Super Bowl XLVII: Where Was Frank Gore During the Final Series?

Feb 3, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) runs for a bigfourth quarter gain in Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

Well, this one hurts too.

Losing with 1st and goal from the seven is just as rough on a sports fan as some of those painfully grinding possessions against the NY Giants last year. Losing five yards away from the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, by far, gets harder when I consider how few carries Gore got down the stretch (2) in last year’s painful lose, and that if only he had two carries in that final set of downs I’d be content with a loss right now.

More hurt stems from the fact that the postseason run included the Pick-6 to open against Green Bay and what is now the greatest comeback in the NFC Championship Game against the Falcons. All three wins would have been comebacks, mirroring the SF Giants postseason run, and, when combined with the World Series win, would have granted bragging rights of Titletown, USA, to San Francisco. So, yea, this one hurts, too.

Why does this one hurt so much? We lost out-of-character. We ditched the girl we brought. We abandoned our lovable workhorse, the guy we as fans all wanted to be the Super Bowl MVP. Win one for Colin? No. Win one for Harbaugh? No. Win one for Frank? Yes. Yes, please.

Yet on the final four (meaningful) plays, Frank was on the bench, blocked, blocked, and blocked.

Two yards and a cloud of recycled tire pellets would have sufficed. Heck, even faking it to Gore so Kaep can read-option it would have helped minimize the pain of this loss. But no, we let the reeling, Hgata-less, Raven defense off the hook by trying to throw the ball in a congested area of the field in a game which was, at best, loosely called and at a time in the game when you know, you know, the refs won’t throw a flag.

Hasn’t Harbaugh watched the last drive of a NBA game? So, into this “let them play” environment we go finesse. We take our top-notch run -blocking offensive line and ask them to absorb all-out blitzes. It felt like the second half of last year’s NFC Championship game, 2nd and 2, Dixon for 1. 3rd and 1, Dixon for 0. Where was

Frank Gore? Gimme Gore! I hope that won’t be Gore’s Niner legacy; a trooper, a workhorse, but always just short of glory.