Before the 49ers took to the Astoturf at the Meadowlands, the Chronicle predicted a 49ers win, but the 49ers were missing Eric Wright and Randy Cross, and Wendell Tyler was hurting as well. Montana stirred things up a bit by having this to say about Phil Simms’ conversation with him after the Niners beat the Giants in the 1984 playoffs: “He said, ‘I could throw the ball anytime I wanted against your defense.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you moved the ball, but you couldn’t seem to get it in the end zone.’ For a guy that our defense has played well against, he’s got confidence, I guess, edging on cockiness.”
The 49ers were the ones kept out of the end zone in this game. Roger Craig dropped five passes in the second half, four in the fourth quarter, Ronnie Lott struggled on defense with multiple injuries, and the 49ers failed to sack Simms despite many blitzes. It was a pretty bad loss.
Walsh said: “I guarantee you we’ll be back. We’re proud of our organization and what we’ve done – we stand on it.”
Dwight Clark said: “We should have been at least 13-3 and not playing today.”
