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Rise Of The 49Ers - Season 1 Episode 3 - The Gold Standard
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Short filmTranscript
00:00The positive feelings you have about yourself and the team should come from the team.
00:20Because, believe me, no one suffers but us when we lose.
00:26No one.
00:27Some people delight.
00:29You know the newspapers in San Francisco delight in one of us.
00:34So we're in this thing alone.
00:35You don't have any friends outside this room and your families.
00:38And these are the people that are going to make a difference in your life for the next couple of months.
00:43You know, he videoed every meeting he had and kept it as a document.
00:47He wanted to know if he was being effective or not.
00:50It honed his skill and made him more of an effective communicator.
00:54Any word that came out of his mouth, you're like, oh my God, wow.
00:59You're ready to go do battle.
01:01You're ready to go run through a wall.
01:04I heard he was like a grandpa, but also tough and didn't take any shit.
01:11We've got to correct the problem.
01:13Yeah, he could be your best friend.
01:15He could be your worst enemy.
01:16I get unraveled.
01:18Ronnie gets unraveled.
01:19There's nothing personal.
01:20That's just part of it.
01:21Because we're right on the edge all the time.
01:23That's all this man thought about.
01:26Trying to have a competitive advantage.
01:28When you take a loss, you shake it off and come back ready to play the next day.
01:33That's professional.
01:35And that's what it takes.
01:37He is the godfather of the modern NFL.
01:40You wondered why, why all this?
01:43And what he was doing was he was collecting it so that he could hand it to his assistant coaches.
01:49Especially his minority coaches, he wanted to see them get jobs in the NFL.
01:53He wanted to help them be successful.
01:56And we play our style of football.
01:58And we don't want it any other way.
02:01And so at the height of his genius, he collected it all and handed it out.
02:06We have a standard of play on this particular football team.
02:10You play full board, all out, every play until the game's over.
02:16So you have a standard of excellence every play.
02:19I need you!
02:21Please!
02:37First and foremost, it was the game right before the NFL players went on strike.
02:41So there was a lot of tension in the league.
02:43There was a lot of tension in locker rooms.
02:45We had the lead at the end of the game.
02:47Bill Walsh and company now have to look for a little bit of help from the almighty.
02:52I don't think anybody thought that we were going to win that football game.
02:56Eddie DiVarlo already had left the field to go to the locker room to chew everybody out.
03:02I wasn't always Mr. Nice Guy.
03:06Not with the team or not with Bill.
03:09My Youngstown roots came out from time to time.
03:13But that's the way I was brought up.
03:15And Montana will get one throw right to the near side.
03:20And they decide that they're going to line up as if they're going to throw a Hail Mary down the left side.
03:24And instead, they had Jerry Rice on the right side of the field with a rookie cornerback.
03:28Had to go against, you know, Jerry Rice with Joe Montana throwing it to him.
03:32Here's Montana throwing for the end zone.
03:35It was like slow motion.
03:37The ball slowed down.
03:38You could see the rotation of the front.
03:40And as receivers, we always taught to go up and catch the ball at its highest peak.
03:45So I go up, I attack the football, and we win that game.
03:49He's got it! Touchdown 49ers!
03:54It just looks so easy.
03:55The 49ers have won it on the final play.
03:59That's an incredible ball game, my friend.
04:02Boy, that was the most ecstatic moment we've had in a long time.
04:06I think Roger Craig and I skipped off the field.
04:12He handled victory great for about 20 minutes, then it was back to work.
04:17As I've gotten older, I've realized, you know, how much my dad really cared.
04:24At their 49er offices, there were photos lining all the halls.
04:28And my dad would walk down the hall.
04:31If they weren't quite straight, he would straighten them.
04:33If your desk wasn't clean, you heard about it.
04:35I mean, he was one of those kind of dudes.
04:38This time of year, right now, every detail counts.
04:43He was chasing perfection.
04:45He thought it was possible.
04:47He was frustrated when it didn't happen.
04:49I'm going to renew the presentation of the Vince Lombardi trophy.
04:52My dad was always after the perfect game.
04:55I can even think of a Super Bowl we won that could have been a perfect game
04:58if I'd have made two different calls.
05:00I always played off the negative.
05:02But I think that, in a sense, drives a person into being totally mobilized to the very best they can.
05:07Two plays. That's how we thought.
05:09Now they'd won the game big.
05:10Everybody loved it, but he was beating himself over two calls in the game
05:14that he didn't think he should have made.
05:16Bill was, they called him the genius.
05:19Good or bad.
05:22The tricky part for Bill was to find the balance.
05:27If perfection is unattainable, and that's the goal, then what do you do with what's left?
05:35It's an obsession for a coach to lay in bed at midnight on a Wednesday night thinking about,
05:41how do I get this guy open on third down?
05:44That's why you're successful.
05:47Because if it's not great, man, you want to pull your hair out.
05:50Because it's so frustrating that you're not getting the results that you think you should get.
05:54The high expectations are what it should be.
05:57You should reach for perfection and settle for excellence.
06:02Bill Walsh, he's trying to be perfect.
06:05That's the goal.
06:10We played Cincinnati on Sunday.
06:12Had a great comeback.
06:14Bill was very pointed.
06:16He goes, look, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I don't care what you're going to do.
06:20But whatever you do, do it as a team.
06:24The strike football fans have been dreading is on.
06:28The NFL's announced plan to keep the season going using players who had been cut by the teams in the preseason was attacked by union officials.
06:38Nothing doing as far as progress in the NFL strike.
06:41Plenty of replacement players to go around as the Niners made public the names of some 60 players who will play in the interim.
06:49I think we'll be able to field a good team.
06:51Obviously, it's not going to be the same product that was here a couple of weeks ago.
06:54Welcome to Giants Stadium where two teams representing the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants play.
07:00And I'll remind you that these games do count.
07:03The whole thing was insane.
07:05I remember all of us laughing at Bill.
07:07He decided the only way I can do this is if they run the wishbone triple option.
07:12Walsh last coached the wishbone when he was a high school coach.
07:16Here comes the bone.
07:18And when's the last time you've seen that in the NFL?
07:21It was crazy.
07:25And Bill's.
07:27You got to be able to deal with adversity.
07:30There's your final 41-21 San Francisco.
07:33When things are tough, how do you deal with it as a team?
07:36Bill had said, if you're going to stay, do it as a team.
07:41If you're going to go out, do it as a team.
07:44And initially we did do it as a team.
07:48And we'd have practices just to stay focused on football.
07:52And then guys started going back.
07:55Joe Montana is not a member of the union and is being mentioned among the possible strike breakers.
08:01Hey, I have certain things that I have to do and the decision has to be mine.
08:06I didn't agree with what we were arguing and fighting about.
08:10I want a better bargaining agreement like everyone else, but what we're fighting for, they're not going to give us.
08:15You're not going to get it right now.
08:17You could never get that across because everybody was too concerned that you went back in.
08:23This is the scene outside Atlanta Stadium.
08:25Falcons man the picket lines.
08:27The complexion of this game changed dramatically last Wednesday when Joe Montana walked back into camp for the 49ers.
08:33And Bill Walsh and the 49ers get another win.
08:36I don't know if I could lift these guys in the eye down the road when I got to play with them again.
08:42There is Joe Montana. He's 12 of 13.
08:46Success.
08:48So the 49ers went 3-0 in replacement ball.
08:54National Football League players went back to work today on orders from their union without achieving any of the goals they struck for.
09:01The 49ers can't ignore the last three weeks, the strike and its ramifications.
09:06But now it's time for the players to get reacquainted.
09:09There were a lot of really heated, heated opinions.
09:14I had a chance to at least explain to the guys what I was doing and why I was doing it.
09:21It was just hard to get that point across to the other players.
09:25The guys had some strong reactions. I think you said something in the heat of the moment.
09:30I don't want to get into that. I don't want to go there. I don't want to go there. Okay? Don't want to go there.
09:35Alright.
09:36That's way old news. Okay?
09:39Eventually, people started saying, let's go play. Let's just go play and win.
09:45Regardless of what went on the last three or four weeks, the ultimate goal is to get the Super Bowl ring.
09:50I just want to be serious for a minute. We've won the previous games, not the sky that I'd like to have seen.
09:59We've got to start demonstrating the poise of a champion.
10:02San Francisco 49ers, a team with perhaps the best organization in all of football, and it has paid off in dividends.
10:13San Francisco has been not only winning, but playing wide open, exciting football.
10:17And a big reason is the fabulous wide receivers.
10:19He's going to throw long.
10:20And I think just about everyone around this league would agree that the 49ers are the best team in football.
10:25Rice is there. He's got it. Touchdown 49ers.
10:28The year of the strike, I played 12 games. And in those 12 games, I think I had 23 touchdowns.
10:36It's crazy.
10:38Jerry Rice was the ultimate. I called him Jesus and colleagues.
10:41Now, what about his nickname?
10:43He folds a towel up and puts Flash 80 on him.
10:46It was like Flash, like Flash Gordon. And it just caught on.
10:50That took a lot of time because I had to get to the stadium early.
10:54Hey, man, that's not white, man. That's blue.
10:57What if they were out washing stuff on, man?
11:00Bronco, come on, Bronco.
11:03I had to have the new shoes. The pants had to fit a certain way.
11:06The jersey had to be nice and tapered.
11:08Because I feel it makes a statement.
11:11If you look a certain way, you're going to play a certain way.
11:14Rice is currently the main thrust in the high-powered 49er offense
11:18and seems totally relaxed with his role as Joe Montana's favorite target.
11:23He'd just run right by people.
11:27I would tell my safety if I'm playing him, you back up.
11:30And if Jerry Rice gets behind you, you just keep running and go straight into the locker room and go home.
11:37When you've got the greatest quarterback ever, like Montana, you know he's going to put the ball in an area where you can do something with it.
11:45You know, the longer you play with somebody, the better feel you get.
11:47And he's been having a great year, and you just got to keep going to him.
11:50Jerry's running a post. Did you call a post? No.
11:53How do you know he was going to the post? I could just tell.
11:56He could look at me, and I could look at him, and I knew exactly what he was thinking.
12:01He knew what I was thinking.
12:03The hero today, Jerry Rice, with three touchdowns for the third time in his career.
12:06That's why I always tell him, I said, you came way too late in my career.
12:10What the hell's wrong with you?
12:14Here we are at the Walsh residence.
12:17Lifestyles of the rich and famous.
12:20You know, in our house, we had just a regular phone,
12:24and then we had, like, the office phone, and it was red, which was really funny.
12:29One time I picked up the phone, and it was Sean Connery calling
12:34to tell us that he couldn't make it to the game.
12:38When that phone rang, I didn't mind answering the phone.
12:45We had a candlestick luxury box, and people would call and want to come in,
12:48and Willie Nelson was one.
12:50Clint Eastwood, Priscilla Presley,
12:52and I didn't even have to invite him.
12:54Tom Selleck.
12:55MC Hammer.
12:56I remember him being there.
12:57Grateful Dead, and all those guys were all around, too.
13:00Peter Frampton.
13:02They're my team, you know.
13:03They've been my team for a long, long time, man.
13:05What's your prediction?
13:06There is no prediction.
13:07What do you mean?
13:08The Niners are going to go to the Super Bowl.
13:10Yeah.
13:11The journey was around.
13:12Absolutely.
13:13I don't know who had that jersey.
13:16The players got really, really close to a lot of them, especially Huey Lewis.
13:23Huey Lewis was huge at that time.
13:27We played Pittsburgh last night, and I was an hour away, and Dwight called me so I couldn't move.
13:31When the 49ers started to happen, Eddie and Bill understood what they meant to the community.
13:37They encouraged this camaraderie between artists and the players and the community and all that sort of stuff.
13:43Huey was there singing all the time.
13:45We did anthems.
13:46We did halftime concerts.
13:48We wrote this song, Hip to be Square.
13:50Hip to be Square.
13:51And got the idea of having them shout here, there, and everywhere.
13:54Hip, hip, and everywhere.
13:56Hip, hip, so hip to be square.
13:59As long as I didn't have to sing by myself, I'd be okay.
14:06Your gold record's in the mail.
14:09There might have been celebrities suddenly showing up, but the real celebrities were the players.
14:15Everywhere we went, we were the story.
14:18We were Aerosmith and Rolling Stones putting together.
14:21There'd be hundreds of people.
14:23We had special security that would shield the players.
14:27Joe Montana was, all of a sudden, one of the hottest names in America.
14:31I'm wanted.
14:32What for, Sheriff?
14:33I'm just a 49er.
14:34Looking for a little gold.
14:35Even though we're from New Jersey and all our friends are mad at us for going for 49ers, we want them to win and go all the way to Super Bowl.
14:42I mean, you would have never known it as a teammate.
14:45He was pretty down to earth.
14:46He didn't feel like he was special.
14:51I mean, he knew what his job was and, you know, he had the skill set to get it done and put the ball in his hands and, you know, here we are.
15:03From the 12, Montana trips.
15:07Down he goes.
15:08Back at the 20, clutching his knee.
15:10And Candlestick Park becomes silent.
15:13What's it like for a team bound for the playoffs to lose not only its best player but perhaps the most valuable player in the National Football League?
15:24Well, the San Francisco 49ers will find out right away.
15:31Joe Montana is down on the ground.
15:34Hurt.
15:35On the sidelines gonna be Steve Young getting a word for Bill Waltz.
15:39I think it was interesting from a fan standpoint because there was two totally contrasting styles of quarterbacking.
15:46Joe Montana helped off the field.
15:49A right-handed, prototypical passer.
15:52The most beautiful spiral you've ever seen in your life.
15:55The coolest.
15:57So many big wins.
15:59And there is Montana being taken back to the dressing room.
16:05Here he is, the left-hander.
16:07And then here comes Steve, left-handed scrambler.
16:11Second and 18, and it's Young rolling left.
16:14Getting inside the 20, inside the 10, the 5, and Young barrels down to the 1.
16:22Ball will be coming out sideways.
16:24Pass to right, caught for the touchdown.
16:27Tom, I had never caught a ball from a lefty.
16:30And I got to try to get used to the different spin.
16:33And the crowd chanting Joe, Joe, Joe.
16:36Everything that I learned with Joe, now I had to make Steve Young the best that he could be.
16:41And the 49ers have dominated the first half despite losing Joe Montana.
16:46People ask me, what's it like to play with Joe Montana, Steve Young?
16:50I said, you know, I pretty much put both of those guys in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
16:54All I had to do to throw me the football.
16:56I think about all the athletes in the world that compete in a sport that you run down a runway, flip up and land, and then you either win or lose.
17:15Like, that is incredibly difficult.
17:18Me throwing a ball in a general vicinity and have Jerry Rice catch it for a touchdown, that's the job you want.
17:25Career best, four touchdown passes.
17:28I know, Steve, when you saw Joe go down, you had to be concerned, but also excited to go into the game.
17:33Obviously, we're best when Joe's in the game, and I just kind of get ready the best that I can.
17:3813-2, and a brilliant regular season campaign.
17:43Joe Montana, did he say, hey, I can come back later in a couple of weeks?
17:48No, I didn't really talk to him about that.
17:49I just, we've built up a good relationship over these six months, and I just wish that he could get better real fast.
17:54You feeling pretty nimble nowadays?
17:56Yeah, I feel pretty good.
17:57The 49ers, the favored team in the race to the Super Bowl.
18:02Minnesota, the ball club that surprised the New Orleans Saints, the first chance to upset the 49ers.
18:08Saints go marching in.
18:09They didn't even concern themselves with who they were playing.
18:12And we've got to make this a personal vendetta against the Minnesota Vikings.
18:17It was not a great day.
18:20Drizzly, the field was wet.
18:23What happens, the water table is so high here that it doesn't drain.
18:27Once it starts raining, this becomes a quagmire.
18:33They are favored in this game by 11 points right now.
18:36They are the pick to go on and capture Super Bowl XXII.
18:40And if the 49ers accomplish that, it certainly will stamp them as the team of this decade.
18:45Yeah, we were supposed to win that game.
18:48.
18:53Everybody had picked us to win.
18:55We were moving on.
18:56Vikings couldn't handle us.
18:58For the 49ers, they've had two weeks to get Joe Montana healthy.
19:02Does have a bit of a sore hamstring, but they've got a dandy on the bench.
19:05Montana's had a good, solid year.
19:07There are times when you like Young's movement.
19:10Will he come in in certain situations?
19:11Well, you flirt with it, I'm not sure.
19:14You don't want to take the continuity away from your quarterback who's taking you already to two world championships.
19:20I could tell from the beginning of that game, it just wasn't right.
19:29Touchdown!
19:33We couldn't stop their pass game.
19:35And the 49ers certainly a little confused defensively.
19:39It's one of those things of sports that you can't really explain.
19:45You know, you've got everything going for you.
19:47You're right there.
19:48And then it just falls apart.
19:51Going deep for Rice.
19:54Incomplete.
19:55Gary Rice has been shut down today.
19:58Sideliner for Clark.
20:01Picked off.
20:02Touchdown!
20:03Minnesota has San Francisco in deep trouble.
20:11Sacked.
20:12Second sack.
20:13Play action and a sack.
20:18Bill would always do what he thought was best to get the W.
20:25And if Joe couldn't run and Steve could run, I would have made the same decision if I was him.
20:33A rare occurrence where you see Joe Montana lifted from the game.
20:38I didn't know where it was going from that point.
20:40Was he making a change for good or what?
20:44Or I don't know.
20:46And I'm sure he was trying to find a spark for the team at that point.
20:52But I think that was probably the most disappointing part is that he took an opportunity away.
20:59Not like I'd never been behind before.
21:01That's a very frustrated quarterback right there.
21:04Some players just looked and it was like,
21:06Oh, .
21:07And we've been here.
21:08We all know this situation.
21:10You're making the wrong choice.
21:12In the middle of a playoff game, to suddenly have greatest quarterback to ever play the game get yanked for his backup?
21:21I'm looking around like, if he can mess with Joe, who on this team isn't replaceable?
21:28Play action pass and wide open Roger Craig inside the five.
21:36It boiled down to this.
21:38I knew that Steve Young's running would make up for our lack of pass protection.
21:43Long touchdown.
21:45I had a job to do.
21:47It was my role.
21:48I'd be letting the team down and my profession down.
21:51And I wouldn't be honest with myself unless I made that change.
21:54Steve Young obviously made an instant difference.
21:57Joe was a great runner, but Steve was the greatest.
22:00And it happened.
22:01Steve went in and ran with the ball and threw and we'd scored a couple of touchdowns.
22:06Young for John Taylor, intercepted.
22:09The Minnesota Vikings with an absolutely startling upset of the team with the best record in football this year.
22:18We weren't ready.
22:19It was my fault.
22:20Our team wasn't ready.
22:24It was devastation in the Bay Area.
22:26We felt like we had let the fans down.
22:29I didn't like losing.
22:31It would stay with you till training camp.
22:35I think, too, you have Hall of Fame quarterback, Hall of Fame receiver, Hall of Fame head coach.
22:41It's like the expectations for yourself because you knew what you had.
22:48The 87 year was the one where people started to grumble because they all thought that they were better than the Vikings.
22:56It really started to eat at Eddie and it really started to eat at Walsh.
22:59He wanted a replacement for Montana because he was big on the old Paul Brown notion, let great players go a year before they're done.
23:08You'd never like to be taken out of the game, but, you know, we talked about it right at the end of the game and I understand why he did it.
23:15I think our relationship changed a little bit from that point on and it wasn't quite as jokey and as fun.
23:24It became more business between Bill and I, which I didn't really like.
23:29I do all the work and I'm serious, but I'm not serious.
23:32I'm out there to have fun and the way you have fun is when you play well and you perform and you, and add an extra stress to that stupid game, it's not necessary.
23:50Bill always believed that creative tension was positive.
23:53Toxic tension was terrible and it's a fine line.
23:58In the end, you know, Bill authored it, right?
24:01So, there was going to be a lot of drama about it.
24:15This is a great photo of Bill and I.
24:17This was the NFC Championship.
24:20You can tell how elated Bill Walsh was.
24:23He wore his, you know, his emotions on his shoulder.
24:28I mean, at times you'd have to sort of hold Eddie off.
24:31He'd be so emotional.
24:32He wanted to win so, so badly, especially after we'd won, say, two Super Bowls.
24:38After we'd become a dynasty, then he wanted to and expected to win every week.
24:44That made it very, very difficult.
24:47Bill took things super hard.
24:49He and Eddie had this love-hate relationship.
24:52It teetered on creative and toxic tension, you know what I mean?
24:55It was like teetering.
24:57Ed DuBarlow and I have got along beautifully.
24:59I've really treasured the opportunity to work for him.
25:03Eddie probably fired Bill three times.
25:05Eddie fired him like six or seven times.
25:07Eddie told me to fire Bill 12 times at least.
25:10At least 12 times.
25:11He gets frustrated when we lose and so do I.
25:14I do think my dad might have been fired on a flight home from a game.
25:18And I think we've worked well together for many years.
25:21I think I fired him in New Orleans after a game.
25:24But, you know, this too shall be mended.
25:30You know, you have these couples that can't live with each other, can't live without each other.
25:36These two photos sum it all up.
25:39It could be as emotional and sad as you could imagine where you package in years of stress and turmoil and being the best, only the best.
25:49And then there were the moments where you realize what you really had in the relationship and what you really were able to do together.
25:56I'd like to say we don't have a Bill Walsh in the NFL without Eddie DeBarlow.
26:01And Eddie DeBarlow maybe never has a trophy without Bill.
26:04Who knows?
26:05They gave each other what they needed.
26:08And so long as nothing went too terribly wrong, then you had a shot at winning.
26:14The morning after, every picture does tell a story and the faces here pretty much fit the mood.
26:20The Viking loss changed a bunch of dynamics there.
26:25That loss was devastating.
26:27It almost, in a sense, cost me my job.
26:30My problem was I had served as president, general manager, and head coach, and offensive coordinator at the same time.
26:36Had so many things to think about.
26:38I'll be back. If they come by, I'll be here.
26:40He was taking on absolutely way too much responsibility.
26:44Because he was running the offense, overseeing the defense.
26:47He would sit there with a projector until 2 in the morning, looking at the plays.
26:52He did the team travel to the marketing department.
26:56We have some company. These are 49er players. I'm the coach. I'm Bill Walsh.
27:00Welcome to our locker room and welcome to your suites.
27:04You know, back in those days, we had, like, one marketing person in the building.
27:08So, for sure, he was involved in all aspects, probably making the decision.
27:12These are the kind of things he was being pushed around with.
27:14Instead of just coaching football, which was his bread and butter.
27:17So, he needed a break.
27:20My dad found out, kind of a roundabout way, that he'd been demoted.
27:23Now, obviously, my dad's ego maybe could fit in here.
27:26He took out the lights, maybe he could fit, his ego could fit in here in that time of his life.
27:31So, he took that as a personal attack.
27:36I think the pressure that 87 ratcheted up on him, in particular in 88, made him miserable.
27:43And because he wore his agonies on his sleeve, he did the one thing a coach should never do.
27:49There's a quarterback controversy developing.
27:51We're going to have to select between Steve Young and Joe Montana.
27:54That's a critical area for us.
27:56Now, it came out in his own words, not in my words, not in any other columnist's words.
28:01I was really mystified.
28:03It is tossing red meat to the sports media.
28:05It's instant headlines.
28:06People like controversy, period.
28:08I think they're going to have to kick me out.
28:10If I can still take the beating, I still want to play.
28:12I mean, and if I can still do the job.
28:14In my own mind, I try to beat Joe.
28:16You know, I'm going to be better than Joe.
28:17And now, you know, obviously, that's not going to happen for a little while.
28:20But that's my goal.
28:21And I think it's a great challenge.
28:22And I think I thrive on that, and I think it's a lot of fun.
28:28Bill Walsh, he remembers the last time that they played the Giants here.
28:32It was a nightmare for the 49ers.
28:34It was a nightmare for Joe Montana.
28:36And I really feel that he would like to see how Steve Young can do against them.
28:40We can't guarantee that everybody's feelings are going to be treated perfectly.
28:45But in the spirit of what we're doing, we've all got one thing in mind.
28:50That's to bring this team as close together as we can get it and perform them for it.
28:54Steve Young comes on for his first start of the year.
28:57There's Joe Montana there in the cap.
28:59He's disappointed that he didn't get the start today.
29:02Was I mad at Bob?
29:04I'm pretty sure I probably was.
29:06If I wasn't, something was wrong with me.
29:09Young, four-man rush.
29:12Here's where he is so dangerous.
29:15Whoa!
29:16Fumble!
29:17Fumble.
29:18Young.
29:19He fumbled that ball before the whistle blew.
29:24I didn't feel like Bill pitted us against each other.
29:28He didn't look for us to, you know, have a dogfight.
29:32It really wasn't that way, but it was, that's where the awkwardness was.
29:37It's a funny thing because there's like a fine line.
29:41You want the team to win, but you still want to play.
29:44And this is where Joe Montana is so strong.
29:47There's no one that operates with their offense better than Montana.
29:51People will say, ma, you're not a team player.
29:54Well, I am a team player.
29:56And so it's this space that you're in trying to figure out how to navigate it.
30:04Steve Young stays on the bench, and here comes Joe Montana.
30:09I know I'm better than that, and I know I can play with that team and make that team better.
30:141.21 to go, and the 49ers have fallen behind by four.
30:19It was one of those things I was always ready for an opportunity.
30:23Montana to throw.
30:25Throws long for Rice down the sideline.
30:28He's gone!
30:30I just remember looking back, I could see my entire team like chasing me to the end zone.
30:36A 77-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Rice.
30:40Man, it's just like, you just never know.
30:43And Rice erases a nightmare of three years making.
30:47I was always ready to play.
30:49My gracious.
30:51I don't think the 49ers are ready to put Joe Montana on the shelf yet.
30:58Hey, Ryan, you can look at me and not the camera, if you will.
31:00A couple questions I'm sure you've answered a million times you're tired of hearing.
31:03How much did the quarterback controversy affect the team?
31:05Okay, the quarterback controversy.
31:07They've had a quarterback controversy.
31:09A quarterback controversy.
31:10A quarterback controversy developing.
31:12Did I ask you about that?
31:13About the controversy?
31:14No, you didn't.
31:15I'm glad you didn't.
31:16Can you believe that someone in San Francisco is questioning the play of Joe Montana?
31:22Now Joe's having to look over his shoulder, and there waiting for him is Steve Young.
31:27We have two quarterbacks, and we may go to more of a system where both of them play.
31:32Can you rotate quarterbacks and be effective?
31:34Well, right now in this position, I'd like to think we could rotate a little bit.
31:36I'm sure Steve's being a little diplomatic, and I'm sure he'd like to play full-time, too.
31:41You have to.
31:43Youngest quarterback.
31:44Is there a quarterback controversy in San Francisco?
31:47Oh, it seems like it.
31:50I'm surprised that Joe Montana's not in there.
31:53I can't believe that they would take him out now if there's nothing wrong with him.
31:58I'm not sure what Bill was trying to accomplish.
32:01I don't know if it was simply that he thought it was time for Joe, and it was time to, you know, get younger or stronger.
32:08I think a lot of guys felt, well, he's just trying to light a fire under Joe.
32:12When you make a mistake, you know, and you see the other guy there, and maybe you start to warm it up, and then things start going through your mind, you know, you're going, oh, guy, if I make another one, am I coming out?
32:20Joe already is a self-starter.
32:23He didn't need a fire lit under him, but it certainly brought a lot of unwanted attention and questions.
32:32And now Joe Montana's coming back in again.
32:35This doesn't make any sense.
32:37Now you've got a coach who constantly doubts himself and is, you know, trying to reinvent the wheel that he built.
32:44It's a lot of psychoanalytical angst running wild.
32:48The team had to get used to it, too, right? How do we deal with this?
32:51Joe will come up, or Steve, come up, they've got their quarterback at zero.
32:56You don't want to keep dropping after the face, Joe or Steve.
33:00You weren't really quite sure of what was going on, which, if it was unsettled in my mind, it must have been a little unsettling in the guys that were participating in it.
33:07Particularly to Joe Montana.
33:09I don't think any more or less than Steve Young.
33:11Steve, are you satisfied with this kind of role, like a relief pitcher?
33:16I'm satisfied to play for the 49ers, and we'll take it from there.
33:20You know, I've talked about wanting to play.
33:22I mean, if you want to talk to someone who wants to play, come talk to me.
33:25Wow.
33:26You just handle it. You just handle it.
33:28That was grittier than I thought I was back then.
33:30I'm kind of excited that I was that gritty.
33:33I wasn't trouble, and I wasn't going to be trouble.
33:37But don't ask me what I want to do.
33:40Welcome to Soldier Field in Chicago.
33:43The 49ers drop two games behind the Saints if they lose tonight to the Bears.
33:49McMahon dropped from behind by Haley.
33:53Charles Haley got hurt, so I went down to the locker room, and there was a television that he was watching the game on, and it was a close game.
34:04Well, in just a matter of a game this year, Walsh at one point or another has gone to the bench for Steve Young.
34:10Bill was trying to win the game, but when he put Steve in, it got bad at the end.
34:15Fourth and two. Young lost it for Craig, but Craig is stopped short of the first down by Doerson.
34:21Haley jumped up, and I took this TV, and I threw it, and it went right by his head, and it smashed against the wall.
34:31He said, you're crazier than I am.
34:34The 49ers, they have really put themselves in a hole.
34:38We are back live at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
34:42The Niners have a big one against the Vikings.
34:45There was a line of not understanding who was going to play and who wasn't going to play.
34:49So it will be Steve Young, and he says he is ready.
34:52Bill was, remember what he told me when I first was recruiting me?
34:55Your legs are a superpower, and I believe that you're going to be great because of it.
35:00But the part that he made clear right when I got there was, you need to learn the job of quarterback.
35:06It's not running around.
35:07You need to run the play and get the most out of the play.
35:10I can't have you bailing early because you're not willing to stand in there and make the throw.
35:15And if you're going to be great, if those legs are ever going to be valuable.
35:18Vikings lead by four points.
35:20It's going to be because you were an amazing quarterback in the pocket.
35:25Young comes out of the end.
35:30Still on his feet of Steve Young, and still.
35:33And so when I did that against the Vikings, it was kind of, oh no, oh no, oh good.
35:38Young cuts back. Young touchdown.
35:4249ers win it on a breathtaking run by Steve Young.
35:48And Bill was never one that, like, nice run, great job, you know.
35:52Any compliment was backhanded.
35:54Steve is a frustrating guy, but on the other hand, he makes a big play like this that wins the game.
35:59You might think that Bill loved you. You better check tomorrow.
36:04You see that picture right there, guys? That's what my father would look like when I showed him my report card.
36:11I think he kind of honed his skills with me and the family, getting the most out of people.
36:16I never could get praise from him.
36:18Everybody in this world wants praise from anywhere they can get it.
36:21That's why people have dogs, for God's sakes.
36:23And I think he picked up on that and realized that if he kept me wanting praise, I'd have to work harder and harder to get it.
36:30And then he would never then quite give it.
36:33So you were always wondering, gosh, am I doing a good job?
36:37But I had to work that much harder, just like, you know, Joe.
36:41If you had a great game, a lot of times you didn't get the game ball, because that's what he expected from you.
36:47I had a game, and I had over ten receptions, three touchdowns.
36:52He sent someone down to the locker room to tell me to come upstairs.
36:56I'm thinking, okay, Bill is going to just pat me on my back and say, great job, and stuff like that.
37:01And he looks at me with this straight face, and he said, I need more from you.
37:06And so I'm walking back downstairs, and I see Joe going upstairs.
37:10I see Ronnie. I said, good luck, guys.
37:14That was him to a T.
37:15I mean, he didn't demand perfection just of you.
37:17He wanted it of himself, too.
37:19What about pressure?
37:20Do you think to be a successful head coach where you have to enjoy pressure?
37:24No, you don't enjoy pressure, unless you are a little thick or strange.
37:28You don't necessarily enjoy that, but that becomes part of it.
37:31For Coach Walsh, the urgency is there every day, and you can never let your foot off the gas pedal.
37:38It's a very hard, unsustainable career choice, and that's why I don't think many coaches last for more than eight to ten years.
37:52It's not often that the Bay Area and most of its major news services get caught up in what most believe to be a sports story.
37:58But tonight, it is, and we are.
38:01The front page story on today's San Francisco Chronicle, Joe Montana smells a trade.
38:08Montana was sidelined last week when his backup, Steve Young, turned in a sterling performance and a game-saving 49-yard run for a touchdown.
38:19Coach Bill Walsh said Young would again start next Sunday.
38:23Joe may be available in a limited way, but I'm not sure that he's going to be 100%.
38:30I'm sure I was mad as hell by him starting the next week.
38:35Joe's been saying he's played less than 100% before. Why the change now?
38:40Well, as time passes, I make judgments.
38:42I thought that, okay, so he's trying to replace me at that point.
38:47Montana is quoted as saying he thinks the coach wants to trade it.
39:05It was intense, and that created more drama.
39:10Not your average day at the office for the 49ers. Scads of reporters on the scent of scandal.
39:16The media refusing to budge from the quarterback controversy.
39:19It's like, where are we going? What are we doing?
39:21And we're all wondering, you know, I'm in the middle of it.
39:27Again, Bill was the one that was orchestrating it.
39:30Steve Young is going to get his second start for the 49ers in place of Joe Montana.
39:34Joe will dress for the game today.
39:37Bill had made it pretty clear that if we won this game, I'd continue to play.
39:42And Steve Young brings out the 49ers.
39:44And I know that I have to play or I'll go crazy.
39:47Young finally lets it fly. Touchdown!
39:50So the 49ers now with a commanding lead here.
39:53And there is a quarterback discussion over there.
39:56A lot of people just assume there must be a sharp rivalry between Young and Montana.
40:00We never had an argument. We never had words, you know what I mean?
40:05Like, it never was that way. It was just, there we were.
40:11He was the best in the game and I was trying to be.
40:14They might have not been the best friends, but, you know, you're not going to like everyone.
40:19I haven't met too many superheroes that get along.
40:23Batman or Superman.
40:25It didn't matter to me.
40:28There was a lot of talk about Joe Montana.
40:31Not only being traded, but Steve Young starting, Joe Montana being through.
40:35I knew I'd get another opportunity.
40:40Still time in the fourth for them to make something happen.
40:44Lomax going deep to the corner and it is a touchdown!
40:48Against Phoenix, we forgot to come out the second half and play football.
40:5223 to 10. Hold on to your helmets at home, folks.
40:59Touchdown!
41:0124 to 23. The Cardinals win it.
41:04The last thing I ever thought would happen to the 49ers is to have a lead like that and lose it.
41:09I thought we did that to other people and it happened to us.
41:14One thing we can't do as an organization is begin to blame each other for what went wrong.
41:19Because it's so easy to start saying, if this guy had only done this, if that one had only done this,
41:25if we'd only made this call, we'd have won it and that's true.
41:29There will be some teams that if they take one more loss, they go in the tank.
41:34And we've taken one more loss.
41:35Others will keep battling.
41:37So let's concentrate on the Raiders and take it from there.
41:41Joe Montana back at quarterback this week.
41:44Montana at the controls on first down.
41:50Here delivers the strike.
41:51Complete to Rice who then fumbles the football and the Raiders have it.
41:5549ers give it to Roger Craig, the NFC's leading rusher.
41:59Humble!
42:00And what does that do to your team's confidence going into the locker room at halftime?
42:03So I'm in the locker room and I am really not happy at all.
42:09And we had a large glass, coke, it wasn't just coke, it was water, everything else.
42:18And I went over it and I kicked it in.
42:22And it went everywhere.
42:25And the team came in and looked at me.
42:28What I remember about that time was just the feeling that, you know, the team was going to get gutted.
42:37Mr. D was getting rid of everybody.
42:40It was doomsday.
42:42The standard was the standard.
42:45And we had won in 84.
42:48We had failed in 85.
42:52We had failed in 86.
42:55We had big time failed in 87.
42:58Nobody expected that they would lose to Minnesota here today.
43:01I think that was, to a large degree, kind of enough is enough.
43:06You're searching for answers.
43:08This play.
43:10That play.
43:12This person.
43:13That person.
43:15Fourth and one.
43:16This is the ball game.
43:19Craig, no.
43:20Rice on the reverse.
43:21The Raiders smell it out and stop him.
43:24And the Raiders take over.
43:26We lose to the Raiders.
43:28And we're 6-5.
43:29And at 6-5, you're not close to being eliminated.
43:33But you can smell it.
43:35You know, it'll all come back around.
43:38You know, if we give up, then it won't.
43:40But we can't afford to give up.
43:42The 49er standard was to win the Super Bowl.
43:45But the spirit of football is adversity is coming.
43:49It's going to happen every season.
43:52It's never going to be smooth sailing.
43:54And I think caring about losing, that's what draws out great character.
44:01We knew we were good enough.
44:03That wasn't the issue.
44:04Look at that roster.
44:06But from what we've seen of late, we're playing for our jobs.
44:10Our futures.
44:11Every team has moments like that.
44:14When you lose, when something goes wrong, the players are always sitting there going, what can we do to change this?
44:25The team meeting was called, it was players only, right?
44:29It was one of those meetings where let's get together, let's figure out what we're going to do.
44:33The theme of that meeting in 88 was, hey, if you've got something to say, say it.
44:38Don't keep holding it in, say it.
44:40We had never had that kind of an airing of feelings.
44:44Ronnie, well, as far as being a Hall of Famer and all-time great player, was one of the best natural leaders I've ever been around.
44:54And, you know, a natural leader doesn't have to say things all the time.
44:59But when it came, you listened.
45:03Ronnie got up in front of the whole team and told every guy,
45:09we don't have coaches, we don't have media, we don't have families, we don't have an owner.
45:17For the rest of this season, we have the guys in this group, the guys in this circle.
45:23You didn't want to let the other guy down.
45:25And the most important thing that could happen to us at that time was to have that kind of meeting,
45:31get our collective heads out of our butts, and start playing the way we're supposed to play.
45:40No one suffers but us when we lose. No one.
45:44So we're in this thing alone.
45:45You don't have any friends outside this room and your families, just so we all understand it.
45:50And what happens is we get tighter and tighter as a group.
45:53There's something out there for us. There's a reason for all of this.
45:58We're seasoning ourselves for something bigger.
46:01This could be it. This could be my last game.
46:12This is serious stuff. It's all on the line.
46:15I want to play. I don't want to end my career sitting here on the bench.
46:18If there's a job that you want, then be the greatest in the world with the job you have.
46:23In spite of everything, you've got to find a way to do it together.
46:26You only get one shot.
46:27We all won the Super Bowl that night.
46:29We all won the Super Bowl that night.
46:30We all won the Super Bowl that night.
46:34We all won the Super Bowl.
46:35We'll see you next time.
46:36Bye.
46:37Bye.
46:39We'll see you next time.
46:40Transcription by CastingWords
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