"Frank Gore would not stop smiling. Even when he recalled using crutches to walk into his first meeting with the 49ers' new coaching staff, he couldn't keep a grin off his face for very long.

At the end of Sunday's 26-0 rout of the Rams, he and two teammates seized the huge 49ers flags from their usual bearers and waved them furiously in Candlestick's south end zone.

The players routinely exit the field from this part of the stadium, and for years, it was their gantlet of grief. Too often, they'd hear boos at halftime and leave with slumped shoulders after the final whistle.

So Gore and his teammates did more than stage a celebration Sunday, when the franchise clinched its first division title in nine years. They held a giddy exorcism.

Fellow running back Anthony Dixon has made a habit of taking a flag from the Touchdown Team after every win in this transformative season. Nose tackle Ricky Jean Francois followed his lead Sunday, and then Gore took a flag of his own. Dixon and Francois dutifully returned theirs, but Gore climbed down into the stadium tunnel, still clutching the giant banner, which barely fit under the ceiling."