Super Bowl XXIII
at Joe Robbie Stadium
(Miami, FL)
Sunday January 22nd, 1989
20   16

In what proved to be the most exciting Super Bowl game of the decade, it was the play of a collected veteran that delivered San Francisco their third NFL Championship. QB Joe Montana connected on 23-of-36 passes for 357 yards, but no completion would be more important than his last.

The game opened as a tight-knit affair with neither team having any ability to move the ball offensively. San Francisco opened the scoring on a 41-yard field goal by K Mike Cofer late in the first quarter. The Bengals responded with K Jim Breech's 34-yard field goal and the teams headed to the half locked in a 3-3 tie.

The third quarter began with the teams trading field goals before the Bengals broke the touchdown draught. Following a 49er field goal, Cincinnati KR Stanford Jennings took the Cofer kickoff and returned it 93 yards for a touchdown.

It didn't take long for San Francisco to respond. Montana hit WR Jerry Rice for a 31-yard completion and followed that with a swing pass that RB Roger Craig turned into a 40-yard gain. Two plays and 16 seconds later, Montana found Rice in the corner of the end zone for a10-yard touchdown. An 11-play, 46-yard drive by the Bengals resulted in a 46-yard field goal by Breech, giving Cincinnati a 16-13 lead and leaving the 49ers just 3:20 left on the clock. San Francisco received the kickoff and returned it to the 20, but a penalty moved the ball back to the eight-yard line. What happened next is the stuff of legend.

Montana connected on five consecutive passes to move the ball to the Bengals 35. A holding penalty moved the ball back 10 yards, but Montana responded with a 27-yard completion to Rice and another first down. A quick hit to Craig followed by a timeout left the Niners with second and two from the Bengals 10-yard line. Following the timeout, Montana hit WR John Taylor in the middle of the end zone for a touchdown and San Francisco had their third Super Bowl title of the decade.

  1st 2nd 3rd 4th  
49ers 3 0 3 14 20 Final
Bengals 0 3 10 3 16 Final

49ers - Cofer 41 field goal
Bengals - Breech 34 field goal
Bengals - Breech 43 field goal
49ers - Cofer 32 field goal
Bengals - Jennings 93 kickoff return
49ers - Rice 14 pass from Montana (Cofer kick)
Bengals - Breech 40 field goal
49ers - Taylor 10 pass from Montana (Cofer kick)

• The 49ers won four of their first five games, lost four of the next six, but won four of their last five.

• Running back Roger Craig established a team record (since broken by Garrison Hearst) by rushing for 1,502 yards.

• Jerry Rice, who was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXIII, had his finest postseason ever by catching 21 passes for 409 yards and six touchdowns, including a 61-yard touchdown pass from Joe Montana in the NFC Championship Game.

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