Smith, Davis lead 49ers to thrilling upset of Saints

SAN FRANCISCO -- The other quarterback was the magic man. Drew Brees did what he could, but Alex Smith did what nobody thought he could -- become a winner.

Smith, maligned in his previous six seasons after being taken as the overall No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL draft, threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis with nine seconds remaining to give the San Francisco 49ers a 36-32 NFC divisional playoff win over the New Orleans Saints Saturday.

The 49ers, who hadn't been in the postseason for nine years, will face the winner of Sunday's Giants-Packers game in next Sunday's NFC Championship Game.

It will be hard for any remaining games this season to be wilder than this one at Candlestick Park: four lead changes in the last 4:02.

Brees' 44-yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles gave the Saints a 24-23 lead with 4:02 remaining. Smith's 28-yard run on third-and-8 put the 49ers ahead 29-24 with 2:11 to play, although the two-point conversion run failed. Brees' 66-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jimmy Graham and Brees' two-point conversion pass to Sproles gave the Saints a 32-29 lead with 1:37 to play. Then Smith and Davis hooked up with nine seconds left to win it.

"You're going to live or die in these games,'' said 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, whose team had led 17-0. "We lived."

Davis wound up with seven catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Afterward, he shed tears, saying, "A very emotional game. It was like a roller coaster out there.''

SEE PHOTOS5,000-yard passers in NFL history

Brees, who threw for 466 yards in a wild-card win over Detroit the previous weekend, was 40-for-63 for 462 yards and four touchdowns against the 49ers. Smith -- who had said, "I don't want to get more yards than Drew, I just want to outscore him" -- was 24-for-42 for 299 yards and three touchdowns.

Alluding to the NFC Championship Game here 30 years ago in which the 49ers upset the Cowboys, Harbaugh said, "I know there was 'The Catch.' I don't know what they're going to call this one, 'The Throw'?''

Davis himself called it "The Grab.'' What they called Smith until this year was "The Bust,'' but Harbaugh came to the 49ers from Stanford and changed the expectations for Smith, who has only five interceptions this season.

Brees, a Super Bowl MVP two years ago, had two in this game alone, part of five turnovers by the Saints.

"It stings right now because of the expectation level that we had coming into this tournament and understanding that if we win here, we're into the NFC Championship Game and anything can happen," Brees said. "That's tough. Tough to swallow at this point."

"The No. 1 defense in the league,'' Graham said of the 49ers. Against the run, it was No. 1, and the 49ers had a league-high 38 takeaways during the season. They held the Saints to 37 yards on 14 carries.

The Saints, so impressive indoors at the Superdome, remained a disappointment outdoors, where they are 0-5 in the postseason.