MINNEAPOLIS -- Shaun Hill has put six years, 36 games and 27 NFL starts between him and his last appearance in a Minnesota Vikings-San Francisco 49ers game. And yet, at first mention of what happened in the Metrodome on Sept. 27, 2009, the memories are close at hand.

"That was one of the hardest losses I've had as a pro," Hill said.

The Vikings' 27-24 win over the 49ers, of course, ended with Brett Favre's last-second touchdown pass to Greg Lewis -- a brilliant bit of last-second magic that set the Metrodome into a fervor and served notice that Favre still had the stuff of a franchise quarterback at age 39. It's become a touchstone moment for younger Vikings fans, and probably stands with Favre's two wins over the Green Bay Packers as his greatest moments in a Vikings uniform.

The starting quarterback on the other side that day? Hill.

Shaun Hill calls the 49ers' 2009 loss to Brett Favre's Vikings his hardest as a pro. He is now on his second tour with the team that won that day, serving as Teddy Bridgewater's backup. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Playing his third game for a 49ers team that had gotten off to a 2-0 start, Hill completed 15 of his 25 passes for 195 yards that day, and found Vernon Davis on a 20-yard strike that put San Francisco up 24-20 with 8:12 to go. It was Hill's second touchdown throw of the day, and it put him in position to get a win against the team that had given him his first NFL action.

But then the Vikings' vaunted run defense stuffed Glen Coffee three times and Andy Lee drilled his punt into the end zone, giving the ball back to Favre with 1:29 left and 80 yards to go.

"He's one of the best of all-time, especially in that situation," Hill said. "You knew there was a chance."

When Favre rolled to his right, evading a rusher and heaving the ball toward the end zone before he was drilled from behind, Hill was standing behind the play on the 49ers' bench. He couldn't see Lewis' feet well enough from his vantage point to concede a touchdown, so as the Metrodome crowd exulted, Hill waited in hope that a replay would overturn the catch. It didn't.

"I just couldn't believe it," Hill said.

The throw, Hill said, still ranks among the best plays he's ever seen in the NFL, though he said the top play on his list was "the one they turned into the Burger King commercial" -- Randy Moss' over-the-shoulder lateral to Moe Williams on the final play of the first half in the Vikings' 2003 win over Denver. Hill, in his second year with the Vikings, was a backup on that team. "I was on the right side of that one," he said.

Now in his second tour with the Vikings, Hill will head out to the Bay Area this weekend to play the 49ers for just the second time since the Favre-to-Lewis play. He'll back up Teddy Bridgewater on Monday night, and perhaps he'll witness another memorable moment in Adrian Peterson's return to the field.

The Favre play, though, took time to get over. The 49ers lost five of their next seven after the game, and coach Mike Singletary replaced Hill with Alex Smith at haltime of a Week 7 game against the Houston Texans. He was traded to the Detroit Lions after that season.

At this point, Hill said, he's put the play behind him. Vikings fans likely don't remember he was the quarterback on the other side of Favre's throw to Lewis, and they've left him alone about it since he returned.

"I haven't heard much about it," he said.

Until some annoying reporter brings it up.