- 9 hours ago
All-time great team up there with the '72 Dolphins and '85 Bears
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Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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01:19The San Francisco 49ers entered the 1989 season coming off one of the most dramatic wins
01:26in Super Bowl history.
01:2939 seconds remaining.
01:31Back to throw Montana.
01:33Steps up, throws.
01:37And the 49ers have won the Super Bowl.
01:41Following their last second victory in Super Bowl XXIII, many players lingered on the field
01:47to savor the moment.
01:50But for one 49er, the close shave on the field would be quickly followed by one in the locker
01:55room.
01:56I ran off the field, put the shaving cream on, and started shaving right after the game.
02:01I said I wasn't going to shave it until the season was over.
02:03I guess the season's over now so I can shave it.
02:06I didn't even bring it up.
02:07I wasn't even celebrating.
02:08I was in there shaving.
02:10That was one of my traits as a football player was to wear that facial hair and the eye black.
02:15I was really trying to scare people, that tough guy mentality attitude, and I wanted to be perceived that way,
02:22not only through my play, but my looks.
02:26In the aftermath of victory, the look of the 49ers was about to change forever.
02:33Was this the final game on the sideline for a great coach, Bill Walsh?
02:40Bill has stepped down as head coach.
02:43George Seifert is our new head coach.
02:48George Seifert was Bill Walsh's defensive coordinator the previous six years.
02:53But his selection to succeed Walsh as head coach was by no means a sure thing.
02:59I was in the process of interviewing with a couple of other NFL teams.
03:03In fact, I was en route to Cleveland for an interview, and I had to stop in Dallas.
03:08For some reason, I called home, and my wife said to get back on a plane and fly back to
03:14San Francisco because they were going to hire me as head coach.
03:17I feel fortunate. You know, I've inherited something that's to be cherished and taken care of.
03:22We've had a successful formula, and I've been a part of that.
03:26I basically grew up as a professional coach within the organization, whether people thought it was Bill's team.
03:32None of that made any difference to me. I realized that we had a winning system.
03:35The job was to keep it going and to live up to the standard that had been established when Bill
03:41was a head coach.
03:42While Seifert focused on keeping the 49ers dominant on the field, his players reveled in the spoils of victory off
03:49it.
03:50Seifert was a product of that system.
03:54Had he been a coach anywhere else?
03:56When he was a coach anywhere else, he didn't succeed.
04:09One of the players giving the champs a bad rap was star receiver Jerry Rice.
04:14When you win Super Bowls, you always try to come up with something that's going to separate you from those
04:19who have won before you.
04:21So we came up with this rap video.
04:23I move so fast, I'll give you a buzz.
04:25You be thinking that you're next to me.
04:27Thought you were a cuss.
04:28We really didn't have any rappers. We didn't have any talent in the group.
04:32We're unstoppable. Remarkable. More famous than Cosby and the Huxtables.
04:37Pretty much, you know, we just embarrass ourselves.
04:42I'm gonna leave it at that.
04:46But Rice and his teammates weren't the only ones delivering post-Super Bowl scripted one-liners.
04:52And Jerry Rice, I've heard there's a new TV series coming out based on your Super Bowl performance, Miami Rice.
05:02When you go to the White House, you know that you have made it to the big time.
05:07Under the spotlight of Super Bowl XXIII in Miami, Rice had delivered a big-time performance.
05:16He caught 11 passes for a Super Bowl record 215 yards.
05:20He was named the game's MVP.
05:24You know, I cherish this for the rest of my life.
05:26And maybe next year, I'll get a chance to come back again.
05:29Repeating as champion was the expectation facing Seifert in his first year as head coach.
05:37Fortunately, he inherited a veteran team returning 20 of 22 starters.
05:43And chose to let them take center stage.
05:46He liked to be behind the scenes.
05:48You know, let the product speak for itself as opposed to the head coach.
05:52There was an energy that was created by that.
05:54Everybody has a part in it.
05:56Do whatever it takes to win.
05:57Whatever it takes.
05:58Right from the get-go, they wanted to demonstrate to being a fan of the team.
06:03George Seifert grew up in San Francisco's Mission District.
06:07Ah, I forgot.
06:09Oh, man.
06:13Just across the street from Kizar Stadium.
06:17On Sundays, members of the football team were ushers at 49er games.
06:22Each of the home football games, we were assigned certain sections.
06:25And, you know, I think we watched more than we really were.
06:28Ten seconds left.
06:30Ryan's lead it.
06:30I remember watching the first alley-oop pass to R.C. Owens.
06:34This has got to be the alley-oop.
06:35There's no time for anything else.
06:37He's gone.
06:38A great time.
06:38I remember when I first went to work for the 49ers, I said, my gosh, I'm working next to R
06:43.C. Owens.
06:44I mean, that was a pretty big deal.
06:46It was nice to get a paycheck, too, but, you know, I don't want to tell anybody, but I would
06:50just, to be there, I would have done it for nothing.
06:52In 1989, Seifert wasn't just working with 49er greats.
06:56He had the unenviable task of replacing one.
07:00Bill Walsh, he was the legend.
07:02And George had to, basically, he had to win the team over.
07:05And he's totally different from Bill Walsh.
07:07He was a little bit more dry.
07:09Dry sense of humor.
07:10Nowhere near, you know, the prankster that Bill Walsh was.
07:14You've got to have everybody 100% fresh for this ball game.
07:17Somehow, you've got to be fresh.
07:19In some cases, it may mean a lot of sex.
07:22In others, none.
07:23I don't know.
07:26Bill Walsh was known for his humor.
07:29But with Seifert, it was his quirky body language and many superstitions, such as always following the same path out
07:37to the practice field and never stepping on the team's logo.
07:42Sort of like a little entertainment for us when he was coming out on the field.
07:45It was hilarious because we would watch him.
07:48He would never, never walk on that logo.
07:51They probably noticed that one more than any other.
07:53I'd always walk around it.
07:55It was a sign of respect.
07:56I wasn't going to walk on our logo.
07:58It was like I wouldn't walk on the American flag.
08:00I feel like I'm in, what's the, the Sopranos right now.
08:04I'm talking to my, my psychiatrist.
08:08George, why do you, is it because your mother wasn't good to you or something, you know?
08:13When you're in that situation and there's a certain amount of stress, you have these little things out there that
08:19you turn to.
08:20One of my superstitions was to blow on a breath mint three times.
08:25Blow through the middle of them?
08:27For what reason?
08:28I don't know.
08:28If I didn't do that, we wouldn't win the ball game.
08:31I kept waiting for search to give me a commercial or something.
08:34You know, it didn't work.
08:36Heading into the 89 season opener, he was an unknown after spending most of his career in the coach's booth.
08:43I'm a little anxious about it in that I have spent so many years upstairs and you can hide out
08:48a little bit up there.
08:48Whereas now, you know, being the public eye more and it'll take some getting used to.
08:54In week one at Indianapolis, Seifert donned the coach's headset for the first time.
08:59It was like a pilot getting into a fighter plane before you went to battle.
09:04When you're on the sideline, you have, you have quite a bit more going on around you.
09:07I mean, the tension is indescribable.
09:10George Seifert on the sideline, that's a new position for him.
09:13He has spent the last 15 years in the booth.
09:16Now, all of a sudden, he's down on the field.
09:17So, he's not quite sure how to act down there on the field.
09:23Long story short, they went 14-2 and they lost their only two losses or by a combined five points.
09:36I think they were, you know, I think they were a pretty solid team.
09:41You know.
09:43He's to the 40, he's to the 30, Taylor gives him a block, he's out of the 10!
09:49He's into the end zone!
09:52Touchdown, 49ers!
09:53Joe Montana's 58-yard completion to Jerry Rice helped give Seifert his first win.
10:00The only thing Montana failed to give his new coach in 89 was a nickname.
10:06George, we didn't have a name for him.
10:09The rest of the team was not so fortunate.
10:12Joe Montana's a guy that names everybody.
10:15Throughout my career, everybody noted me as Woody.
10:18Hit it up, hit that Woody!
10:19You want Woody cut?
10:20Joe thought I looked like the character on Cheers, the bartender, Woody Harrelson, and that kind of stuck.
10:28Worse than Woody was the name Montana tried to pin on Jerry Rice.
10:33They called him Fifi one year.
10:35If you go back to 87, you look at his haircut.
10:38He looked like a poodle.
10:39I swear to God, Fifi.
10:41I had this hairstyle that was very unique, and they started calling me Fifi.
10:46I was a little pissed off about it at first, but then I was like, okay, just let these guys,
10:51you know, have their fun.
10:52Because whenever you get defensive, they feel like they got you.
10:55You have to just play along, and hopefully it dies out, and it did.
11:00One nickname that survives to this day is the one that players gave to Montana.
11:05Bird legs.
11:06Bird legs.
11:09He had no legs, no calves or anything, so we always gave him a hard time.
11:13Well, he's got funny legs for a quarterback, doesn't he?
11:15Last time I saw legs like that, they were hanging out of a nest.
11:2134 years to get this development.
11:25But I'll tell you what, those bird legs got him out of a lot of trouble.
11:29Just 45 seconds to play in the game.
11:31Niners still trailed by three.
11:33On his hip, Montana to the end zone.
11:37Touchdown, 49ers.
11:38He brings it in himself.
11:40In week two at Tampa Bay, Montana's bird legs skittered home with a game-winning touchdown.
11:46Why would they?
11:48Touchdown, they'll beat that era's bucks.
11:51But the following week at Philadelphia, they could not escape the Eagles' talents.
11:59For the first three quarters, Philly's defense battered Montana
12:03and took a 21-10 lead into the final 15 minutes.
12:06He got sacked eight times, and he kept battling back.
12:10When you get a sack eight times, you can easily point the finger.
12:14Eagles have been getting the Montana.
12:16When you're knocking him around, Joe is never going to point any fingers.
12:19He's just hung in there.
12:23He's like the comeback kid.
12:25He's Joe Cool.
12:35And breaking loose, it's going to go all the way.
12:38Taylor will go.
12:39John Taylor's 70-yard catch and run triggered a fourth-quarter scoring frenzy.
12:45He's got Rathbun.
12:46He's into the end zone.
12:48Touchdown.
12:51Montana to throw.
12:53Goes downfield.
12:55He's got Jones.
12:56Touchdown, 49ers.
12:58The 49ers take the lead.
13:01Montana would cap the comeback by hitting Jerry Rice for his fourth touchdown pass of the quarter.
13:08Rice has got it.
13:09Touchdown, 49ers.
13:11Joe had done that so many times.
13:13He had the uncanny ability to be so cool under pressure,
13:17as everybody's talked about for years.
13:19He was a surgeon in pressure situations.
13:21You know, being able to come back in Philly,
13:27those were the defining moments, in my opinion, of that 89 season.
13:40I think there was, I don't know, three minutes left in the game.
13:43We're driving down.
13:44We're getting near their red zone.
13:47We'll run a little counter.
13:48Montana gives to Rathbun.
13:49Into the middle.
13:50Got hit.
13:50Fumbled the football.
13:52It marked the first time Rathbun had lost a fumble in over three years with the team.
13:56Rathbun lost it.
13:57They recovered it on the 20-yard line, drove down, kicked a field goal.
14:01Five seconds showing on the clock.
14:03Ended up beating us 13-12.
14:05Kick is up, and it is good!
14:07I'll never forget it.
14:09Call that Black Sunday in my house.
14:13Rathbun's disdain for fumbling dated back to his first training camp in 1986,
14:18when Bill Walsh ripped him in front of the other rookies.
14:22I remember back in Rockland, fumbling the football a little bit, coming in as a rookie,
14:27and Walsh coming up to me and saying,
14:29Hey, this is in college, you're not on scholarship.
14:32We don't have to keep you.
14:34And everybody's rear ends just went.
14:37You're going to condition yourself to playing football without fumbling it.
14:41You're not going to take a chance on losing that damn ball.
14:44Second, you find yourself relaxing, and you'll be out of the league.
14:47Rathbun soon developed the surest hands on the team, as both a runner and receiver.
14:53It became Walsh's most versatile weapon.
14:55Aggie tacklers again.
14:58His power running style put some toughness in Walsh's West Coast offense,
15:04as did his ferocious blocking.
15:08You don't want to be known as a finesse football team.
15:11I'm blue collar myself.
15:12The way I like to hit guys, we'll square them up, take them right down here.
15:16That's the first thing that makes contact right there, your forehead.
15:21That's what it's all about, taking them right down the middle and getting that pinched nerve work.
15:27That's what it's all about right there.
15:30In week five, following the loss to the Rams, Rathbun took out his frustrations on the Saints.
15:40Joe Montana threw three second-half touchdown passes to rally the 49ers from a 17-3 deficit
15:47and shock the Saints.
15:50But a biggest shock awaited them at home.
15:53We have reports of major power outages in San Francisco and reports throughout the Bay Area.
15:58The reason, if you do not know by now, was a major earthquake.
16:01We do not have a Richter scale reading on that yet.
16:05I think it was October 17th.
16:07I actually was walking through Candlestick's parking lot, going to Game 3 of the World Series.
16:13Well, all of a sudden, I'm talking the ground moves six inches one way, six inches the other way.
16:18Ladies and gentlemen, we are postponing the game because there is no power in the stadium.
16:23I mean, it was chaos.
16:25The game will be postponed.
16:27I was on my way to dinner.
16:29I was taking my family out.
16:30We were in the car, and the car just started shaking.
16:32And I'm thinking, okay, I have a flat tire.
16:35So I pulled over to the side, and that's when I noticed something had just happened.
16:39Where my office was upstairs, there was a bathroom and shower.
16:43And I had just gotten out of the shower, facing the mirror with a towel around me.
16:47And all of a sudden, the whole building started going.
16:49Being a native San Franciscan, I realized what we were going through.
16:52So I made a beeline for the door that went out to the deck outside of my office.
16:57And I was just about ready to jump over the side.
17:01The towel in my body, that was it.
17:03And then I felt it kind of subside a little bit.
17:06Repair yourselves!
17:08Store water in your bathtub!
17:09What we went through was minuscule compared to what certain areas did.
17:14Five days after the earthquake, the 49ers played their next game at Stanford Stadium
17:19because of structural damage to Candlestick Park.
17:23Steve Young relieved and injured Joe Montana
17:25and led the 49ers to an emotional victory.
17:29Rice has got it!
17:30It's going to go all the way!
17:31We wanted to go back out there and try to take some of that pain away.
17:36If we could just bring a smile just for a couple hours,
17:40you know, we felt like we did our job.
17:42Tom Rathman enjoyed the best pass-catching day of his career.
17:47Me in particular, I loved the place.
17:49I caught 11 balls for like 103 yards and, you know, got the game ball
17:54and we ended up winning the game.
17:56I was a game.
17:5611 receptions for over 100 yards for a fullback is insane, especially back then.
18:05Game capped in that week, so it was a special day for myself.
18:08It was also a special day for Young, who threw three touchdown passes
18:12and stirred a quarterback controversy after the game.
18:16You know, obviously Joe's been spectacular, and I realize that.
18:20I feel like if I could play every week for a while,
18:23that, you know, I could start doing the same kind of a thing.
18:25Steve was, you know, frothing at the mouth
18:28to become the player for the 49ers.
18:30I do recall, it seemed like after each practice,
18:33Mike Holmgren walking off the practice field
18:35and Steve walking behind him, talking to him
18:38in his animated fashion, you know.
18:40You know, how many, why don't I, I want more reps.
18:43How many more years do I have to do that in Montana?
18:45Only to be injured himself.
18:47No!
18:48It didn't matter if Joe Montana was in the game.
18:51It didn't matter if Steve Young was the guy.
18:53It didn't matter if Steve Bono was the guy.
18:55Whoever was a quarterback was expected to get the job done.
18:59Play fake to Roger.
19:00Third string quarterback Steve Bono
19:02came off the bench to throw a key touchdown pass.
19:05Oh my God!
19:06We're in for a touchdown!
19:07We had tremendous talent.
19:09I mean, I'm talking about across the board.
19:12I don't know if there was one weak spot on our team.
19:15That's the type of depth that we had.
19:17Boy, the depth on this football team is just indescribable.
19:23Sorry to have to share his mentor with the offense in 1989.
19:28Seifert becomes the head coach.
19:29You lose your defensive coordinator.
19:31Does this mean he forgets about you?
19:33Of course he has already.
19:34He won't let us hit the receivers.
19:36Now he's telling us what Bill used to tell us.
19:38Stay away from him.
19:38Don't touch him.
19:39It's a little demeaning to see a guy like that change so fast, you know.
19:43I'm a little upset that he's really taking that attitude.
19:47We're the players on the team.
19:49We're the ones responsible.
19:50You can't just always say the coach has got to make me do this or make me do that.
19:53This was an attitude that Ronnie Lott demonstrated probably more than anybody.
19:57All guys two together in this.
19:59There was something special about him that his spirit kind of permeated through the rest of the club.
20:05Oh my goodness!
20:06With Lott leading the charge.
20:08Oh my Ronnie Lott!
20:12Seifert's defense was dominant.
20:22Pressure by Haley.
20:23And the ball slips out of his hands.
20:26Two late personnel moves helped.
20:29In week two, the 49ers signed Matt Millen, who was cut by the Raiders in training camp.
20:35Though he once bled silver and black,
20:37Millen would pump new life into the 49ers' defense.
20:41Heck, I would never have thought I'd have played for this team.
20:43But then I never thought of playing with any other team other than the Raiders, so...
20:48Surprise, surprise.
20:49We've seen this time and again where a player might be at the end of his line with a certain
20:53club.
20:53He goes to the next club and he has a great year.
20:55Well, that's what happened with Matt.
20:56Matt played really well for us.
20:58Matt Millen brought a little of that old Raider mentality to the 49ers.
21:02Added his own type of sizzle.
21:04It was a change from the environment he was used to as a player.
21:07I think he really enjoyed our environment.
21:09He thrived on it.
21:09Millen says he feels like he's gone into the land of odds since he came to the 49ers.
21:14Millen wasn't the only waiver wire pickup to find new life by the bay.
21:19In week 11, the 49ers signed nose tackle Jim Burt,
21:23a career New York Giant who almost ended Joe Montana's career three seasons earlier.
21:30He was the guy that had knocked Joe for a loop a couple of years before that.
21:36And Montana's hurt!
21:37He was kind of one of the bad guys, and now he was on our team.
21:40I'm just kind of like in a twilight zone being here and being on their team.
21:45He had a lot of fun with it, and he and Joe would hit it off.
21:52Did I do it, guys?
21:55You got to do it when I'm not looking, Joe.
21:57You telegraphed it, babe.
22:00Millen and Burt made their presence felt in a Monday night game
22:03against Burt's former team, the New York Giants.
22:08Early in the game, Burt exacted a measure of revenge on his former team.
22:12Strip by Burt, it's a live ball.
22:17San Francisco has it.
22:20Millen played his best game of the season.
22:24Matt Millen comes to target through, makes the tackle.
22:28He's a pleasant addition to this 49ers squad.
22:30The New York Giants, that was a team that everybody disliked.
22:34You know, they played slobber-knock football.
22:36I think West Coast was thought of more finesse, soft.
22:41We felt like we were tougher than that.
22:44And the only way to prove that was knocking the guys in the mouth ourselves.
22:51And we got stinking down by the ankle.
22:54It was an emotional ball game.
22:55When there's two teams that have been champions here in the last few years,
22:58it was a hell of an emotional battle.
23:01They're just out-physical.
23:03Number one offense.
23:05Joe Montana was groomed by Bill Walsh, but it was with Holmgren calling the plays in 89
23:11that he had his finest season ever, setting an NFL single-season record with a quarterback rating of 112.4.
23:20He's got a great accuracy and great touch.
23:22And boy, did he rip a beauty, a perfect pass to Jerry Rice.
23:25His experience and his knowledge of our offense and where people are on defense,
23:30you just couple all that together, and then that little extra special something
23:33that no one seems to be able to define,
23:35and you got perhaps the greatest quarterback that's ever played.
23:40He's on his way to becoming the greatest receiver of all time.
23:44He led the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns.
23:48He teamed with John Taylor to form the NFL's best receiving combo.
23:53Together, Rice and Taylor accounted for 27 touchdowns and over 2,500 yards,
23:59much of it coming after the catch.
24:01Because of Jerry, John might not have received some of the same publicity, certainly,
24:07but was just a phenomenal athlete.
24:11Maybe one of the strongest players I'd ever been around, pound for pound.
24:20In 1989, Rice and Taylor were particularly lethal
24:23on a pattern called quick slant.
24:26I think the secret to the quick slant is that the quarterback,
24:31the way he delivers the ball, the ball has to be there.
24:34Montana drills a pass, slant into Rice.
24:37Also, you have to catch it at top speed.
24:39He's to the 5! Touchdown, 49ers!
24:42John and I, we were, you know, really good at working the defensive back on the outside,
24:46and once you broke inside, Joe would put the ball there.
24:50Slanted to Taylor! He beats the first one!
24:52Then it's up to you just to become a football player.
24:55It's just like almost Sandlock football.
24:57He's to the 5! Ball is in the end zone! Touchdown, 49ers!
25:01I would prefer to catch a 5-yard slant and go 95 yards any day.
25:08Because it's exciting, because it's almost like the hair is like standing up on your back,
25:13because you know everybody's chasing you, and they're trying to catch you.
25:17He's got Rice. He breaks loose to the 30.
25:19He's going to be gone. I don't think they can catch him.
25:22If you're able to cross that goal line without getting caught, you know, it's a great feeling.
25:26That seems to work every time they do it.
25:29John Taylor would take the quick slant to a new level
25:32in a Week 14 Monday night showdown at the Rams.
25:37The 49ers found themselves trailing 17-3.
25:41I remember their owner, Georgia, at the end of the first half,
25:46her walking along the sideline, whining, kind of holding it up to the crowd,
25:51you know, toasting the crowd.
25:52I mean, this was their game to win.
25:56But they didn't win.
25:59He's got a man all alone. It's Taylor. He's in a foot race.
26:03He's down the sidelines to midfield.
26:05Makes a cut. Goes to the 40.
26:07He's got a blocker in front of him to the 30.
26:09He's in the 20.
26:12Cuts in again. Still has a defender.
26:14Goes into the end zone.
26:1692-yard touchdown pass.
26:18It was exciting to see.
26:20He was able to do that twice on a Monday night.
26:23And I think it just showed that he could have went anywhere else
26:26and he would have been the focus.
26:27Go, a slant into Taylor.
26:29Taylor breaks the tackle.
26:30Cuts across the middle.
26:31Breaks another to the 30.
26:32If you look at him, there were guys rallying down the football field.
26:36And that's what we prided ourselves on.
26:38If we didn't have the football, we were getting ourselves in a position to make a block
26:42to allow the guy to go the distance.
26:44John Taylor!
26:45Another spectacular touchdown of 95 yards!
26:49Both those plays were just five-yard slant passes.
26:52So the Niners go unbeaten on the road this season.
26:56The NFC West.
26:58When the game was over, I had my headset on.
27:01And I was in such a daze as to what had gone on.
27:04I started just running off the field.
27:05I still had my headset on.
27:06Seaford was so excited.
27:07He was trying to walk off the field with a headset.
27:09I mean, that would have to be a long course.
27:12They were laughing and grabbing me and trying to get the headset because I was just oblivious.
27:16They could have stuck knives in me.
27:18I probably wouldn't have felt it.
27:19The road to the Super Bowl will have to go through San Francisco.
27:25The 49ers finished the regular season 14-2.
27:30We're about to embark on the most dominant playoff run in NFL history.
27:35The 49ers in the league's top offense against the Vikings in the number one defense.
27:39The survivor reaches the NFL's final four.
27:42Only the strong survive, baby.
27:44That's what we're here for.
27:45Kick the ass.
27:46That's what we live for, baby.
27:47Who can I do home?
27:49It's a half game by 33.3 points.
27:52The number one ranked Viking defense registered 71 sacks in 1989.
27:58One shy of the NFL record.
28:00Against the 49ers, they came up empty.
28:03Goes across the middle.
28:03It is complete to Rice.
28:05Rice to the 45.
28:06He's to the 50.
28:07He breaks through.
28:09Jerry Rice took Joe Montana's third pass, 72 yards, for a score.
28:14The 10, 5, top-down 49ers!
28:33Montana was on target early, firing four touchdown passes in the first half.
28:38Has to roll out to the right.
28:39Looking to throw.
28:40Can't find anybody.
28:41Goes to the end zone.
28:43Jones!
28:43Touchdown!
28:44Rolling to the right.
28:45Throws to the end zone.
28:46It's caught for a touchdown.
28:4849ers, John Taylor!
28:54You put up 41 points on the number one defense in the league, and, you know, that's an eye-opener
28:59right there.
29:00You know, we were, we were pretty good then.
29:03Super Bowl Niners!
29:05Super Bowl!
29:05We have the Los Angeles Rams and the 49ers going at it.
29:09They vie today for the right to go to the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
29:13Three and out, baby!
29:14Three and out!
29:16In the NFC Championship against the Rams, Seifert's defense left the way.
29:21We're all over Everett.
29:23The 49er entire defensive wall was in his face.
29:26And Everett is hit just as he throws the ball.
29:29Knocked him down as he released.
29:30There's Everett dropping back.
29:32This time really under pressure.
29:33Had to throw that one.
29:34Got him backpedaling and off his heels.
29:36They own this ballgame right now because the Rams are just almost conceding physically.
29:41Everett steps back.
29:42Now he goes down without even being touched.
29:45Boy, is he hearing footsteps.
29:46Haley and Roberts were there, but they never touched him.
29:49He just ate the ground.
29:51Yeah, hit the deck.
29:51This is why they started calling him Chris.
29:54Chris Everett.
29:56Because he just laid down.
29:58He didn't, he didn't want to see the 49ers front men rushing like that.
30:06Now, Jim Rohn got snatched up for doing that.
30:12But that's why he got called Chris.
30:17The 49ers turned Jim Everett.
30:21The offensive game plan called for the NFL's best receiver to become a blocker.
30:28Bryce gets a P-blocker.
30:31Just physically dominating the Rams.
30:33Every block they throw, knocking people down.
30:36They're tackling harder, blocking harder.
30:38There's something about this team that in playoff games does raise it up.
30:42The so-called finesse 49ers were dominating the NFC Championship with power football.
30:50Wrapping out to the three.
30:51And he runs over Jerry Gray.
30:54The play of Joe Montana bordered on the divine.
30:57All seen, all knowing.
31:00Montana just knows where everybody's going to get it to the end zone.
31:03He does!
31:04It's a touchdown to John Tyler!
31:06Oh my, what a pass completion!
31:09He hasn't thrown a ball harder than that all year.
31:11Montana's day, 26 of 30.
31:14262 yards.
31:16Two touchdowns.
31:17And the celebrating begins.
31:18The San Francisco 49ers are going to their second.
31:22Second in Super Bowl.
31:24You can start heating up the gumbo.
31:27Yeah!
31:28Gumbo!
31:28Here we come!
31:29The New Orleans!
31:30The New Orleans!
31:31We coming, baby!
31:32With the third coach in history to go to the Super Bowl, his first year as a head coach.
31:36Woo!
31:37Tom McCafferty with Baltimore.
31:39Red Miller with Denver were the other two.
31:41In the quest for a fourth championship, the superstitious Seifert had become his owner's
31:46four-leaf clove.
31:47I know you're highly superstitious.
31:49Did you have any kind of good luck terms hanging around here today?
31:52George.
31:52George.
31:55He was the best love charm I could have.
31:59I felt that we weren't going to win again for some reason.
32:04What?
32:04Just didn't have a good vibe.
32:05That surprises me.
32:07Huh?
32:07I felt pretty sure we were going to win the game.
32:10Everybody who watched football, they could be from Germany and know that whoever won the
32:20NFC Championship was going to win the Super Bowl in 1989.
32:25The NFC was dog crap that year.
32:33George Seifert's uncharacteristic optimism had less to do with his red-hot quarterback and
32:39more to do with the fact that a lucky sweater he forgot to pack arrived in the mail the day
32:44before.
32:45The sweater was given to me by the lady that I worked with as a Christmas present the year before,
32:50but I would wear it all the time.
32:51And I needed that security, I guess, like a little kid with his blanket.
32:55I needed my sweater.
32:56So they did have to go get that.
32:58Luck would run out.
33:00After Rathman was introduced, the team headed for the sidelines, leaving Seifert to enter alone.
33:06You believe this?
33:07The team forgot about Seifert.
33:09Oh, lonesome George.
33:10With the most wins of any head coach in his first season, George Seifert.
33:14Although his entrance on football's grand stage had fizzled, Seifert's team was about to explode.
33:24Black 59, Razor! Black 59, Razor!
33:28On the 49ers' opening possession, Jerry Rice landed a telling blow by surviving one.
33:36The thing that we had noticed about the safeties, they didn't wrap up.
33:41They tried to deliver the blow.
33:43That water tried to unload on me.
33:45And I was able to bounce off that and score a touchdown.
33:48See, that's the problem with these hard hitters.
33:51Mike Harden had the same problem.
33:55They overcommit.
33:56So if you move at an angle and they don't get all of you, they go flying in the other
34:02direction.
34:07A closer look at the play shows Montana's mastery of the South Coast offense.
34:13Tom Rathman was Montana's primary receiver on the play.
34:19Montana's second look was at tight end Brent Jones.
34:22His third to Jerry Rice, who was covered over the middle.
34:26He then checked his fourth read, John Taylor, on the opposite side, before coming back to the now-open Rice.
34:34Just complete control of the offense.
34:36Precision, knowing where the third and fourth receivers are.
34:39It's a clinic.
34:41They were a pretty good defense.
34:43I had the fewest points scored against them throughout the regular season.
34:46Fewest points scored against them, and we put up 55 points.
34:53Everything was just as sharp and as precise as I could ever imagine.
34:57Perfect pass to Jerry Rice.
34:59There were times when I would look, and I'd be in awe myself.
35:03Listen to Joe Starkey's call.
35:05This is a guy commentating a blowout in the second quarter.
35:11And it's Game 7 of the World Series, pretty much.
35:17That's great commentary.
35:21Of some of the things that they were doing.
35:24Think about Joe and the precision with which he did everything.
35:30You don't see that.
35:31I don't know if I've seen it since.
35:33On a rare play when Montana was off target, Rathman made a sensational catch.
35:38Setting up the first of his two short yardage touchdowns.
35:42An achievement that left him unfazed.
35:49A lot of people say, oh, what was it like scoring a touchdown in the Super Bowl?
35:53I don't know.
35:54I mean, just another play.
35:56It wasn't that important to me to score a touchdown.
35:59I mean, I could have been pulling a block on a play.
36:02I mean, the bottom line is a win and win as a team.
36:11With a Super Bowl record five touchdown passes, the choice of an MVP was as simple as a 1980s dot
36:19matrix print.
36:20Joe.
36:22His third Super Bowl MVP award.
36:26The 49ers have brought the quality of football in the NFL to really a new level.
36:32They could have put up 70 with Steve Young in the game.
36:36They told Steve Young to just manage the game and just run up the clock and let everybody go home.
36:46They could have put up 70.
36:51You got grown men and it's just like we are little kids again.
36:55The boy is going to party tonight.
36:58You have macho guys.
37:02And all of a sudden, we able to just show our emotions like that.
37:07You know, you see the tears and you see everybody just hugging each other.
37:10And you see the coaches and you see the owner just running around like a little kid.
37:17Congratulations for everything.
37:19That's something I'll never forget.
37:20Thank you very, very much.
37:22Very much.
37:24I'll tell you what.
37:24I'm happy.
37:25For George Seifert, the final minutes of Super Bowl XXIV would also leave some indelible images.
37:30It's vivid in my mind.
37:32You know, towards the end of the game, Don Griffin and Tim McHire are standing back to back, yelling, you
37:38know, back to back.
37:39Back to back.
37:40Number one.
37:41And then I'll never forget looking at Roger Craig and Roger saying, yeah, three-peat.
37:47We had a three-peat.
37:48Three-peat.
37:48Three-peat.
37:49Go for the three-peat.
37:50And I'm thinking as a coach, you got to be kidding me.
37:53We had just gone through this season and we won this Super Bowl and now he's already talking about next
37:57year.
37:58We want to get three.
38:00That's right.
38:00I got enough pressure to deal with.
38:02We can do it again.
38:04We can do it again.
38:07We can do it again.
38:09Why don't we make it three times?
38:10We got three.
38:12They did almost get three.
38:14Next year, the Super Bowl in Tampa.
38:1749ers already favored to win that one.
38:20Before facing the next season, Seifert still hoped to achieve one more goal at the end of Super Bowl XXIV.
38:27The game is over and now the players pick the coach up to be carried off the field.
38:32You can think of all the coaches, you know, being picked up and carried off.
38:37There's Bill Walsh with his finger up in the air, number one, you know.
38:41I'm standing there and I'm thinking, you know, here comes my moment of glory through this whole deal.
38:46You know, finally, after this tough season, I'm going to get carried off the field and I'll have these pictures
38:51that my kids can see forever.
38:53And I even put myself in position ready to be carried.
38:56Young kneels down again.
38:57That's it.
38:57I'm kind of standing around, you know, waiting, you know, who's going to pick me up, you know.
39:01Everybody just kind of ran off the field, you know.
39:04And it's over.
39:05San Francisco, 55, and the Denver Broncos, 10.
39:10A lonesome George, you know, to this day.
39:20Thank you to a man that came in in a situation that wasn't exactly easy, and he is your coach.
39:41I want you to know that they said three-peat, three-peat.
39:45They've got the heat on you already.
39:47At least the easiest situation possible for a head coach to walk into since the merger,
39:53because there was Phil Bingston who took over for Lombardi.
39:57That's about it as far as easy goes.
40:06They want to go for another one.
40:07That's fine with me.
40:11The following season, one step away from their third straight Super Bowl,
40:16the 49ers had the ball and a one-point lead with just over two minutes to play.
40:21The ball just pops out the side.
40:23He just caught it in the air.
40:25What a bizarre, you know, thing to have happened.
40:28It was pivotal because I believe we would have three-peat.
40:32We've been the first team to three-peat.
40:34And the kick is good.
40:37There will be no three-peat.
40:40I don't know if I was ever forgiven for that.
40:43Really, I felt like I was always battling uphill after that game.
40:48I think the thing I was most concerned about was I knew that some of the great players that were
40:53part of the club,
40:54eventually during my reign, if I last for a few years, they were going to get towards the end of
40:58their careers.
40:59And I was going to be the guy that had to be involved with their leaving the team.
41:04That was the thing that I feared more than anything else.
41:06No matter what jersey they finished their career in, for the pillars of the 49ers dynasty,
41:121989 will always stand as their last moment of glory together.
41:17They can't take it away.
41:18I mean, once you're a champion, you're always going to be a champion.
41:22Some stage of your life, you are on top.
41:26Nobody can take that away.
41:28Nobody can take this ring away.
41:31It was really special.
41:33We had teams beat before they stepped on the field.
41:35It's something you'll never forget.
41:41Their teams beat when they were scheduled for them back in May.
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