The 1994 NFC Championship Game

Sports Illustrated called the Dallas vs. San Francisco grudge match in the 1994 playoffs the “Real Super Bowl,” and it turned out that they were pretty much right.

Super Bowl XXIX vs. San Diego

Steve Young celebrating the victory over the Chargers in the 1995 Super Bowl.

Montana in Retirement

Joe Montana’s retirement followed a very hard hit in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 30-13 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC championship game after the 1993 season, when he was knocked out by three charging defenders. Montana said it “felt like a lightning bolt went right through my head.”

He grabbed his face mask to make sure it hadn’t gone into his skull, and, even though he played for the Chiefs in 1994 and beat the 49ers early that season in the one re-match of Young and Montana after Joe left the team, he said: “For the first time in my life, football began to feel like a job. All of a sudden I was dreading getting up in the morning. When that feeling takes over, you know it’s time, because, chances are, that’s when you’re going to get hurt. You’re not thinking about the game; you’re just thinking about making it through the week, making it through the game. I always thought I’d end up quitting because my skills were deteriorating. But physically, I felt better going into last season than at any time in recent years.”

George Seifert

Seifert is a San Francisco native: he was an usher at Kezar Stadium in 1957 as a high school senior at Polytechnic, across the street from Kezar, and watched the 49ers lose in the playoffs that year, 31-27 to the Detroit Lions. Lynn Stiles, another former 49ers assistant coach, said: “It’s damn near a love affair George has with the 49ers. It goes way beyond working for a living.”

One day, Seifert looked out at Marina Boulevard and remembered: “My uncle owned a company that washed windows, and when I was in high school and college I’d work for him to make my extra money. I used to wash some of these windows right here on this street. It’s really funny because I’m afraid of heights, and the work scared the crap out of me. I remember times when I’d freeze on the platform.”

Seifert had a 108-35 record, for a .755 winning percentage, when he left the 49ers after 1996. His routines were legendary: he never walked on the 49ers helmet spray-painted on the turf of the team practice fields, he blew on each Certs he ate three times upon putting it in his mouth, and he did a shirtless lap around the 49er locker room before each game.

Harris Barton

Barton was a key part of the 49ers’ offensive line in the later ’80s and early ’90s, playing right tackle from 1987 through 1996. He said: “I was fortunate to have played in a great, great city, on a great team, for a great coach and for a great owner. It couldn’t have been better. So, maybe I played two years too long,”

Along with having his HRJ Capital hedge fund collapse, Harris Barton’s 2008 involved other problems tied up with our general economic problems. Back in 2007, he said of the venture capital business: “It’ll definitely keep you awake at night. Sometimes it’s worse than looking at William Perry across the line.”

On June 27, the Wall Street Journal reported that he got a specially approved loan worth $5.1 million for a Palo Alto house from Countrywide Financial, the infamous home lender. One source called it a Friend-of-Angelo [Mozillo] loan after Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozillo’s lax lending standards and Mozillo’s power to personally approve certain loans. Barton got that loan early in 2007. In May 208, he was named to the board of JPM Group, an investment banking and alternative asset management firm.

Ricky Watters

Watters took over for Roger Craig as the 49ers’ feature back in the early ’90s, getting to the Pro Bowl in 1992 through 1994. But the 49ers’ top brass wasn’t all that satisfied with him, and offered a relatively low contract when he became a free agent after the Super Bowl vs. the Chargers, so he left for the Eagles. Team President Carmen Policy said: “We’re not comfortable allocating millions of dollars to a player not 100 percent committed to our long-range goals, our game plan and our offensive system.” Watters countered: “I learned I didn’t mean as much to them as I thought.”

Ricky was adopted by Jim and Marie Watters in 1969, after Marie had met a woman who said her daughter was pregnant and couldn’t take care of the kids she already had, so she was going to have her put the baby up for adoption. Marie arranged for the adoption that April, in a Trailways bus depot on Chestnut Street in Hattiesburg, Pennsylvania. Watter’s now an advocate for adoption, and he has his own website.

Ronnie Lott

Ronnie Lott was born in Albuquerque as the son of a military man, and the family moved around for 10 years before winding up in Rialto, CA, in the San Fernando Valley east of L.A. Roy, his father, said: ”We had rough times. But I said I was going to be involved in my kids’ lives, and Ronnie got a hold of that. I put in him the idea that God would take care of him if he was a good person.”

Roy Lott said Ronnie once got a pair of P. F. Flyers sneakers, pledged that he would fly wearing them, and jumped off the second story of their apartment building. He landed on a first-floor landing. His mom said: ”Ronnie is straight up, and there is no softness to it. He has huge winds that come with him.”

After his playing career ended, Lott spent some time as a TV analyst, kept running All Stars Helping Kids, started managing private equity, and raised his son, Ryan Nece, who became a linebacker with Tampa Bay and Detroit. A hedge fund he and Harris Barton help run, called HRJ Capital Holdings, has struggled severely in the last few months and may be going under.

Summarizing 1987

After the loss to the Vikings, the Chronicle’s Lowell Cohn said: “What was once a clear order of supremacy at quarterback – Montana and then Young – is now muddy. Montana probably has the edge, but if he falters in a game, gets off to a slow start or does not satisfy Walsh’s extreme demands for quarterback play, Walsh will yank him for Young. What’s to prevent Walsh from doing that again when he’s done it once already? Montana now faces a fight for his job.”

Even before the game, Montana said he recognized that Walsh was gradually easing him in the direction of retirement. Dwight Clark, who’d announced his own plans to retire, initially said  Walsh pulling Montana for Young was a “bull – - – - move . . . I don’t see how you can put the best quarterback in the NFL on the bench.”

Dwight backed off a little after a few days, and said Montana “wasn’t the only one struggling out there. We were all struggling. We just couldn’t get away from that push up front (by the Vikings).” He added: “There already is a quarterback controversy, it looks like to me.”

Tim McKyer said of Anthony Carter’s performance: “I just got through looking at the tape and I still don’t believe some of the catches he made. Damn, that was awesome.”

The Chronicle’s Glenn Dickey made his own statements on the quarterback controversy: “Walsh also knows that Montana is no longer effective against a team with a great pass rush. Joe showed that in the playoff game against the Giants last year, before he was knocked out with a concussion. He showed that with an ineffective game against New Orleans, the last game the 49ers had lost. He played only three series against the Chicago Bears, but he was sacked twice.

No longer fast enough to consistently evade pass rushers, Montana seems more conscious of the rush now than he was before, and less able to pick out receivers downfield. He was slow mentally and physically against the Vikings, making poor decisions and throwing inaccurately.”

Dickey predicted: “I expect to see Steve Young at quarterback next fall.”

The 36-24 Division Round Loss to the Vikings to End the 1987 Season

The 49ers had effectively dominated the NFL in 1987, going 13-2, winning handily in their last three regular season games, and featuring Jerry Rice with his record-breaking season that included 23 touchdowns. It all came to a crashing end with the 36-24 loss at Candlestick to the Vikings in the first game of what was supposed to be a Super Bowl run. Below is the Sports Illustrated cover showcasing Anthony Carter and his fantastic game that led the Vikings to victory:

And here’s a battered Joe Montana in the midst of one of his worst playoff games; people may remember that he was pulled for Steve Young in the third quarter, and that was the start of the Young-Montana quarterback controversy:

Scenes From Super Bowl XXIII

In anticipation of the 20th anniversary of the 49ers’ most dramatic Super Bowl victory, I’ve gathered together some pictures from the January 1989 Super Bowl against the Bengals that appeared in Sports Illustrated. Below, you’ll find six pictures from the magazine’s coverage.

Rice catching a 14-yard touchdown pass from Montana on the third play of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 13.

Craig running through the backfield and getting by a potential Bengals tackler.

Taylor catching the 10-yard pass from Montana that capped the 92-yard drive to win the game, 20-16.

Stanford Jennings nearing the end zone on his stunning 93-yard kickoff return that put the Bengals up, 13-6, at the end of the third quarter.

Rice making a one-handed catch.

The Sports Illustrated cover that recognized Rice’s dazzling performance as the central highlight of Super Bowl XXIII.