SB 23: Montana's TD pass to Taylor lifts 49ers 20-16

SUPER BOWL 23

Jan. 22, 1989

At Miami_75,129

Cincinnati 0..3.10..3_16

San Francisco 3..0..3.14_20

After a week of riots within Miami, San Francisco captured its third Super Bowl of the 1980s and became the first NFC team to win three times.

The 49ers outgained the Bengals 454 to 229, but found themselves trailing late in the game. Jim Breech's 40-yard field goal, with 3:20 remaining gave Cincinnati a 16-13 lead.

San Francisco started the winning drive at its 8-yard line, with quarterback Joe Montana ("Joe Cool") famously scanning the crowd at the beginning of the march and telling his teammates, "Look, there's John Candy."

Then Montana took apart Cincinnati's defense. On the 11th play of the series, Montana hit John Taylor with a 10-yard pass over middle for the winning touchdown with 34 seconds remaining.

At halftime, the score was 3-3, the first time in Super Bowl history the game was tied at intermission. Both teams exchanged field goals and Stanford Jennings' 93-yard kickoff return gave the Bengals a 13-6 lead with 4 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The 49ers came back with an 85-yard drive in four plays, concluding with Montana's 14-yard pass to Jerry Rice. Rice was voted the most valuable player after catching 11 passes for a record 215 yards. Montana completed 23 of 36 passes for a record 357 yards.

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Online:

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