CHAPTER ONE FANTASTIC FINISHES BY the time Super Bowl XXIII kicked off in January 1989 the game was an established tradition The championship of the National Football League NFL was the biggest day in American sports Millions watched on television around the world too However the Super Bowl didn't have a history of exciting games at that point Only once in the first 22 contests did the winning points come in the final minute That had happened all the way back in Super Bowl V after the 1970 season But that game was hardly a classic It's mostly remembered for the 11 combined turnovers committed by the Baltimore Colts and Dallas Cowboys So football fans were ready for excitement when the San Francisco 49ers met the Cincinnati Bengals in 1989 at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium Both teams were known for their San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana drops back to pass early in Super Bowl XXIII on January 22 1989 5
6 high-powered offenses San Francisco had two-time Super Bowl winner Joe Montana at quarterback Cincinnati was led by that season's Most Valuable Player MVP quarterback Boomer Esiason But the game turned into a defensive struggle The score was just 3-3 at halftime The Bengals finally delivered a scoring boost when running back Stanford Jennings took a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter The 49ers didn't find the end zone until the fourth Montana hit star receiver Jerry Rice on a 14-yard touchdown pass with 14:03 left The play tied the game 13-13 However with just under four minutes to play Cincinnati's Jim Breech booted another field goal The game had been exciting But with a combined five field goals and only two touchdowns it wasn't yet memorable Then the Bengals kicked off to San Francisco A penalty on the kickoff pushed San Francisco back to its own 8-yard line Montana quickly got to work With a cool confidence he began moving the team down the field Most of the big yards were picked up by Rice who was in the midst of a record-setting day With just over a minute left he caught a pass and raced 27 yards to the Bengals 18-yard line It was Rice's 11th reception of the day Two plays later San Francisco faced second-and-2 at the 10 Only 34 seconds remained on the clock Montana dropped back to pass Receiver John Taylor broke open over the middle While Rice had been putting on a show Taylor had not caught a pass all game
SF SF Montana left celebrates with John Taylor center and center Randy Cross after Taylor's go-ahead touchdown catch in the final minute But Taylor hauled in Montana's spiral to put the 49ers ahead for good The 20-16 final was the Super Bowl's first truly classic ending A DYNASTY BEGINS Super Bowl XXXVI in February 2002 was seen as a matchup between a powerhouse and a big underdog The St. Louis Rams had won the Super Bowl two years earlier They had one of the best offenses in 7
