This month is the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco 49ers’ victory in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium. It capped off a 17-1 season by what many consider to be the best 49ers team ever. In this excerpt from retired Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy’s new book, “San Francisco 49ers: An Illustrated Timeline,” he describes what led to that triumph and how it unfolded:
The roots of the 49ers’ best season ever were planted 24 months earlier. Following their stunning Super Bowl XVI victory in suburban Detroit over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Niners endured two seasons of sludge and vexation that concluded with a controversial playoff loss. The defeat would serve as a spark for a remarkable stretch of excellence and a convincing Super Bowl XIX statement.
But first, there was the ugly train wreck of 1982. Head coach Bill Walsh’s worries about a championship hangover were merited. After an 0-2 start, the NFL Players’ Association went on strike for eight weeks. When games resumed, the sour atmosphere lingered. The 49ers finished 3-6 in a shortened schedule. Years later, Walsh candidly identified another factor, one that infested many NFL teams during the anything-goes 1980s.
“Drugs were a primary culprit,” Walsh said. “Some of our key players didn’t show up to play and cocaine was the reason why.”
Walsh was so drained by the entire experience that he didn’t show up for the end-of-the-year team meeting and briefly considered stepping down before vowing to get the team back on track in 1983. Players were miffed about Walsh’s postseason ghosting and by his insinuations that they hadn’t taken winning seriously in 1982.
The head coach definitely had fences to mend. Owner Eddie DeBartolo helped by raising Walsh’s profile, naming him team president. Walsh responded by making a trade with the Rams for elusive running back Wendell Tayler and drafting Roger Craig, a multipurpose back out of Nebraska. They were impactful as the 49ers finished 10-6 and advanced to the NFC championship game in Washington D.C.
On mushy turf at RFK Stadium, the 49ers rallied from a 21-0 deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter. But on the next Washington drive, officials made a questionable pass interference call when an uncatchable ball sailed high over a receiver’s head. An angry Walsh opined that “not even a 10-foot Boston Celtic” could have hauled it in. The penalty set up Washington’s winning field goal in a 24-21 decision.
The 49ers used it as fuel for the 1984 season, with Walsh saying: “It became our biggest motivation, without me even trying to make it so.”
When training camp opened six months after the D.C. bitterness, a palpable resoluteness filled the air. The young 49ers from the 1981 championship team now seemed to grasp that they had a finite number of years left to prove they were no fluke Super Bowl winners, as some claimed.
With DeBartolo’s go-ahead, Walsh made trades to acquire expensive veteran depth. The draft yielded uber-talented rookies such as safety Jeff Fuller and nose tackle Michael Carter, who was late to camp because he was winning a shot put silver medal at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Upshot? The 49ers became the first NFL team to win 15 games in a regular season, still a franchise record. Every Sunday when quarterback Joe Montana took his first snap, it was like watching someone pull a trigger on a weapon that couldn’t be stopped. Every Sunday when the 49ers’ defense lined up with skill and intent, opponents went nowhere.
Game after game, wonders abounded. In a playoff rematch against Washington, the 49ers racked up 31 first downs and 534 yards in a 37-31 victory. Twelve different 49ers scored touchdowns in the season’s first six weeks. Wide receiver Freddie Solomon had TDs in 10 consecutive games. Montana missed two starts with sore ribs, but backup Matt Cavanaugh won both.
The 49ers’ defense was just as solidly vicious. It held the NFL’s leading rusher, Eric Dickerson, to 38 yards in a victory over the Rams. The unit grew even stronger in November when pass rusher Fred Dean, a contract holdout, agreed to terms mediated by attorney Willie Brown, the future San Francisco mayor.
Walsh’s X-and-O imagination, of course, received the most attention. One curious interviewer asked tight end Russ Francis to describe what soon became known as the West Coast offense.
“I could detail it in specifics but it’s top secret,” Francis joked. “We could have up to 120 pass plays installed for one game plan. It’s sort of like reading the New York phone book.”
Walsh was in peak form. At times, he lined up offensive lineman Guy McIntyre as a blocking fullback. By season’s end, Craig had 71 receptions and Tyler had gained 1,262 yards. Both were team records.
The lone 1984 loss occurred in Week 7. The bully Steelers came to Candlestick Park and undid the 49ers’ rhythm, with a late interception setting up Pittsburgh’s winning field goal in their 20-17 victory.
The 49ers, after narrowly missing a 16-0 season, focused on January.
Everybody sensed where the NFL’s postseason tournament of 1984 was headed. The 49ers and Miami Dolphins were the two best teams with the two best records. When the preliminary playoff games were out of the way, they were also the two Super Bowl XIX teams.
This meant that the 49ers’ Montana and the Dolphins’ Dan Marino, the Super Bowl quarterbacks, would have to answer questions about each other.
Which they were both loath to do.
Who could blame them? As Montana reminded people the week before the game: “I’m not playing against him. I’m playing against their defense. He’s playing against our defense.”
Right. OK, whatever. The pregame questions still came every day: Which of you two has the best throwing arm? Or the most beautiful girlfriend? Or the best tattoo? Either of you have a tattoo?
It was all maddening for two guys who actually had a lot in common. Both were Italian-Americans raised in the same quarterback-fertile soil of Western Pennsylvania that had spawned Hall of Famers Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath. Like Montana, Marino had been somewhat overlooked in the college draft, finally being selected after five other quarterbacks had come off the board.
The difference was, entering the Super Bowl media vortex, Marino was the hotter name. He was 23, in his second NFL season. Montana was old news. Marino, during the 1984 regular season, had broken six NFL passing records, including most touchdown passes (48) and most passing yards (5,084).
By comparison, Montana’s stellar numbers (28 touchdowns, 3,360 yards) were pedestrian. Walsh saw that perception as disrespect.
“This week we are playing against the greatest passer of all time, as I understand it,” Walsh said with sarcasm.
“Everybody has their time,” Montana said of Marino, “and this is his right now. I think this is great what’s happening to him.”
“Everything Marino does seems natural,” said Miami coach Don Shula a few days before kickoff. “Nothing overwhelms him. He handles it.”
Shula should have added: So far.
The 49ers did have another edge, this one geographic. Super Bowl XIX was not technically a home game for them. But almost. Stanford Stadium, the game’s site, was only 30 miles south of Candlestick and six miles from the team’s Redwood City practice facility. The 49ers could sleep in their own beds the week of the game. The Dolphins were forced to bunk out at a downtown Oakland hotel, in a fishbowl environment.
That may or may not have contributed to the game’s final score. But the “home game” vibe definitely added to the giddiness that consumed the Bay Area.
For the first time, the league erected a “corporate village” of several dozen party tents outside the stadium, setting precedent for every Super Bowl since. Meanwhile, the wooden bleachers inside the antiquated stadium were covered by 84,059 seat cushions with an Apple logo, a marketing decision that Steve Jobs personally approved when approached by an NFL executive. Today, those cushions are collectors’ items.
Once those 84,059 ticket holders took their seats, anticipation was high for a wild offensive circus. Briefly, Montana and Marino gave it to them, with matching touchdown drives. The Dolphins led, 10-7, as the second quarter began. But after that, it was all 49ers. They outscored Miami 31-16 the rest of the way for a 38-16 final result.
Walsh and his defensive coordinator, George Seifert, correctly diagnosed Miami’s mediocre running game. The Niners alternated between five or six defensive backs on every down and dared Marino to solve the riddle. He completed 29 of 50 pass attempts for 318 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions while being sacked four times.
Montana was far more efficient, completing 25 of 35 attempts for 331 yards and three TDs. He also rushed for 98 yards and was named the game’s MVP. Craig racked up three touchdowns. The Niners averaged 7.1 yards per offensive play. And rightfully gloated afterward.
“The last two weeks, all we heard was how good Marino and his receivers were,” Montana said. “Nobody said anything about OUR offense. It was all, ‘Stop Miami, stop Miami.’ Nobody said that WE would have to be stopped.”
Mark Purdy will sign copies of “San Francisco 49ers: An Illustrated Timeline” on Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 7-8 p.m. at Books Inc. in Palo Alto (855 El Camino Real) and on Saturday, Feb. 1, from 2-3 p.m. at A Seat At The Table Books in Elk Grove (9257 Laguna Springs Drive).
