Terrell Owens' catch was a true watershed event for the 49ers and Packers.

What if, at the end of that memorable 49ers-Packers playoff game last Jan. 3, the 25-yard strike that Steve Young threw to Owens had somehow popped loose? Owens got sandwiched by Packers defenders Pat Terrell and Darren Sharper, after all. Some say it was a miracle that he held on in the end zone to score the winning touchdown, the one that pushed the 49ers to a 30-27 wild-card victory and sent home the two-time defending NFC champion Pack.

A miracle? No. What it was, was a great moment in a very good recent history between two storied franchises. But if you're attempting to trace the arcs of these teams from that heady afternoon to tonight's Letdown Bowl in San Francisco, with the Niners (3-7) hosting the Packers (5-5), then Owens' catch looms as a significant landmark.

The Packers were going to win that game, of course. Brett Favre had just directed an epic nine-play, 89-yard scoring drive that concluded with a 15-yard TD strike to Antonio Freeman, and Green Bay had a 27-23 lead with less than two minutes to play, and the Pack was going to be moving on.

And what if Green Bay had indeed moved on? The Packers would've been within one more victory of playing in a third consecutive NFC title game, and they might have won it, and the good vibes would have been flowing; and could Mike Holmgren really have left all that?

Isn't it at least possible that the Packers could have found a way to keep Holmgren and GM Ron Wolf together? It's possible -- unlikely, perhaps, given Holmgren's stated desire to have the full personnel control that Seattle eventually lured him with, but possible. If the Packers beat the 49ers that day at Candlestick, the question at least could have been asked with force, and if it were asked with force, then the outcome at least could have been cast into doubt; and if Holmgren had found a way to stay, how much of the rest of the Packers' nucleus might have held together as well?

But Terrell Owens caught the pass.

And if Owens had dropped it? Well, you know how the 49ers love to obsess over a perceived rival, be it the Cowboys or the Packers or whomever. Throughout the glory years, the San Francisco front office was famous for finding something about another franchise to envy, then going out and doing it one better.

Isn't it possible the same scenario would have occurred following another agonizing defeat by Green Bay? It's possible -- unlikely, perhaps, given the complete disarray of the 49ers' ownership picture, but possible. Had the 49ers lost to the Packers, they might have decided to try to add an ingredient here and there to get over the hump, instead of going into the wholesale salary-slashing mode they went into this year in an attempt to face up to the reality of their untenable cap situation.

But Terrell Owens caught the pass.

He caught it, and it was one of the great wins for San Francisco in recent memory. And the 49ers went on to Atlanta the next week, where Garrison Hearst broke the tibia in his left leg on the first play from scrimmage, virtually ensuring a defeat there and sending the 49ers into a nearly yearlong search for a running game. It was a search that wound through desperate territory (Lawrence Phillips) before finally settling around Charlie Garner, but by the time that had happened, so much else had happened, too.

Young, taking a wicked hit from Arizona's Aeneas Williams when relative newcomer Phillips missed a blocking assignment on a blitz, suffered a concussion in Week 3 from which he has yet to return. Hearst never did come back. The offense went into a freefall, the defense fell apart, Jerry Rice became an afterthought, the salary cap asserted itself, the year washed out.

You can't say the same about Green Bay's season -- not yet, and certainly not in the "Who Wants It?" NFC, where 6-5, if the Pack can get there tonight, looks pretty competitive.

And it's all speculation, anyway, because Terrell Owens caught the ball. There can't be many fans of football at large who would wish that it hadn't happened. It was a great catch that provided a wonderful ending to an electric game. And as these same franchises take the field tonight, what goes through your mind, as much as anything, is the notion that Owens' unforgettable act might have been the last great one seen between the Packers and the 49ers for quite some time.

Mark Kreidler is a columnist for the Sacramento Bee, which has a web site at http://www.sacbee.com/. During the 1999 NFL season, he will write a weekly column for ESPN.com, focusing on the Monday Night Football matchup.