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Who was It?
In one of the few memorable Super Bowls of the last two decades, the upstart Cincinnati Bengals came within a whisker of upsetting the vaunted San Fransisco 49 ers in the game that gave Joe Montana his third Super Bowl ring.
After the game, Bill Walsh, whose self acknowledged genius had fueled the Niner's decade, retired from coaching (temporarily) and handed the reins to an impatient assistant coach by the name of George Sieffert. Joe Montana, arguably the greatest quarterback of his generation, was disgracefully allowed to jump ship to Kansas City which made way for an even more impatient young stallion by the name of Steve Young who had already failed miserably in both the U.S.F.L. and the woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneer organization.
The San Fransisco win changed the face of the N.F.L. for almost a decade to come. In a sport where attitude is everything, the 49ers proclaimed themselves to be a dynasty, and the hapless Cincinnati Bengals sank like a leaden bar to the dungeon of the N.F.L.
And yet, it almost wasn't that way... like "Dallas'" dream fantasy about J.R.'s shooting, it was precious close to smoke and mirrors. Of course, no-one remembers it that way today...the vagueness of sports myth making has the Montana team roaring without so much as a hiccough into fame and legend...but here's the facts, Jack
With less than two minutes left in the game, the Bengals had achieved the seemingly impossible... acquired and held the lead.
In one last gasp, Montana drove the length of the field and poised his team in the red zone. With seconds left n the clock he threw the winning touchdown to an absolutely deserted John Taylor, circling in the end zone.
The Bengals died on the field... you could almost see their spirits rise from the bodies and leave the team an empty and desolate shambles that would take them almost a decade to begin to recover from.
The 49ers became, without dissension, the Team of the Nineties.
This, of course, is the stuff that legends are made of.
But... the pass that Montana threw, directly before the winning touchdown, was called incomplete. In truth, it was only ruled so because it clanged harmlessly and silently off the hands of a Bengals defensive back, standing nonchalantly in the end-zone. He was clearly so outright astonished at the sudden appearance of his one chance for glory and history that he simply froze. The replay showed that his fingers didn't even attempt to curl and corral the pigskin, and the ball went spinning harmlessly to the ground.
Because the Niners were running out of clock, there wasn't much in the way of television replay of the almost game saving dropped ball, and the next pass was the Taylor touchdown catch.
It is the small, seemingly insignificant moments in sports that make sports different from any other pastime. When twenty two people and their accompanying staff and coaches and fans all arrive simultaneously at the same crossroad... it's not always apparent at the time.
And yet, if that faceless Bengal back had caught the ball...???
Niners lose, Walsh stays on, Montana stays on, since it was Walsh who had stuck with Montana over Young. Seiffert and Young go elsewhere...
Bengals win the Super Bowl,
Maybe Cincinnati is the Team of the Nineties.
Little moments are what flesh out the box scores and make sports writing different from data input. Small events with major consequences are the building blocks of sports and the bedrock of legends.
Everyone knows Montana, Young, Walsh, Seiffert...
Anyone know the name of the guy who dropped the pass??
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