonies can restore discipline to his fallen franchise AND redress his biggest public relations gaffe in one fell swoop simply by hiring as his next head coach. . . . one Mr. Tom Landry. If nothing else, this should extend Bill Bates' career by another five years.)

(Today's Suggested Rule Change: As we all know, the two-point conversion brought new excitement to the NFL. In a similar vein, The Man believes, on field goals, coaches should have an option to go for a four-pointer in which the goal post WOULD BE MOVING BACK AND FORTH along the end line - sort of like the windmill hole at Putt-Putt - when the team attempts the kick. Actually, this could mean new life for such former kickers as Lin Elliott and such current kickers as Cole Ford.)

(Today's Trivia Answer: The active quarterback with the SECOND-best winning percentage as a starter is Favre, at .677 with a 63-30 record. The active quarterback with the BEST winning percentage is. . . . Favre's current backup, Steve Bono, at .700 with a 28-12 record. Who would've thunk it? Stay tuned for another surprise Trivia Question and Answer)

Well, it's finally time to get to that bad news for the cities of San Francisco and Denver.

In all honesty, this weekend's conference championship games - Green Bay at San Francisco and Denver at Pittsburgh - could go either way. There are no false contenders in this bunch, no Danny Kanell-to-Chris Calloway passing attacks, no fluke 9-7 teams.

There must be, however, two losers come the end of the weekend.

It's hard to pick those losers, for these are four franchises with a Super Bowl pedigree - a combined 17 appearances among them in the 32-year history of the game.

But, put in technical terms, it does appear that the Steelers are a ``teensy-weensy'' bit better than the Broncos and that the Packers are an ``itsy-bitsy'' bit better than the 49ers.

Thus, I'll take Pittsburgh, getting one point at home against Denver, and Green Bay, an even choice on the road against San Francisco. But, please remember, these picks are for recreational purposes only and - particularly in light of my somewhat unsavory selections of a week ago - should not be used as the basis for any actual cash wager.

(Today's Hidden Stat: Packers have never lost a playoff game on grass, on the road, in a city with a minority mayor, in a stadium renamed for a computer concern, with the temperature 48 degrees or higher.)

Last week: 0-3-1.

Season record: 118-116-8.