DEFENSIVE POSTURE; NORTON TOOK FIRM CONTROL AFTER 49ERS' WERE TKO'D.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

The new coach, only a few months removed from a Joe College posting, was frantically scrambling to get his system instituted at the NFL level.

The star quarterback was on the sideline with a splitting headache, a byproduct of the bazillionth concussion of his career. The peerless wide receiver was on crutches with a shredded knee.

And the San Francisco 49ers, faced with Steve Mariucci's growing pains and the injuries to Steve Young and Jerry Rice, were on the wrong end of a 13-6 loss at Tampa Bay on the first weekend of the NFL season.

Matters might have looked exceedingly bleak for one of the league's most decorated franchises. But linebacker Ken Norton Jr., following career custom, surveyed this desperate plight only in terms of the challenge it presented him.

``Anytime you see your all-world receiver go down like that, and Steve go down with a concussion, you're thinking, `Oh, my goodness, what's left for us?' '' Norton said on the phone this week. ``You have to assess where you are. We're a proud team. . . . We weren't going to let the whole season go.

``I think it was quite known that the defense had to step up. We really had to carry this team.''

Defense carrying this team? It bordered on lunacy, if not sacrilege. The historic image of the 49ers, after all, is Rice behind the coverage, Roger Craig bobbing through the line, Dwight Clark leaping high and Joe Montana or Young orchestrating everything like crazed sorcerers. Offensive expression in dazzling form.

The 6-2, 240-pound Norton, though, is not the type to make casual pledges. Fortified by his exhortation and customarily strong play, the 49ers went on to lead the NFL in defense in 1997 while their offense lagged behind. That is the primary reason the 49ers are on the threshold of their sixth Super Bowl appearance in 17 years as they face the Green Bay Packers in today's NFC championship game in San Francisco.

Bob Field, Norton's coach at UCLA, surveys this from a distance and smiles knowingly.

``He was the best player we ever had in terms of just on-the-field leadership - inspiring other players, lifting other players up to his level and to their potential,'' Field said. ``I don't know where he learned it. He had it when he came to UCLA (in 1984). . . .

``There were times when he was the encourager. There were times when he was the sheriff. He had, really, an uncanny ability to know when to get on a guy, when to pick a guy up. He was a real inspiration, not only in the way he played but the way he was able to energize us.''

This season, evidence of the 49ers' defensive energy took tangible form: a yield of only 250.8 yards and 16.6 points per game in a 13-3 season. Norton set the pace with 138 tackles, leading his team in that category for the sixth consecutive year.

The accomplishments lend spice to today's matchup, since it's generally felt that in this confrontation of evenly matched teams, the one that is able to run the ball consistently will prevail.

While attempting to block Green Bay's path, San Francisco will also try to slow down a runaway notion - one that says the aging 49ers, losers of three in a row to Green Bay (including the playoffs in each of the last two seasons), have been overtaken by an emerging power.

``We don't talk about it much,'' Norton said. ``We watch films. We see what we did wrong (in the three previous meetings). . . .

``It's hard to say about a shifting of the balance of power. They just won the games. They're feeling very confident about what they're doing and they ought to be. But this is going to be a clash of the titans.''

The 49ers are clamoring to be held anew in such regard. They skated through an NFC West division in which no other member produced a record better than .500. When they faced such top-flight teams as Tampa Bay and Kansas City, they lost (by five touchdowns in the latter case).

And then there is the graying effect among their regulars: linebacker Gary Plummer is 37, Young 36, defensive end Chris Doleman 36, linebacker Kevin Greene 35, tight end Brent Jones 34.

The 31-year-old Norton, however, is no more deterred by any of this than he was by the sight of all those offensive stars being attended to by the medical staff the first week.

His perspective should be valued: He is the only player in the 31-year history of the Super Bowl to win three of them in a row ('92 and '93 seasons with Dallas, '94 with San Francisco).

``I think the one thing that really stands out, you have to be greedy,'' Norton said. No resting on the accomplishment. No buying into the belief that it's someone else's turn.

Does the current 49ers team possess this trait? ``It's hard to say,'' Norton said, 19 days from Super Bowl Sunday. ``It's still early right now.''

DEFENSIVE MEASURES

The San Francisco 49ers finished at or near the top of the NFL in several key defensive categories:

Rank

Yards per game 250.8 1

Pts. per game 16.6 3

Rush yds. per game 85.4 2

Pass yds. per game 165.4 2

Interceptions 25 2

Fumble rec. 16 5

QB sacks 54 3

Completion pct. .507 1

Yards per rush 3.5 3

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

PHOTO (1--Color) With the offense struggling, 49ers linebacker Ken Norton led a defense that was one of the toughest in the NFL.

(2) Ken Norton (41) made an instant impact at UCLA with his tremendous play at linebacker and his innate leadership abilities.

Daily News File Photo

BOX: DEFENSIVE MEASURES (see text)