KMAX: Sports

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Gus Frerotte kept his cool.

Terrell Owens lost his.

Frerotte, filling in for the injured Daunte Culpepper, threw for 267 yards and four touchdowns three to Randy Moss as Minnesota beat San Francisco 35-7 on Sunday to improve to 4-0.

``Whenever I'm in there, I'm going to be calm. Period. I think the guys feed off that,'' Frerotte said.

Owens, held to five catches for 55 yards, stormed off the field after Kevan Barlow was stuffed for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the Minnesota 31 late in the third quarter. The star receiver flung his helmet on the sideline and continued to scream.

``We got no heart,'' Owens said. ``I don't know what to say.''

Owens, who criticized the play-calling and pass protection in a postgame rant last week, again complained the 49ers didn't throw enough balls his way in single coverage.

``I'm out there playing,'' Owens said. ``I'm out there beating guys. What more can I do? I'm out there playing 100 percent. All of America can see what's going on.''

Moss had eight receptions for 172 yards for the Vikings, who scored on four of their five first-half possessions and intercepted three of Jeff Garcia's passes.

``Gus Frerotte came in and did exactly what we brought him in to do,'' said Minnesota coach Mike Tice, who turned to the 10-year veteran with Culpepper out with three broken bones in his back.

Frerotte went 16-for-21 without an interception against a speedy defense that entered the game with an NFL-high 13 sacks.

``I've been in some great games, and I've luckily done a lot of good things in this league,'' said Frerotte, who set a franchise record with a 157.2 quarterback rating. ``But today was an outstanding day.''

The 49ers were clearly frustrated.

``Nobody played very well,'' said coach Dennis Erickson, whose team has lost three straight after an opening victory. ``You can go from me on down to everyone else on that sideline.''

Garcia was 11-for-23 for 108 yards.

``My overall play needs to improve,'' Garcia said, ``whether that's accuracy, whether that's making better decisions, whether that's getting us in better position to make positive plays.''

Minnesota had no trouble making those types of plays.

The Vikings drove 72 yards on the opening drive, with Moss jumping over Ahmed Plummer to pull in a 15-yard TD pass.

Onterrio Smith's 5-yard TD run put the Vikings up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. In the second, Frerotte threw a 35-yard scoring pass to Moss and a 22-yarder to Nate Burleson to blow the game open. Frerotte accentuated his record-setting afternoon in the fourth quarter with a perfectly thrown 59-yard TD pass to Moss who had another score nullified by a pass-interference penalty.

``That's the best receiver in the game right now,'' Owens said.

The 49ers' red-zone struggles were magnified on the opening drive of the second half.

After San Francisco marched 70 yards to the 4, Barlow ran for 2 yards on first-and-goal. Then Garcia threw three straight incompletions passes intended for Owens, Tai Streets and Jed Weaver that were broken up by Vikings defenders.< ^Notes:@ Tim Rattay played the fourth quarter, throwing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Streets to keep San Francisco from its first shutout since 1977. Garcia has a strained groin, but Erickson said the decision to pull him was based on the score. ... Warren Moon held Minnesota's previous single-game mark for quarterback rating, posting a 152.9 against New Orleans on Nov. 19, 1995.