Cheesy Ending: Pack Beats 49ers Once Again, 36-22

GREEN BAY, Wis.--The powerful Green Bay Packers live on, as Steve Young can attest.

Young set two more NFL records yesterday. But he and Jerry Rice, the top scoring duo in NFL history, were overshadowed by Brett Favre and Antonio freeman, and Young was overwhelmed by a relentless, blitzing defense that sacked him a career-high nine times.

Favre and Freeman connected on touchdown pass plays of 80 and 62 yards in Green Bay's 36-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers yesterday.

The Packers had nine sacks for the first time since Oct. 25, 1965. Reggie White recorded three of them, giving him 11 halfway through his farewell season.

Never before in Young's career had the elusive quarterback been sacked more than six times.

"If you can't put pressure on Steve Young, you're in for a long day," Green Bay coach Mike Holmgren said.

Five of Green Bay's sacks came in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter after Favre's three interception were threatening to send the Packers to 5-3 with a three-game road trip coming up.

"We just got a surge of energy at the end," White said.

Freeman caught seven passes for a career best 193 yards as the Packers and 49ers both went home 6-2, one game behind Minnesota for the NFC's best mark.

Young set two more NFL records: most TD runs by a quarterback and most TD tosses to one receiver--Rice. But in the end, Young was battered and beaten--and winless in eight career starts against his No. 1 nemesis, the Packers.

"It's a mountain we've got to climb," Young said. "And it's still there for us."

With the score tied at 22, Favre hit Freeman for a 62-yard TD toss with 11 minutes left in the game. Freeman beat Marquez Pope and Merton Hanks, the same two he burned on the first play from scrimmage for an 80-yard score.

Favre's 62-yarder gave him 279 passing yards and 24,719 for his career, one better than Bart Starr, who set the team record from 1956-71.

Sack No. 7 resulted in a fumble at the San Francisco 11 that Santana Dotson recovered for Green Bay. Travis Jervey rumbled in from there for his first NFL touchdown to cap the scoring.

Bucs 27, Vikings 24

TAMPA, Fla.--So much for Tampa Bay's shaky offense being a liability against the explosive Minnesota Vikings. When the Buccaneers are at home, they're on solid ground.

Moving the ball and scoring almost at will, the Bucs broke out of an offensive funk with a team-record 246 yards rushing yesterday and beat the NFC's unbeaten team 27-24 on Mike Alstott's 6-yard touchdown run with 5:48 to go.

Alstott ran for a career-high 128 yards on 19 carries and Warrick Dunn gained 115 on 18 attempts, giving Tampa Bay (4-4) a pair of 100-yard runners in a game for the first time in franchise history.

"I couldn't feel any better than I feel right now," Alstott said. "We knew what we could do. It was frustrating those first seven weeks, because we kept hurting ourselves through penalties and missed opportunities.

Randall Cunningham was outstanding for Minnesota (7-1), completing 21 of 25 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns.

Patriots 21, Colts 16

INDIANAPOLIS--New England made the Indianapolis Colts pay dearly for cornerback Jeff Burris' mistakes.

Burris was called for pass interference three times yesterday. The first two set up touchdowns by the Patriots, and the third was declined when the pass from Drew Bledsoe went for a 63-yard touchdown to rookie Tony Simmons in a 21-16 victory.

""I'm man enough to take responsibility for this loss," Burris said. "I didn't play well. Their best beat my best. Today just wasn't my day."

Broncos 33, Bengals 26

CINCINNATI--The clock read 2:54, and the Cincinnati Bengals sensed they were in trouble despite playing one of their best games of the season.

That was way too much time for John Elway.

Elway led Denver to three fourth-quarter touchdowns and pulled off yet another clutch drive in the closing minutes, rallying the Broncos to a 33-26 victory yesterday that left them the only unbeaten team in the NFL.

"It's been a while since we've had one like this," said Elway, who completed all four of his fourth-quarter passes for 86 yards. "It's something we probably needed."

Redskins 21, Giants 14

LANDOVER, Md.--The Washington Redskins were 0-7, and the bye week had been a disaster. Seemingly buried under adversity, they rose behind a young group of unlikely heroes and wiped away some of the humiliation.

Against a flat offense and an erratic quarterback, the Redskins forced the New York Giants to punt on 11 of 13 possessions. Trent Green, Stephen Davis and Skip Hicks--all inexperienced backups on offense at the start of the season--did the rest in Washington's 21-14 victory yesterday.

The Redskins (1-7) won without 1997 defensive player of the year Dana Stubblefield, Marc Boutte and Stephen Alexander--all injured during the two week break since the last game. Gus Frerotte and Michael Westbrook were benched--Frerotte because he was struggling and Westbrook because he missed a practice. In addition, Terry Allen reaggravated a strained calf muscle in the first half.