The 49ers’ December 7, 1980 38-35 comeback win over the Saints

The game summary below is taken from my e-book chronicling the 10 Bill Walsh 49ers teams, especially the championship ’81, ’84, and ’88 teams. If you’re interested, that project is available for about $10, and smaller e-books are also available covering, for example, just the ’84 season and the 1982 NFC title game. Well, here is my summary of what at the time was the 49ers’ most memorable win in many years, and a game that set the stage for the start of the franchise’s long dynasty.

The 1980 Niners’ 3-0 start had turned into a 5-8 record, but one might have expected a win at home, against an 0-13 Saints team, on Sunday, December 7, the Pearl Harbor anniversary. It isn’t at all promising early in the game: the Saints, led by Archie Manning, get 324 yards in the first half, have the ball two-thirds of the time, and score five touchdowns on 20 first downs. While the Niners gain 21 yards and get two first downs in the half, the Saints are compiling five lengthy, productive drives. Freddie Solomon provides the one saving grace with a 57-yard punt return for a touchdown halfway through the second quarter. Montana, who had begun starting games after a 59-14 debacle at Dallas in the fifth game, goes 8-12 but is sacked three times, with seven net passing yards. It’s 35-7 at the half. Walsh rallies the troops in the locker room, telling his players to keep themselves in the game even though it’s probably out of reach.

After the half, James Owens fumbles the opening kickoff and recovers it, but only gets to the 49er 12. Nonetheless, the Niners go 88 yards in nine plays, featuring a 48-yard pass to Clark, and Montana runs in the ball from a yard out. Just a few minutes later, the Niners start from their 18. After getting a first down, Montana throws a crossing pattern pass to Clark, who keeps running after the catch, gets past Dave Waymer, and runs it in for a 71-yard score. The Saints come back with a strong drive, but Jimmy Rogers fumbles the ball at the Niner 17, Gerard Williams recovers, and the Niners keep their comeback going. An 83-yard drive ends with a 14-yard throw to Solomon, and it’s 35-28. One last fourth quarter drive takes the ball 78 yards in eight plays after a second Saints fumble, and Lenvil Elliott pushes the Niners to a tie with 1:50 left on his 7-yard run into the end zone.

The Saints get the ball to begin overtime, but are stopped after getting one first down: Dwight Hicks intercepts a deep throw down near his goal line. After the exchange of a couple punts, the Niners take over at their 26, and are stopped on third down at their 39. But a late hit penalty on Steve Parker hands them a first down and the ball at the Saints 46. From there, the Niners move the ball enough to set up Ray Wersching for the game winner, a 36-yard field goal with 7:40 gone in the period.

In the second half, aside from the Jimmy Rogers fumble, the Saints have Henry Childs fumble at the Niner 13 after a 30-yard catch, and, at the end of the third quarter, with the wind at their back, the Saints fail to call timeout on fourth down at the SF 28 to kick a field goal. When the fourth quarter started, they decide to punt. Those three lost opportunities cost New Orleans the game. The Niners’ 409 yards after halftime compares to the Saints’ 195, and they have a 22-7 advantage in first downs. Elliott gains 111 yards after the half, and 125 for the game, in his best NFL performance. Ninety-one of his yards come on the Niners’ last two touchdown drives. The 38 points are the 49ers’ most since 1973, in a 40-0 defeat of the Saints.

Quotes
John Brodie: “I’ve never enjoyed a football game that much.”
Saints safety Tom Myers: “This was the worst ever—worse than the Monday night last year when we blew a 35-14 lead. It was worse because that wasn’t Kenny Stabler and the Oakland Raiders out there.”
Walsh, looking back on his coaching career: “There were only two games that produced absolute euphoria—this one and the 1987 game at Cincinnati, when we scored on the very last play.”
Cross on the reason for the poor opening: “What do you think? I’ve never seen us so flat.”

Tackle Ron Singleton: “After we got those two quick touchdowns, I think they started questioning themselves. Once you get into that losing syndrome, you start doing that. You could see it on the field.”
And, on the opening of the game: “We came out thinking we were just gonna line up and do it to them. Offensively, we got surprised, and defensively, they just started taking it to us. They shocked us.”

Walsh: “I think that was an experience for all of us. I’ve never been associated with a game where a team came back so strong.”

Steve Young in the USFL

Steve Young’s first professional contract was with the Los Angeles Express of the USFL. He made his debut with the Express on April 1, 1984 at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, against the New Jersey Generals. New Jersey’s most recognizable player was Herschel Walker; Jojo Townsell was probably the best Express player besides Young. The Generals won, 26-10, before just 19,853 at Memorial Coliseum. The Express went to 2-4.

Here’s how one newspaper reported Young’s performance: “He completed 19 of 29 passes for 163 yards and at times ran the offense as if he had been a part of it for years. . . . Young, who signed a contract in early March worth more than $40 million over 43 years, took advantage of a breakdown in coverage to pass 9 yards for a touchdown to Jojo Townsell, a former draft choice of the Jets. During one stretch over the second and third quarters, he completed 9 consecutive passes before Kerry Justin, the Generals’ cornerback, made a good play to break up a pass intended for Anthony Allen.”

Steve said: ”I think it’s just a matter of time. I felt pretty comfortable out there. I was throwing the ball pretty well. We just have to get the continuity going. I feel comfortable with what I’ve done, but I’ve got to get better.”

His coach, John Hadl, made an accurate prediction: “Steve is going to be a great quarterback. He went up against one of the best defenses in the league and performed well. I like his leadership. He saw some things on the field that another quarterback wouldn’t see for a year.”

By the way, Brian Sipe, longtime quarterback with the Browns, led the Generals to victory in his fourth start of the USFL season. He said: “This was probably my best game. I felt more comfortable than I have felt so far. And it was nice to see us do a lot of different things. My knee injury was a real setback to me, but each week, I seem to feel more and more comfortable.”

As a service to 49er fans, Steve Young fans, and USFL fans, I’ve hunted down the stats for this game from the L.A. Times archives. Here’s a rundown of the scoring:

And here’s the team box score:

And, here’s the individual stats:

Some Questions for 49ers Reporter Kevin Lynch

In February I talked with long-time 49ers reporter Kevin Lynch, now with the San Francisco Chronicle, about the 49ers’ dynasty, especially the 1988 49ers. The full interview is in the appendix to my e-book about the ’88 49ers. You can buy that e-book through Lulu.com here. In these excerpts, we talked about Bill Walsh and George Seifert:

Arne: Seifert was hired to replace Walsh very soon after that Super Bowl against the Bengals.
Kevin: He was flying to an interview in Cleveland, they caught him in Dallas waiting for his connecting flight. The record of coaches succeeding Super Bowl coaches is very poor, and Seifert doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves. His teams had something like a 75% winning percentage. One of the big reasons Seifert was successful right away was that he told the players they were the reason for the wins. He didn’t have the personality of Walsh, he was quieter, low-key, very humble. He always thought it was the players’ team. Seifert felt a lot of people were trying to undermine him as coach. Later on, in ’94, when Young was screaming at him on the sidelines during the Eagles game, he liked that. Seifert said it showed how much the team had developed, for Young to be so passionate about the team.

Arne: Walsh has that whole image of “The Genius,” but do you think he made some mistakes as a coach, had some weaknesses?
Kevin: He was often very, very unpopular. He had a huge ego. But as a coach he was pretty flawless. Mostly his style worked. That thing he’d say about trying to get rid of players before they hit their downside, it did work, usually. Of course it created a lot of insecurity. But with Montana in ’88, he was motivated, wanted to prove he could fill that starting role still. He’d won the two Super Bowls, but he still had motivation. The flaw in Walsh maybe was that he really believed his system was so good, he could throw in almost any player and it would work. He didn’t give the players their due. He could be distant. Toward the end of his life he really connected with the players, he reversed all that distance.

The 1988 NFC Championship at Soldier Field

The 49ers’ 28-3 win over the Chicago Bears at a frigid Soldier Field in January 1989 was one of the great games in 49ers history, and it set up the memorable Super Bowl XXIII vs. Cincinnati to close out Bill Walsh’s career as coach with a triumph. Here, Jerry Rice runs by Bears cornerback Vestee Jackson on his way to the end zone for a 61-yard touchdown in the first quarter:

1990: Super Bowl XXIV

The San Francisco Chronicle’s cover page for the 49ers’ 55-10 win over the Denver Broncos to win Super Bowl 24 in New Orleans:

Brian Pariani

Pariani came to the 49ers as a scouting assistant in 1990. He was a native son, born in San Francisco, then moving north to Kentfield and playing three sports at Marin Catholic High School. He was an offensive coaches assistant for the 49ers from 1991  through 1995, then went to Denver and won two Super Bowls there. He’s now with the Houston Texans, coaching their tight ends. Texans tight end Jeb Putzier said: “He’s kind of crazy, a little different. He’s a detail guy, dot the eye, cross the ‘t.’ That’s the type of guy he is. He’s kind of like if you’ve ever seen a chicken with its head cut off. He’s an intense guy once game day comes.”

Read more about Pariani here and here.

Carl Jackson, 49ers Assistant Coach

Carl Jackson was a coach with the Iowa Hawkeyes for most of his career, including all of the ’80s and the first half of this decade, but he left Iowa for San Francisco in 1992 to serve as running backs coach. He left the 49ers after 1996 to go to Texas and coach Ricky Williams. Jackson went back to Iowa in 1999 and retired in early 2008. He’s a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, along with Guy McIntyre

The 49ers and the Loma Prieta Earthquake

At the time of the earthquake, Bubba Paris and his six children were eating in a San Jose restaurant. Bubba said: “The scary feeling is to see terror in your kid’s face and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

With Candlestick damaged and the World Series postponed, the 49ers moved their game on Sunday, October 22 to Stanford Stadium. Joe Montana, who was attending game 3 of the Series when Loma Prieta hit, said of the move: “Some of the guys who never have been through one of these before are going crazy. Mentally, it affects people differently. It’s going to be a big distraction.”

Michael Walter said, about whether or not the game against the Patriots should go on: “It’s a tough question to answer, but sooner or later you’re going to play football again and sooner or later they’ll be playing baseball again. There’s no right or wrong answer. You do what you feel is best. Playing or not playing this game is not going to make what happened go away.”

The Spirit of the Bay Earthquake Relief Foundation asked fans to donate canned food and blankets at the game, with the items to be sent to the Salvation Army’s distribution center in San Jose, and the 49ers were also taking cash donations for the Red Cross at the game. Some $25 tickets went on sale at Stanford on Thursday afternoon after the quake, and the proceeds went to earthquake relief efforts. Stanford Stadium had a capacity of 86,000, while Candlestick Park could hold 65,701, and the crowd at Stanford was around 75,000, so those extra 10,000 seats sold went to the Bay Area Earthquake Relief Fund. The game was the first NFL game ever relocated because of a natural disaster, and it was a pretty comfortable 49er win, 37-20 after pulling away from the Patriots in the second half. But Jeff Fuller suffered his partially paralyzing injury very early in the game, and Montana went out with a sprained knee late in the first half, to be replaced by Steve Young, who had three touchdown passes.

Afterward, Michael Carter said: “We felt like we had to give people something to be happy about, some kind of joy. If football is it, that’s OK with us.” Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. said: “We need the unifying situation, the common denominator [from going ahead with the game].” Jesse Sapolu said: “You do your best to move on, even while you know people are still trapped under that freeway.”

Patriots linebacker Ed Reynolds said: “I don’t think a lot of us were crazy about coming out here to play. There was a lot of death out here. I thought we came here out of respect for the fans. Any time there is a catastrophe like they had here, your mind is on it, but we were also getting an opportunity to play the champions, and any time you have that, you want to play.”

The Patriots’ Mosi Tatupu: “It was kind of a weird atmosphere around here. It was kind of an awkward feeling having to come here to play a game. We just had to try to remember to win the game.”

[People interested in reading more about Loma Prieta can take a look at my blog here collecting stories from it.]

Jerry Rice at Mississippi Valley State

By Jerry Rice’s senior year at Mississippi Valley State, coach Archie Cooley had refined his no-huddle offense into a machine that dominated most opponents. The Delta Devils went 9-1 in 1984, scored 60.9 points per game, and had nearly 500 yards passing per game. In the playoffs though, they lost 66-19 to Louisiana Tech in their first game.

Alcorn State defensive coordinator Theo Danzy, whose team beat the Devils, 42-28, said: “When you’re trying to stop them, you start by saying, ‘Our Father who art in Heaven.’”

Cooley said: “I give my coaches money out of my pocket to go see kids. We got no money. But we got a dream, and so do these kids.

“They’re from sharecropper families. They just been living day to day. They don’t know disappointment because they never had anything.

“Eighty percent of them are the first child in their family who’ll ever graduate from college. I tell ‘em all success is about work. Not eight hours, not no nine-to-five. It’s about work – 16, 18 hours a day. It’s about getting up in the middle of the night because you got an idea.”

Cooley also said: “We had a little cafe down in Laurel in the ’50s. Back then, if you were black, you couldn’t go downtown with shades on because someone might say you were looking at a white girl.

“One day, this white guy came in and ordered coffee. My Momma made it. He said it was too sweet, and he poured it on my Momma’s hand. She screamed. Daddy came out of the kitchen and turned him over.

“You didn’t do that to a white man then if you didn’t want trouble, but he hit that white man over my Momma. Right then he became the greatest man that ever walked to me.

“From that day on, if I knew I was right, I didn’t fear no man. If we’re all equal, than say what you believe.”

Cooley typically used formations that had five wideouts, and he used them to beat Kentucky State, 86-0, in the first game of the season. Rice caught 24 passes for 294 yards, and Willie Totten threw 9 touchdown passes. The 716 total yards, including 699 passing yards, set a new Division I-AA record, by a full 113 yards. The next game, MVSU beat Washburn College, 77-15. In October, they beat Prairie View, 71-6. This time, they had 761 total yards for a new record, and Willie Totten threw for 599 yards, setting a new single-game record. In their last game of the regular season, they were up 41-3 at the end of the first quarter.

Rice said: “This has turned into something I could never have dreamed of. This has turned into a future. I’ve had it hard. Hard as it could get. My father tried to help, but there were so many of us.

“I got a chance now, but I wasn’t even a player until the 10th grade. I was skipping a class, and an instructor slipped behind me and scared me. I took off running.

“I ran so fast that he couldn’t catch me, so he ran to the football coach and told him he’d just seen the fastest class skipper ever. That’s how it started.”

Montana in October 1991

Joe Montana had in-season surgery for the second time in October 1991, to reattach the common flexor tendon of his right elbow bone. The tendon was partially torn in training camp, then fully torn in early October when Montana was testing it after seven weeks of rest. He came back for one last 49ers game at the end of the 1992 season, against the Lions at home, but Montana’s 49er career was effectively over. During that October, one of his old teammates said Montana had already had at least 50 pain-killing injections in his right elbow.

Still, he did make a comeback. Mike Holmgren, the 49ers’ offensive coordinator in 1991, said: “I got here in 1986, and the first game in my first year, Joe went down with the back injury. I thought, I’ll never have a chance to coach Joe Montana now. Two months later he was back, and he’s given me five years. So there’s not a doubt in my mind he’ll be back.”