This time around, defense makes 49ers go

SAN FRANCISCO

Their reputation was built on offense, with players such as Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice. But through the Super Bowl years, the San Francisco 49ers were no less efficient on the other side of the ball.

Defense wins, is the axiom in the NFL, and this season it certainly has won for the 49ers, who face the Giants in the NFC Championship Game Sunday at Candlestick Park.

They haven't always moved the ball, ranking 26th in total offense, but their opponents have moved it even less. San Francisco is fourth in total defense and first against the run.The 49ers gave up an average of 77 yards a game on the ground during the regular season, and rookie coach Jim Harbaugh, a former quarterback who concentrates entirely on the offense, describes the defensive play as "wicked.''

The tone of the 36-32 divisional playoff victory over New Orleans last Saturday was set on the first series. The Saints took the opening kickoff and moved to the 49ers' 7. Pierre Thomas then caught a short pass from Drew Brees -- but instead of scoring, he was jolted so hard by safety Donte Whitner that the ball came loose, the 49ers recovered and Thomas was out of the game for good.

"A momentum-changer,'' Harbaugh said.

The man who changed the defense is Vic Fangio, 53, a football lifer from northeast Pennsylvania. He moved from team to team before arriving with the Baltimore Ravens. Then Jim Harbaugh filched him from his brother, Ravens coach John Harbaugh, and made him defensive coordinator at Stanford for 2010.

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The Cardinal went 12-1 and led the Pac-10 Conference (now Pac-12) in defense. When Harbaugh took over the 49ers this season, he brought Fangio (and offensive coordinator Greg Roman) with him.

At Stanford, with his booming voice and demanding manner, he was nicknamed "Lord Fangio,'' and the label has been carried the few miles from the Stanford campus to the 49ers' practice facility in Santa Clara.

"We emphasize tackling,'' Fangio said, "and our players have bought into it. You can't assume players know how to tackle.''

Fangio, who watches the games from the press box instead of the sideline -- "I like the bird's-eye view,'' he said -- utilizes a 3-4 defense that he changes to a four-man line with substitute packages.

Fangio's schemes use Justin Smith, Ray McDonald and Isaac Sopoaga to maintain gap control, allowing the secondary to drop five defenders into coverage.

Rookie Aldon Smith, the league's seventh overall draft pick last April, comes in to apply pressure on passing downs, joining fellow Missouri player Justin Smith, who in his 11th season may be the league's defensive player of the year.

Against the Saints, Justin Smith shoved 6-5, 315-pound tackle Jermon Bushrod into Brees, reached over Bushrod and forced Brees to rush his pass. No wonder at the start of training camp, the binders passed out to the defense had a photo of him on the cover.

"Whenever you have a leader like Justin Smith -- one of your best players, your hardest worker, your fiercest competitor -- that really bodes well for your football team,'' Harbaugh said.

Fangio calls his own phone from bed late at night to leave voice messages of game-planning, saying it's easier than groping for pen and paper and then reaching over to turn on the lights.

"The thing I tried to impress upon players coming in,'' Fangio told Scott Walsh of the Scranton (Pa.) Times, "was that there was a great history here but there hasn't been a tradition. They hadn't had a winning season in years. We had to try to restore that tradition, and, we've been able to do it in a different way than they've been accustomed to, with defense being the main cog. So that's satisfying.''

The linebackers have been effective, particularly Pro Bowl player Patrick Willis and second-year pro NaVorro Bowman. "We've done a good job of defending the run all year,'' Fangio said. "We've been able to mix up our coverages just enough to have our secondary have a good year also.''

Willis, a first-round pick from Mississippi, where he played with Eli Manning, was, along with Justin Smith, anchor of a defense on teams with losing records. Finally, with the help of Fangio, he's on a winner.

"We don't want to give an offense anything," Willis said. "Not even a yard. It's a joy to play with these guys."