If the Super Bowl hopes to keep its grip on the universe, it better move to another planet.
It better go somewhere Joe Montana doesn`t recognize. It better be in some galaxy where Montana can`t pass, Jerry Rice can`t catch, Roger Craig can`t run, George Seifert can`t coach and Eddie DeBartolo Jr. can`t buy. The farther away from Denver and John Elway the better.
The San Francisco 49ers are already out of this world. They spent all week, all year, all decade demonstrating why Super Bowl XXIV Sunday wasn`t necessary. But nobody listened and the NFL went and held the thing anyway. The 49ers outdid themselves and so did the Denver Broncos.
The score was 55-10 and it wasn`t that close. A rout was predicted and the experts were wrong again. This was worse than all the Denver and CBS nightmares combined, setting records that catapulted the 49ers from the Team of the Decade to a Team of the Century.
They tied the Pittsburgh Steelers with their fourth Super Bowl triumph and became the first repeat winners since the 1978-79 Steelers.
”Three-peat, three-peat,” they yelled as they entered the locker room.
”If they want to go for another one, it`s OK with me,” Seifert said.
Their quarterback was already among the all-time greats, and Montana`s performance Sunday set new standards.
He threw five touchdown passes, three in the first half and two on his first three throws of the second half, when a game that was already out of hand became downright embarrassing. The score broke the 46-10 Super Bowl record set by the 1985 Bears.
Denver and Elway just happened to be the poor souls in the way, but the 49ers made them look so sorry there is fear for their future. The Broncos were a team that led the National Football League in fewest points allowed. Yet midway through the third quarter, they were longing for the good old days of their 42-10 and 39-20 losses in Super Bowls XXII and XXI.
Were the Bears and Sid Luckman as good as the 49ers, even after they beat the Washington Redskins 73-0 in the 1940 title game? Were the Detroit Lions and Bobby Layne ever this good, even after beating the Cleveland Browns 59-14 in 1957? Were the Browns and Otto Graham this good, even after beating the Lions 56-10 in 1954? The Green Bay Packers and Bart Starr with five titles?
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Terry Bradshaw with four?
Not if the Broncos have a vote.
”They are playing at a level that`s incredible,” Denver coach Dan Reeves said. ”We`ve got a long ways to go to reach that level. We knew they would have to have an off-day.”
This was a performance beyond words, manslaughter by machine that requires numbers and computer to explain:
Montana`s passing numbers were 22 of 29 for 297 yards, a Super Bowl-record five touchdowns, no interceptions.
His numbers for three playoff games against the Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams and Broncos were 65 completions in 83 attempts (78.3 percent) for 800 yards, 11 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
His numbers for four Super Bowl victories-1981, 1984, 1988, 1989-are 83 of 122 (68 percent) for 1,142 yards, 11 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
”There is not an adjective made to describe what Joe Montana did,”
49ers linebacker Matt Millen said.
”I think I might have gotten touched once or twice. I could play until I`m 40 if they play like that,” Montana said.
The 49ers scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, two in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth. A missed extra point by Mike Cofer was their only flaw.
Wide receiver Rice caught three touchdown passes, fullback Tom Rathman ran for two, tight end Brent Jones caught one, wide receiver John Taylor caught one and halfback Roger Craig ran for one.
The Broncos responded with nothing but a few shovel passes that helped dig their own grave. Four 49er touchdowns were set up by two fumbles and two interceptions.
Elway was awful. He had completed only one pass by the time Montana had two touchdowns. He finished with 10 of 26 for 108 yards, 0 TDs, 2
interceptions, 4 sacks, 2 fumbles. It was his third Super Bowl loss and Denver`s fourth as they joined the Minnesota Vikings as all-time Super Bowl losers.
”I didn`t play well,” Elway said. ”We didn`t play well as a team and the 49ers played as flawless a football game as you can play.”
”John`s a great guy. He`ll be back,” Montana said.
”When we used a three-man rush, Montana would just hold the ball and look for somebody to get open,” Denver defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said. ”If we rushed four he`d kill you with his quick release to Craig or Rathman.”
Elway was supposed to be the scrambler with the big arm, but it was Montana running around and playing catch down the middle.
The 49ers erased Denver safety Steve Atwater from the center of the field with patterns that seemed to baffle the rookie. It was as if the Broncos were playing with 10 men on defense.
Against the 49er defense, Elway didn`t complete a pass to a wide receiver until the two-minute warning of the half. Four of the first six times the Broncos had the ball, it was three plays or fewer and out.
”His wide receivers weren`t open,” 49er nose tackle Michael Carter said. ”Then when he threw to them, they dropped it. And we always had someone in his face with our perimeter guys containing him.”
The 49ers scored on eight of their first 11 possessions before Montana was relieved by Steve Young with 10 minutes 55 seconds to play. Reeves rescued Elway with Gary Kubiak on the next series.
Elway`s first pass was short and his day went downhill fast.
”When he threw that first pass, a routine `out,` and it was short, I had a feeling he didn`t want to throw the ball downfield,” safety Ronnie Lott said. ”I think they were trying to control the ball.”
Montana`s first pass was high and his day improved.
Let us count the ways: Run, Joe. Montana`s 10-yard scramble kept a 66-yard touchdown drive alive. The Broncos wanted to make sure they tackled well. So Atwater bounced off Rice on a 20-yard touchdown pass.
See the tight end, Joe.
After Bobby Humphrey fumbled at the San Francisco 46-yard line with the score 7-3, Montana found Rice twice to get it to the 7. He rolled out and lofted a TD to Jones over linebacker Michael Brooks.
See Joe hand off.
Next, the 49ers marched 69 yards on 14 plays, 13 to Craig and Rathman.
See Joe run a two-minute drill.
With 1:38 left in the half, Montana took over at his 41. With 34 seconds left from Denver`s 38, he pumped one way and Rice split the safeties to haul in a perfectly lofted TD over his shoulder.
With the score 27-3, Elway ran out of the pocket for the first time in the game.
Montana was 15 of 21 for 189 yards and 3 touchdowns by halftime, completing a three-game first-half performance of 46 of 58 (79 percent) for 597 yards and 9 touchdowns.
The halftime extravaganza was a salute to Peanuts, a perfect backdrop for a game that had turned into a cartoon.
Elway threw his first pass of the second half directly at linebacker Mike Walter, who intercepted at the Denver 28.
See Joe go for the throat. Rice lined up in the slot over cornerback Tyrone Braxton, who never laid a hand on him as Rice worked his way to the goal line. The ball was again perfectly lofted and Rice was finally hit in the end zone.
Elway now tried to throw long and overshot a receiver. Chet Brooks intercepted.
See Joe get greedy.
Taylor hadn`t scored yet, so the 49ers sent Rice across to distract Atwater and Taylor got deep over the middle for a 35-yarder.
Montana was enjoying himself even with the score 41-3.
”There was a lot of talk about them and there were some things that happened out in the streets and they weren`t talking to us and I think that helped motivate our team,” Montana said.
As if seeking motivation, he was referring to an incident last Sunday night when Broncos Steve Sewell and Humphrey refused to socialize with 49ers Larry Roberts and Spencer Tillman even though the opposing players had attended the same colleges.
The Broncos hadn`t given up more than 28 points in a game all year.
”I`m just trying to figure out how we can win one of these, or at least be in one,” Elway said. ”You have to give the 49ers all the credit in the world.”
