- NFC-champion San Francisco captured its third Super Bowl of the
1980s by defeating AFC-champion Cincinnati 20-16. The 49ers, who also
won Super Bowls XVI and XIX, are the first NFC team to win three Super
Bowls. Pittsburgh, with four Super Bowl titles (IX, X, XIII, and XIV),
and the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders, with three (XI, XV, and XVIII),
lead AFC franchises. Even though San Francisco held an advantage in
total net yards (453 to 229), the 49ers found themselves trailing the
Bengals late in the game. With the score 13-13, Cincinnati took a
16-13 lead on Jim Breech’s 40-yard field goal with 3:20 remaining.
It was Breech’s third field goal of the day, following earlier
successes from 34 and 43 yards.
- The 49ers started their winning drive at their 8-yard line. Over the
next 11 plays, San Francisco covered 92 yards with the decisive score
coming on a 10-yard pass from quarterback Joe Montana to wide receiver
John Taylor with 34 seconds remaining. At halftime, the score was 3-3,
the first time in Super Bowl history the game was tied at halftime.
After the teams traded third-period field goals, the Bengals jumped
ahead 13-6 on Stanford Jennings’s 93-yard kickoff return for a
touchdown with 34 seconds remaining in the quarter. The 49ers didn’t
waste any time coming back as they covered 85 yards in four plays,
concluding with Montana’s 14-yard scoring pass to Jerry Rice 57
seconds into the fourth quarter.
- With his team trailing 16-13 late in Super Bowl XXIII and the ball
92 yards from the goal line, Joe Montana turned to tackle Harris
Barton in the 49ers’ huddle. "Hey Harris," Montana said.
"Check it out. There’s (actor) John Candy." The 49ers
quarterback wasn’t called Joe Cool for nothing. Having turned his
attention back to the field, Montana quickly led San Francisco to
Cincinnati’s 18-yard line by completing 6-of-7 passes, the key
collaboration a 27-yard strike to Jerry Rice on second-and-20 from the
Bengals’ 45-yard line. Next came an 8-yard completion to Roger
Craig. The 49ers called time out with the ball on the 10 and 39
seconds remaining. "We had been hitting Roger Craig underneath so
much and they’d been doubling our outside guys," Montana said.
"So we tried to get the back underneath again. We had John Taylor
run a little up pattern and split the safeties. If the linebackers go
deep, you go to Roger. If they don’t, you go to John." This
time, the linebackers didn’t drop back into coverage. Montana
drilled a pass to Taylor in the end zone, giving the 49ers a 20-16
victory in the most dramatic finish in Super Bowl history.
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