Prime 9 - Shortstops. The 9 Greatest Shortstops of All Time

A thousand 20th century games at short was the qualification to make the MLB Network list.  That means no Davis and Dahlen on its list, so I'll add two to mine. My top 200 is here.


MLB Network List:
1. Wagner
2. Rodriguez
3. Ripken
4. Banks
5. Smith
6. Vaughan
7. Jeter
8. Larkin
9. Appling

My List:
1. Wagner
2. Rodriguez
3. Vaughan
4. Ripken
5. Banks
6. Davis
7. Boudreau
8. Larkin
9. Dahlen

Ozzie and Yount would make my list to replace the 19th century players.  Jeter had a bad glove; using my metrics he's 66 wins above replacement for his career, Yount's 75.  Ozzie had a bad bat, his OPS+ is 87; that makes him tough for me to rank him as high as MLB does.

The Weekly Tendown January 15-21 2012 (Championship Sunday Edition)

Dear Internet:

How am I getting ready for the 49ers return to the NFC Championship Game?

The same way as you, of course.

Better watch your behind if its in our way.

Here's Tendown 111. 110 is here.

1. Yes, I Picked New York.  Yes.
49er interest has caused this past couple of weeks to be the most highly trafficked in the history of the blog; you'll note on the right side that my all time 49er 45 man roster is now my most read post ever (I've updated all of my all time rosters to reflect the 2011 season, so consider searching for your favorite team).  I made a ton of historical posts this week: a look at every 49er NFC Championship game; and the history of the Niners/Giants rivalry;.  But here are my predictions for today's games.

Note that against the spread I'm 7-1 so far in the playoffs.  And I went 21-3 picking the Golden Globes.  If the world were a better place, I'd have a 900 number, a nickname that included the word "Steam", and I'd be living offshore to avoid a Megaupload (does no one in this country care about due process anymore?) like seizure of my website.

I've been a Niner fan since the 1978 season; I was 7 years old; our quarterback was Steve Deberg and my favorite player was OJ Simpson.  If you read my pieces during the Giants World Series run, you'll know that while my baseball fandom largely existed inside my head, football was an experience I always shared with my family.  My favorite childhood memories are watching 49ers games with my parents and eventually my younger brothers; we sat in the same seats, we ate at the same time; my mother would get too anxious and leave the room and I'd deliver play by play.  Other than the occasional girl who would let me see her naked, the highlights of my youth all involved watching games with my family.

I'm at home today; I watched the Saints game last week at my mom's with she and my youngest brother, which was good times.  But I had to work all morning and teach two five hour classes on Monday, so today I'm home.  My Ladygal enjoys college football (although she's an SEC fan, and who has the energy for all of that) but not so much the NFL.  Meaning - it's just me today.  I'm not particularly nervous; it's an unexpected bonus at this point.  I'd enjoy the whole Super Bowl experience again (particularly against New England) since it's been over 20 years now; two more weeks of getting to think about 49er football, so thats my primary motivation today.

I picked New York - and I think they'll win, but it's like 55/45, if the field is super slow and it turns into 60 minutes of handfighting, the evidence would suggest that's a game we're suited for.  We could be headed to our sixth Super Bowl by day's end.

2. You Know Who Would Like That?

San Francisco 49ers fan Matt Kemp.

I think I heard that Aubrey Huff's an old LA Rams fan.  Perhaps some type of swap is in order.

3. Two SI pieces to read.
On Alex Smith.
On the Niners/Giants rivalry.

4. Hey, What's All that Special Teams Dancing?


It's the Tony Montana squad.

5. Okay, Here's More Songs, Just For the Hell of It.
Tony Montana.
The 49er rap.

6. Who Was Irving Gordon?


The same person wrote both Who's On First and the Nat King Cole song Unforgettable.

7. Eyes Wide Shut Is Real!


Rosie O'Donnell was on Andy Cohen's show a week ago talking about attending parties with closeted Hollywood lesbians back in the day; where one might say "hey, look, Darlene from Roseanne is gay, how about that."

What would be good is if, more broadly, there were Hollywood Secrets parties - where everyone would have something to hide, and the party is where they could be who they are.  Anderson Cooper's banging Mike Piazza.  No judgment.  President Obama's really Muslim. No judgment. Rob Lowe actually passed away in 1998.  No judgment.

Tom Cruise is there.  He's there because he and Nicole Kidman never really broke up and they are all over each other.  It's the only place where they can express their love.  Why did they divorce?  Cruise is actually Katie Holmes's beard - not that she's gay, her secret is she was never able to choose between Dawson and Pacey and just keeps flipping back and forth.  It's enough Joey Potter!  You've caused enough damage for those two boys!



8. Didn't They Impeach Clinton?


Newt Gingrich crawled his way back into the Republican nomination this week.  And why not - it turns out that not only did he ask his first wife for a divorce when she was bed ridden with cancer; but when he was caught cheating on his second wife (who had multiple sclerosis) he asked her for an open marriage.

And when asked if he'd like to comment about that last revelation, at a South Carolina debate co-sponsored by a pro-marriage organization dedicated to fighting against gay rights given how they harm the sanctity of marriage, Gingrich attacked the question as coming from the elite media always looking to stir up trouble.

And earlier in the week, he responded to Juan Williams's questioning of Newt's reference to Obama as the "food stamp President" by asserting that the concept of work is apparently foreign to Williams.

Black President gives out food stamps.
Black reporter doesn't understand work.
Ex-wives are disturbed troublemakers.
Liberal news media won't tell the truth about how good White Christian men are being deliberately held back.

That's not a particularly charitable way to view Newt's South Carolina campaign this week, but I think it's accurate.

Democrats believe Gingrich to be easy pickings in a general election given the length of his megalomaniacal record and his inability to press the conservative Christian button as hard as is necessary to get the kind of turn out Republicans need.   Hard to say that those sleazy immoral secular Democrats are ruining the country when you're as larded in Newt-ness as Gingrich as been for two decades.

But yet - here we are.  My favorite "no, it's actually a sign of his moral strength that he keeps cheating on his wives" piece this week from the right wing was from "Don't let Chaz Bono on tv because he's a terrible role model for kids" Dr. Keith Ablow.

1) Three women have met Mr. Gingrich and been so moved by his emotional energy and intellect that they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with him.
2) Two of these women felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married.
3) One of them felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married for the second time, was not exactly her equal in the looks department and had a wife (Marianne) who wanted to make his life without her as painful as possible.
Conclusion: When three women want to sign on for life with a man who is now running for president, I worry more about whether we'll be clamoring for a third Gingrich term, not whether we'll want to let him go after one. 


I think Romney's the nominee.  But Newt makes things fun.  There's literally nothing these guys won't say.

9. Where Am I Not Moving?  Indonesia.
Where they'll lock you up for saying there's no god.

10. Good Luck, Everyone


Go Niners.

That's all for this time.  I'll be back next time.  If there is a next time...

Your pal,

Jim

2012 NFL Playoff Predictions The Conference Championships

So, let's start here.

I'm 7-1 against the spread so far in the NFL playoffs.  Only the Saints scoring that late touchdown to spoil Detroit's backdoor cover keeps me from a perfect run.

Also, in that same post I made my Golden Globe picks.  I was 11-2 picking the film categories, 10-1 picking the television categories.

If you can find anyone with a better combination than that, go read his picks.

That said, I'm just 5-3 straight up in the playoffs and had the Saints to win the whole thing, so with that as the backdrop, here are my conference championship picks in order of confidence.

New York +2.5 San Francisco
I'm a 49er fan; I expect us to lose Sunday.

Coming into the playoffs, I expressed that if there were one team other than Saints/Packers, who were solidly the two best teams in football in the regular season, who might wind up with the trophy, it was New York. You don't want to overstate momentum, but if healthy, that's a team structured to duplicate the run last years Packers team went on.

And as readers of my football predictions pieces have been exposed to since pre-season, I have been fixated on this scenario of losing the NFC Championship game for awhile, and if that, as a result, would be less preferable than going 2-14 and drafting Andrew Luck.

Other than Vernon Davis, and the change of pace Kendall Hunter, I don't know if the 49ers have offensive weapons.  I get how that sounds a week after beating the Saints in an all time great shootout finish, but when you compare the danger in a now healthy Giants backfield to a clearly slowing Gore, and the 3 headed Giants wide receiver group, every member of which might be better than any 49ers wide receiver, and an elite quarterback in Eli Manning against (sorry) a game manager in Alex Smith (yes, he's coming off the game of his  life, yes, but as I talked about with Tebow, there's no reason to believe that's suddenly who he is - Alex Smith is an average quarterback who, since he turned the ball over so little this year in managing our field goal based offense, was a good ball control type quarterback.  Sure, he could do it again, sure he could - there's a reason we're 2.5 point favorites and not two touchdown underdogs, but generally, you are who you've been and not who you've been for 3 minutes a week ago) it's just hard to say we compare favorably on the offensive side.  And on the defense, while the front seven is tremendous and even with the Giants surging pass rush you'd still rather have our group, the secondary can be exploited as the Saints did in their comeback a week ago.  Absent those five Saints turnovers (absent our enormous turnover advantage all season) we lose last week.  And turnovers...turnovers are hard to count on.

Look - we could win, it's a close call.  I am as immersed in Bay Area sports culture as I could be from the other side of the continent, and there is a full on "the good times are back" vibe going on right now that I really enjoy.  I've always said I'd rather lose the NFC Championship than the Super Bowl - but that doesn't apply anymore; I'd like this ride another two weeks, even if it ends badly (if we win, I'm picking the Niners in the Super Bowl).  If it's Sunday night and the San Francisco 49ers are going to their 6th Super Bowl - I'll be cheering as loudly as anyone and I won't be startled by the result.

But if you're picking - New York's better than we are, they match up well, our offense is more likely to be what it has been all season long than be what it was in the last few minutes of our most recent game, and I'll take the Giants both plus the number and straight up.

New England -7 Baltimore
The Patriots are better; they're probably going to win.  The number's down to 7 and I'll buy in at that number. New England's defense is kinda crummy and Baltimore should take some advantage of that - but the most likely result of the game is the Patriots win by a touchdown and they get the rematch with New York that supporters of both teams assume is coming.

Go Niners.

The History of the San Francisco 49ers vs. New York Giants Rivalry

The San Francisco 49ers have played 35 games against the New York Giants.

We've won 18.  They've won 17.  We've played 7 times in the playoffs, we've won 4.

The Giants have never lost in the NFC Championship game.  They meet again Sunday.

Here are the 35 previous meetings.

San Francisco 49ers 14 at New York Giants 23

Sunday, November 9, 1952

A decade later he'd be a New York Giant, but in the first ever game between the Giants and Niners, YA Tittle was the 26 year old starting QB for San Francisco.  He threw 3 picks that day and New York won that matchup.


New York Giants 38 at San Francisco 49ers 21

Sunday, September 30, 1956

Four years later Tittle was joined by Perry, Johnson, and McElhenny in the Million Dollar Backfield, but we turned it over 4 times and got beat to open the season in '56.


San Francisco 49ers 27 at New York Giants 17

Sunday, December 1, 1957

A mediocre Niners team was our first ever representative in the NFL playoffs, a December win in New York helped get us there as we forced 7 Giants turnovers.


New York Giants 21 at San Francisco 49ers 19
Sunday, September 25, 1960




Three years later Candlestick was under construction, the Niners were still in Kezar and in the middle of a 13 year long playoff drought.  That didn't get any better in our season opener, as we lost to the Giants 21-19.


San Francisco 49ers 14 at New York Giants 48
Sunday, November 17, 1963




Three years later the longtime Niner Tittle was in New York throwing 4 scores against one of the all time terrible San Francisco squads the week before Kennedy was killed.  There wouldn't be a worse Niner team than this until 2004.  The QB - Lamar McHan.  The leading rusher - JD Smith.  The leading receiver - Bernie Casey.  There you go.


San Francisco 49ers 26 at New York Giants 10
Sunday, October 20, 1968



Dick Nolan took over in '68 and the slog through the 60s began to bear a little fruit; we tore through the Giants on the ground in this one; Gary Lewis went 16 for 101 and Ken Willard was 15 for 84 with a score and added four receptions.  We took a 23-3 lead into the 4th and eased into our second ever win over the Giants.


New York Giants 23 at San Francisco 49ers 17
Sunday, October 15, 1972


New York almost missed the upper tier Niner teams of the era, as we didn't play again until '72.  In the intervening years the Niners played in back to back NFC Championship games (losing, natch) but they caught  up with New York here.

And lost.

Gene Washington (see if you can find him next to his girlfriend in the above picture) caught two scores, but we lost what turned out to be the first of five straight times against the Giants.


New York Giants 26 at San Francisco 49ers 23

Sunday, December 21, 1975

Do you know who played for the '75 Niners?  Bullet Bob Hayes.

Hard to believe a team with Tom Owen as its starting quarterback lost this game to the Giants, but we did.


San Francisco 49ers 17 at New York Giants 20

Sunday, October 16, 1977

Eddie D had taken over the Niners two years later, but the losing continued - the Niners were winless when they went to New York in week 5 of '77 and left the same way, even though we held the Giants to 154 yards.  Here was Joe Pisarcik's passing numbers against us:

2 for 6.  47 yards.  1 TD.  Mysteriously, those numbers did not cause Joe Pisarcik to be revered for his high character and magical abilities to win football games.


San Francisco 49ers 10 at New York Giants 27
Sunday, September 24, 1978

The '78 team was my first ever Niners club; this game was the day before my 8th birthday and even though we were winless, I was all in with OJ Simpson  (my first ever favorite athlete) and the up and coming 49ers.  We lost an extra tight game in Houston against Earl Campbell the week prior, and this was going to be our coming out party.

Steve Deberg threw 4 picks and we got blown out.


San Francisco 49ers 16 at New York Giants 32
Sunday, October 14, 1979

Moustache Montana was on the bench watching Phil Simms throw for two scores when we lost this game in '79.

I was ready each week for things to turn around, Paul Hofer was good, averaging five yards a carry, James Owens seemed an exciting rookie kick returner.  And the losing continued - New York scored 27 in the second to win their fifth in a row and 9th of 11 against us.

New York Giants 0 at San Francisco 49ers 12

Sunday, November 23, 1980

When did Joe Montana make it clear he was the starting quarterback for the 49ers?

This game.

With Steve DeBerg still behind center, The Niners had lost 8 straight, but beat the Giants here 12-0 (the only shutout in the history of the rivalry) behind Montana's 66 yard score to Earl Cooper.  Two weeks later was the great comeback against the Saints, and the following season we won the whole thing.

New York Giants 10 at San Francisco 49ers 17

Sunday, November 29, 1981

We beat the Giants twice in '81; the first in Week 13; we forced 5 turnovers including 2 Carlton Williamson interceptions. Pretty good since Freddie Solomon was forced to take the field against 36 Giants at a time.  

New York Giants 24 at San Francisco 49ers 38

Sunday, January 3, 1982

And the second was the first round of the playoffs; Joe was 20 of 31 for 304 and scores to Young and Solomon.  The first ever playoff meeting between 49ers and Giants went to San Francisco 30 years ago.  We were penalized 14 times for 145 yards, both Freddie and Dwight had over a hundred yards receiving, Ronnie had two picks, returning one for a score.

San Francisco 49ers 31 at New York Giants 10

Monday October 8, 1984

The Giants then had to play us twice the next time we won the Super Bowl (perhaps it happens again this year?) when considering regular season and postseason, the best all around Niner team was '84, and our first ever Monday Night meeting against New York was in Week 6 of the '84 season, the week before we lost our only game of the year.  This game was never close, 28-3 at halftime following what was maybe the best moment of Skeets Nehemiah's NFL career, a 59 yard first quarter touchdown pass from Montana.  Joe threw two more (Frank/Craig) and Simms got picked twice.  It wasn't ever close.

New York Giants 10 at San Francisco 49ers 21

Saturday, December 29, 1984

Just as we did three years previous, we opened the playoffs by whipping New York.  All of the points were scored by halftime; New York didn't score an offensive touchdown.  Simms got sacked 6 times and picked twice.  We had beaten the Giants five straight times. What rivalry?  We own these guys.


San Francisco 49ers 3 at New York Giants 17
Sunday, December 29, 1985

A year later, it was San Francisco going to New York for a playoff game and the fortunes reversed.  It was the Niners who couldn't score a touchdown; Joe got sacked 4 times and intercepted once and the Niners got pushed around.


New York Giants 21 at San Francisco 49ers 17
Monday, December 1, 1986

A year later the Giants and Niners met for their second ever Monday night game, and this one went the other way. We went into halftime up 17-0 on two Rice scores and then watched it get away; New York scored 3 times in the third and the 4th turned into a war of attrition.  The "49ers aren't physical enough to play with these Giants" storyline became an official part of this rivalry when Bavaro carried our secondary twenty yards down the field.


San Francisco 49ers 3 at New York Giants 49
Sunday, January 4, 1987

We had beaten the Giants twice in both our Super Bowl seasons - this was New York's first Super Bowl, their second win of the season against us, and our bloodiest ever playoff loss.  Joe got knocked out on a second quarter Jim Burt hit, threatening his career.  We had fewer than 200 yards of total offense, and New York scored 21 points in both the second and third quarters.  We turned it over 4 times and the 49-3 final was reached by the end of the third quarter.  The Montana era Niners almost never just got their heads kicked in - this game felt like a punch to the prefrontal cortex


San Francisco 49ers 41 at New York Giants 21
Monday, October 5, 1987

The, er...rematch?...was 9 months later; the '87 Niner scab team got much needed revenge in front of 16,000 in the Meadowlands on a Monday night.  Mark Stevens threw a 39 yard TD pass to Carl Monroe (who scored a touchdown in a bigger game three years before) and also rushed for a score; the Niners scab team played well, the returning Niners then dominated the league when the stoppage ended, becoming the best 49er regular season team of all time and our most surprising non World Champion


San Francisco 49ers 20 at New York Giants 17
Sunday, September 11, 1988

A year later was a full fledged quarterback kerfuffle.  Joe was pulled at halftime of the playoff loss to the Vikings, and after theoretically injuring his elbow in week 1 he was on the bench the next week - Steve became the starting quarterback in Week 2 of the season in New York.  He was okay, 11 of 18 of 115 - but he got pulled at the half and, miraculously, Joe was healthy enough to replace him.  With 42 seconds left and the Niners down 17-13, Joe hit a streaking Rice for a 78 yard touchdown to give us the win.


New York Giants 24 at San Francisco 49ers 34
Monday, November 27, 1989

What a crazy ass Monday night game this was between two 9-2 teams.  Joe was 27 of 33 for 292 and 3 scores; LT got taken away in an ambulance, and we went into halftime up 24-10.  But New York closed on us with two second half scores to tie it at 24.  A late drive seemed to end on a missed Cofer FG - but New York lined up offsides, and he made the second kick.  A Simms pick turned into a meaningless Niner score (except, I'd guess, for those investing in the game) and we were on our way to Super Bowl number 4.


New York Giants 3 at San Francisco 49ers 7
Monday, December 3, 1990

By now the late season Niners/Giants MNF matchup was a standard part of the sports calendar.  This was the matchup of 11-1 teams that ended with Ronnie Lott and Phil Simms going nose to nose.  There weren't many penalties, there was only one turnover - this wasn't a mistake filled defensive struggle - this was the two best teams in the NFL punching each other in the neck for 60 minutes.  John Taylor's second quarter touchdown was the only one either team would get.


New York Giants 15 at San Francisco 49ers 13
Sunday, January 20, 1991

The 4th playoff meeting between the Niners and Giants was the end of the 1980s.  Joe Montana was never the starting quarterback for the 49ers again; there was no Threepeat, Ronnie Lott and Roger Craig played their last games in San Francisco and New York kicked 5 field goals to beat us in the NFC Championship game.  You may see some clips of that this week.  I've been a Niner fan with some memory of every single game since I was 7 years old; I'm now 41.  This was absolutely the worst loss we've had in those 34 years and there's not an argument to the contrary.


San Francisco 49ers 14 at New York Giants 16
Monday, September 2, 1991

The annual Niners/Giants Monday Night game opened the '91 season - Steve was now the starting quarterback, but again Matt Bahr kicked us to death, three field goals meant a 16-14 Giants win.


San Francisco 49ers 31 at New York Giants 14
Sunday, September 6, 1992

And then the Niners beat New York 6 straight times.  Goddamn right.  

First came the '92 season opener - Young got knocked out early; Joe was still injured from the 1990 NFC Championship - but Steve Bono went 15 for 22 for 187 and 2 scores.  We got 4 sacks and 2 turnovers and Tom Rathman scored twice.


New York Giants 3 at San Francisco 49ers 44
Saturday, January 15, 1994


How you like that, New York? It wasn't 49-3, but it was close.  The Giants came to Candlestick for the divisional round of the '93 playoffs and they got hit by 5 Ricky Watters touchdowns.  How about a 44 point 49er game without a single passing touchdown?  This was that.  New York had less than 200 yards of offense and as Joe's 49er career essentially ended against the Giants; this was Phil Simms' last game.


New York Giants 6 at San Francisco 49ers 20

Sunday, October 1, 1995

The Giants team which came to town the following season was Dave Brown and Herschel Walker.  We swept them away, up 20-3 in the third in a game never really in doubt.


New York Giants 7 at San Francisco 49ers 31

Monday, November 30, 1998

It had been 7 years since the previous Niners/Giants Monday Night game (and 13 years later, there hasn't been once subsequent) when New York came to town in 1998.  466 yards of offense later we sent them on their way - a 79 yard touchdown pass from Young to Owens, a 70 yard touchdown run by Hearst - the Kent Graham Giants were outgunned all night long.


San Francisco 49ers 16 at New York Giants 13
Thursday, September 5, 2002

Four years later the 2002 season opened with the Niners visiting the Giants; three Kerry Collins interceptions and 3 Jose Cortez Field Goals gave us the 16-13 win.


New York Giants 38 at San Francisco 49ers 39

Sunday, January 5, 2003


The second biggest comeback in playoff history.

Amani Toomer caught 3 first half touchdowns; the Niners were down 38-14 with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter (which was when my parents left my house; this may have been the last Niners game the three of us watched together).  Then Garcia hit Owens from 26 (Owens's second score of the game) plus a 2 pt conversion to Owens; then Garcia, who had 331 yards passing and 60 rushing had a 14 yard touchdown run that was recalled this past Saturday by Alex Smith's run in the way that the Owens catch and cry against the Packers seemed reborn by Vernon Davis's game winner.  A second Owens two point conversion cut the deficit to 8.  A field goal and a 68 yard touchdown drive in two minutes capped by a Tai Streets score gave us the 39-38 win saved when New York botched a potential game winning field goal at the gun.

New York Giants 24 at San Francisco 49ers 6

Sunday, November 6, 2005

When the Giants came to San Francisco 3 years later, the 49ers starting quarterback was Cody Pickett.

San Francisco 49ers 15 at New York Giants 33

Sunday, October 21, 2007

When the 49ers went to New York two years later, San Francisco's starting quarterback was Trent Dilfer.


San Francisco 49ers 17 at New York Giants 29
Sunday, October 19, 2008

And when the 49ers went back to New York the next season, the San Francisco quarterback was JT O'Sullivan.

The worst stretch in 49er history, the mid 2000s, and 3 straight losses to New York.  You're welcome, Big Blue.


New York Giants 20 at San Francisco 49ers 27
Sunday, November 13, 2011



17-17.  That was the rivalry total as of November, 2011; David Akers kicked 4 field goals and the Niners withstood a Giant rally to win 27-20

60 years of football later; they meet again.  Niners/Giants this Sunday.

Every NFC Championship Game in San Francisco 49ers History-Part 3

Part 2 is here.


Dallas Cowboys 30 at San Francisco 49ers 20
Sunday, January 17, 1993

The 80s version of the Niners dynasty died at Candlestick two years previous, but the best stretch of uninterrupted great football was still to come - the Young Niners teams of the early 90s were 3 of the 10 best regular season squads in franchise history.

The best was the first group; the '92 Niners were the third best regular season 49er team ever.  We hit the playoffs having won 8 straight and 13 of 14; Joe had missed the entire '91 season and all of this one as well, until coming back for the last week to beat the Lions.  It was with a healthy Joe Montana on the bench that we beat the Redskins 20-13 to open the postseason. We lost 3 fumbles that day; minimizing our 400+ yards of offense but not enough to keep us from hosting the NFC Championship game the next week.

We were four point favorites against the Cowboys and that was the right number; we were the best team in football and at home.  As I would for each of these next 3 years, I watched this game by myself in what was now a law school apartment; the turnovers the week before were bad foreshadowing; we gave it up 4 times and got beat.

We went 3 and out on our opening drive; Dallas picked up first downs on each of their first two plays, but wound up punting at midfield - a punt that Alan Grant fumbled; two minutes later Dallas was kicking a field goal to go up 3 nothing.  Marc Logan returned the kick to midfield, setting up a 5 minute touchdown drive that ended with a Young one yard sneak to give us the lead.

Two sacks (Romanowski and Harrison) got us a punt on the next Cowboy series, and we ended the first quarter with the lead and the ball in Dallas territory.

Cofer missed a FG early in the second quarter, another sack (Brown) forced a Cowboy punt, our second fumble (Watters) gave Dallas the ball in our territory with 9 minutes left in the half.  It appeared that we had forced a field goal attempt after stopping Dallas on a third down inside our ten, but a tough holding penalty on Pierce Holt gave them a first down that quickly became an Emmitt Smith touchdown.  We tied it with a Cofer FG with a minute left in the half, which became the halftime score when Dallas missed a FG near the gun.

Dallas scored on the opening drive of the half; the big play being Alvin Harper's leaping over Eric Davis for a 38 yard gain on the right sideline on a third and 7.  Two plays later Johnston was in the end zone and we were down 17-10.  We cut it to 4 on the next drive, Young hitting Jerry over the middle with Rice then cutting right to pick up 36.  At 4th and 2 on the Dallas 24, presumably Seifert didn't consider going for it and Cofer kicked us to 17-13.

The Cowboys then went on a 9 minute drive that ended in an Aikman to Emmitt touchdown.  We were down 10 with 9 left.  They converted 4 third downs, including a third and 11 at midfield.

Two minutes later Kenny Norton picked off Young - and when Emmitt ripped off a 28 yard run on the next play that appeared to end the game.

But Jimmy made the call that Seifert didn't, at 4th and 1 on our 7, up by 11 with 7 minutes left - Dallas went for it; Mike Walter stuffed Emmitt, giving us a chance.

Young drove us 93 yards in two and a half mintues.

Screen to Watters for 17.
Pass to Watters over the middle for 10.
Sideline to Rice for 11.
Sideline to Sherrard for 15.
After an incomplete pass, a 17 yarder over the middle to Brent Jones.  Then two completions to Watters for a total of 18 more - and finally a five yard pass to Jerry.  93 yards in 2 and a half mintues - we had cut it to 24-20 with four and a half left.

The next play was Aikman hitting Harper for 70.  Dallas went in a few plays later and the season was done.

Only two players total were active for this game and didn't play.  One was Garin Veris.  The other was Joe Montana.

San Francisco 49ers 21 at Dallas Cowboys 38

Sunday, January 23, 1994




Joe was in Kansas City in '93, and when the Niners lost to Dallas again in Week 6, dropping to 3-3, the decision to send him away seemed hard to support.  But the 10th best regular season team in 49er history won the next 6 straight and then whipped the Giants 44-3 to open the playoffs.  Young went 17 for 22 and Ricky Watters scored 5 touchdowns.  Phil Simms didn't finish his last NFL game.

The Chiefs were in the AFC Title game - the Niners in the NFC Title game.

But the NFL is on the square, both of us lost.  Dallas scored 21 in the 2nd quarter and we got run out of the building.

Dallas Cowboys 28 at San Francisco 49ers 38

Sunday, January 15, 1995

The 5th best regular season team in 49er history won what is, to this date, our last Super Bowl.

There was a win or bust sense to the '94 season, longtime Niners Romanowski, Rathman, Griffin, Washington, and McIntyre were let go; replaced with Ricky Jackson, Gary Plummer, Derrick Deese, Bart Oates, Ken Norton, and finally, during the season, Deion Sanders.

In Week 2, on 9-11, the Niners went to Kansas City, in the only game I've ever actively rooted against one of my teams.  Young threw two picks and lost to Joe and all remained right with the world.

It should be insightful that the choice I made was player over team, not so much into my personality, but into demonstrating the relationship Joe Montana had with 49er fans.  There's probably a series of blog posts at some point about the hyperintense nature of this period in San Francisco sports history - the Giants had a crushing NLCS loss in '87, just a couple of months before the best regular season team in Niner history had a crushing playoff loss.  The Niners won back to back Super Bowls while the Giants were losing the Earthquake World Series.  A multi-season wrenching quarterback controversy occurred as the Giants were being sold and moving to Tampa.  The Giants were saved, Barry Bonds was signed, we won a hundred three games and didn't make the playoffs, Will Clark left town - while the Niners were losing consecutive NFC Championship games and Joe was traded to Kansas City.  

A blowout home loss to the Eagles in which Young got pulled was the turning point of the season - we didn't lose again until a meaningless week 16, including a home win over the Cowboys, and were the heavy favorites going into the playoffs.  The Bears were first - we were up 37-3 through three and cruised to a 44-15 win.

Then home for Dallas.  We were 7 and a half point favorites, but like the previous two seasons, the distance between the best and the second best team in football was virtually nonexistent.  

Two plays into the game Eric Davis (current color analyst for 49er radio, replacing Plummer who replaced Wayne Walker who was the radio analyst since 1928) took an Aikman pass 44 yards the other way for a quick pick 6; and two plays later he forced an Emmitt fumble.  90 more seconds passed and it was 14-0, Young to Watters.  Dallas fumbled the kick - and a half dozen plays later William Floyd was in the end zone; it was 21-0 with only 7 minutes gone by and the game was over.  We won 38-28 and went on to our fifth Super Bowl.

Green Bay Packers 23 at San Francisco 49ers 10

Sunday, January 11, 1998

Three years later we were back, Mariucci was the new head coach - Jerry had blown out his knee in the opening week, and Eddie D was forced out of the ownership chair.  We were just the 25th best regular season team in Niner history, but won 11 straight at one point and rolled through the Vikings in the first round of the playoffs, 38-14.

We were field goal favorites headed to the NFC Championship game, but couldn't move the ball at home against the Packers.  We were down 23-3 before Chuck Levy returned a kick for our only touchdown; Young got sacked four times and threw a pick - and our leading rusher was Terry Kirby with 21 yards. After appearing in the NFC Championship Game a dozen times in 27 seasons, the Niners would be absent for the next 14 years.

New York Giants 20 at San Francisco 49ers 17

Sunday, January 22, 2012

By the advanced metrics, of the ten worst seasons in 49er history, 4 were in the first decade of the 2000s; the franchise churned through multiple head coaches and front office personnel; ownership passed down to a younger generation of DeBartolo, and there was even talk of the club moving south...way south, to Los Angeles.

I'm a "history from the bottom up" guy, meaning that I don't see change as driven by "great men", and that impacts (or drives, hard to locate) my view that coaching is of the more overrated elements of sports analysis.  However, there are outliers, and in 2011 the 49ers moved from a clearly outmatched Mike Singletary to Jim Harbaugh, who I (as a USC Trojan fan) had watched dramatically turn around the Stanford football program over a few years previous, including kicking our ass at a time when USC bullied the collegiate football landscape.

And sure enough - it happened at the next level.  The 49ers weren't quite as good as their 13-3 regular season record would indicate; this team was the 14th best in Niner regular season history, and the best since '98 - but they managed a stadium rattling comeback to win the divisional round against the Saints, and in the conference championship hosted a Giants team they had beaten during the regular season.

The Niners were sizably, sizably advantaged heading to the title game, Vernon Davis caught two touchdown passes from much maligned (and rightly so) former number one overall pick Alex Smith, but Kyle Williams fumbled away two kicks, the first in the 4th quarter that flipped the game, turning a 49er lead into, within 3 minutes, a Giant lead; and the second in overtime - and New York coverting that drive into a game winning field goal.

It wouldn't take 12 years for the 49ers to return to the NFC Title game - they'd be back in 2013.