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SF: 55 points.............and you figure this was Elways fault?
You are correct in that our defenses were generally above average....until inexplicable Super Bowl meltdowns. Our offenses? Had one huge shining star with a cannon for an arm.
Joe Montana was shortly traded to the Chiefs where he accomplished about....nothing. The 49ers knew their success could be maintained without Montana. When Elway left the Broncos, the team immediately collapsed into oblivion.
John Elway was 10 of 26 for 108 yards and 2 interceptions in that game (SB 24). The Broncos weren't going to win that game even if Elway played great because the 49ers were a much better team, but his performance certainly didn't help them.
The one Super Bowl before the end of Elway's career when he permanently changed his legacy that he and his Denver teammates should probably always regret is Super Bowl XXII (22), the one against the Redskins. The Broncos probably had a better team than the Redskins that season. Washington went only 8-4 in the regular season (with the regular players; their replacement team went 3-0), and they were fortunate that Minnesota upset San Francisco that year; the 49ers went 10-2 with the regulars (13-2 overall) and was utterly dominant to the degree that the Vikings' playoff win is still one of the biggest upsets in NFL playoff history. Denver, which had Super Bowl experience from the previous season, jumped out to a 10-0 lead in that game, and looked like they'd take control. Then the 2nd quarter happened, Doug Williams (who generally was an average but erratic QB, albeit somewhat underrated prior to that game) and Timmy Smith (who had one standout game in his career - this one) went nuts, and it was 35-10 Washington at halftime.
Oh, about that Joe Montana comment - you do realize the Kansas City Chiefs have appeared in exactly one conference championship game since the AFL/NFL merger, right? Well, that appearance occurred in 1993, one of Joe Montana's two seasons with the team. The Chiefs had to beat a red-hot Oilers team that had won 11 straight games on the road to make that AFC title game appearance.
John Elway was 10 of 26 for 108 yards and 2 interceptions in that game (SB 24). The Broncos weren't going to win that game even if Elway played great because the 49ers were a much better team, but his performance certainly didn't help them.
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Those stats resulted in a whopping 19.6% quarterback rating, which might be the worst rating ever recorded in a super bowl. I'll try to check on that stat later. But that debacle was noted for a lot of things.
First, the AFC was simply a mediocre conference that year. Buffalo won their division with a 9-7 record. Cleveland won theirs with a 9-6-1 record., and Denver finished 11-5, the best record in the AFC. They had started out 10-2 after clocking Seattle 41-14, and won home field advantage all the way through. What happened instead is they took the foot off the gas a tad and lost three of their last four games. Their win was against the Cardinals at Sun Devil Stadium--37-0 (was at that game!)
Second, Denver almost was upset by the Steelers in the divisional playoff game and it took another game winning drive by Elway to win it--24-23. Denver got back on track against the Browns in the conference championship (37-21) Meanwhile Frisco finished 14-2 in the regular season and the Broncos weren't given much of a chance against the 49ers.
The Broncos finished first in the AFC in fewest points allowed but you could take that stat and flush it. The 49ers was in total domination mode. 49ers Stats:
Time of possession 39:21
Interceptions-0
Fumbles-0
Joe Montana--24/32 for 297 yards and 5 touchdowns with a qb rating of 147.6
Third down completion percentage was 8 for 15. IIRC three of their td's were on drives where they didn't face a third down situation. In other words, they were moving the ball at will.
Denver lost 2 fumbles that later were turned into scores-one by rookie running back Bobby Humphrey and the other by Elway, which Stubbs ran back to the Broncos 1 yard line. Tom Rathman scored the td on the next play. The thing that killed Elway is the wide outs were covered like a blanket; Vance Johnson-2 catches, Mark Jackson-0 catches, Rickie Nattiel-1 catch. The rest of the completions were dump offs to the running backs as Elway was under siege by the 49er defense.
The fact that Elway was sacked 6 times speaks for itself; funny, when I think about that game (and I have it on vhs tape) it seemed that he was sacked a dozen times, maybe more). In his first ten years in the league Elway had a below average offensive line. Ironically his best blocker was tight end Clarence Kay who didn't play much in the game due to injury.
Simply put, there was a complete butt kicking in SB-XXIV and Denver provided the butt.
Everyone refers to it as a pass, even though it may not technically be.
Checking the box score, it is called a fumble return, for a TD. Yepremian was attempting a pass when he fumbled it so that's probably why everyone calls it a pass.
Worst SB QB rating? When you look, you may want to check Bob Griese in SB 6, Dolphins losing to Cowboys 24-3. I'm guessing it is pretty low.
Looked at a couple sites, here we go.
SB-VI---12 completions out of 23 attempts for 132 yards and 1 interception. QB rating--51.2%.
Actually I can come up with one that is lower than low.
SB-XII.
Craig Morton, Bronco quarterback. 4 completions out of 15 attempts for 39 yards and 4 interceptions.
QB rating? 0.
He was mercifully pulled midway in the 3rd quarter. Norris Weese finished the game for Denver, stats weren't a lot better, at least he didn't throw any interceptions anyway.
For losing QB's hard to do worse than Tony Eason against the Bears...only QB in Super Bowl history to not complete a single pass....
Wow, I'd forgotten that Eason pulled an oh-fer. He was oh-fer 6. I remember Steve Grogan coming in. He went 17/30 for 177, 1 TD and 2 picks.
The Bears really did not want to give up that TD!
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