Special Teams: Montana’s End

Montana would ever start for the forty Niners. No one thought it was gonna happen back then, but that's the way it played out. Of course, everybody remembers the Super Bowl uh the following week in which the Giants beat the Bills Scott nordwide right. But this Giants forty Niners NFC Championship Game is one of the greatest games in NFL history, and it was two teams that were steaming towards the Super Bowl. And really this year, Mike, was

about three teams. It was about the Giants as good as they were, the forty Niners and the a f C. It was the Bills who are running rush shot over everybody with the K gun and it was great. But it was kind of one of those well the new fengled and a f L type football that that nobody really thought could win. You know, all the way back you know in days of the Chargers and the Jets. Well here the Bills, all the doing is throwing the football all over the field and running these crazy as plays.

But the Niners and the Giants, these are traditionally good football teams. And hey, between those three teams, you knew one of them was gonna win the Super Bowl. Run the ball and play defense, control the clock. I mean, three yards in a cloud of dust is what we still wanted to see, even though we were enamored with, Like you said that, those Charger teams, right, great strata matic teams of our times, the Dan Marina winging it around for the Dolphins. Uh. And then you get to

Jim Kelly and and company. But it was can you get over right? You're you're there every year, you're competing every year, but it's still the tried and true formula of football as we've known it. That was winning out and I think that was frustrating to many folks, no question about it. But here it was all right, what's gonna give? So this season that was leading towards the NFC Championship game. The New York Giants were terrific. This is in the annals of history as the Giants potentially

their greatest team. They started out ten and oh their defense, of course incredible, led by Lawrence Taylor. They allowed the fewest points in the NFL thirteen points per game. They played seven playoff teams in the regular season. They were veteran heavy. I mean this, this was a team where of all those great Giant defenses led by lt this might have been the best one. And the Giants clearly one on defense all season long. Their offense was just

good enough. You know, Phil Sims had already won a Super Bowl in n six and he was still the quarterback now a few years later. But this wasn't where the Giants would score a ton of points and hey, this is no this was our defense is gonna take us as far as we're gonna go here. Yeah, the Giants gave up more than twenty one points in the game just once, their first loss to the season late November. Right, you're talking Thanksgiving week where they get pummeled by the Eagles.

Otherwise you're talking nine games where they gave up ten points or fewer. I mean, that's just ridiculous and goes into those you know, two thousand Ravens eighty five bears the steel curtain on all of those purple people eater type defense that that you talk about. But in the largest of it, you've got one or two guys that get called out for their greatness, and I don't know that the team necessarily gets the recognition that deserved for

what they did for that full season. It was a time in the NFL where I think because we had seen the Giants play so well for so long, it was just another year, you know, realized, but you look back at it, go boy, this was the best year. But we had seen them win on defense. We've seen Lawrence Taylor do his thing and make so many incredible plays. Look the guys the best defensive player I've ever seen. And you know, but when you see it after a while,

it's okay, there's there's a Giant. Yeah they're good. They're really good, just just like they normally are the Giants who we were. I think again, it goes to the style points right to why Buffalo's offense the way it ran was exciting, but he were skeptical that it was was durable for a long haul and for that Super Bowl run. So as the Giants star tendan Oh, the forty Niners start great as well, and everybody starts looking towards Week thirteen, Monday Night football Giants and the forty Niners.

The build up to the game of the years, as Burman used to always say, Super Bowl blank and a half, like this is this is that Super Bowl? Uh? The build up to this game was immense. The Giants were playing. The main thing the Giants did well offensively was it in turn the football over. They had fourteen turnovers in the regular season. You're talking about less than one turnover per game. You're gonna win a lot of football games

that way. Meanwhile, the Niners were the normal forty Niners right there, the Super Bowl champions the previous two years. They were great. Jerry Rice became the fourth wide receiver ever with a hundred catches in a season. He set a team record with five touchdowns in a game against Atlanta, Montana set a record with four seventy six yards passing and six touchdowns in the same game. I mean, this

is the three peat. The Niners are going for the first three peat sorry, pat Riley, I owe, I owe your money, and and what was what was going to get in their way? The New York Giants. They were the only team, but clearly in the pantheon of which team was better, you sided with the forty Niners, coming off the fact they were the Super Bowl champions the last two years. The Giants were ka is starting to kind of trying hang on a bit to the the era that they had built up with their great defense

over the past few years. Yeah, I mean, when when you look at it from a statistical standpoint, you knew what the forty Niners were capable of, even against the better defenses. You were always waiting on that next connection from Montana to Rice. Now Montana wasn't as efficient, right they go, He goes fourteen and one as a starter,

But sixteen interceptions against twenty six touchdowns that year. You know, one of those where your eye eyebrow raises just a little bit as it were still scrambling, well, still getting to the edges pretty well. But it's Jerry Rice making plays, Roger Craig doing Roger Craig things. I stumped for him for the Hall of Fame as often as you can I love Dick uh And then Brent Jones was their second leading receiver man catches. He's a full forty four catches off of what Jerry Rice put up. Who loves

you to throw the football too? I mean, I'm throw to Jerry who else you now? Nobody else? Really hard hard to fight that, right. So this Monday night football game in week thirteen was seven to three. Forts win this game seven to three. Their defense shuts the Giants down. The Giants are down seven three. They had first and goal from the nine yard line in the fourth quarter. They is shoot a field goal. They went for the touchdown.

They didn't make it. They got the ball back with thirty six seconds left in the game and Phil Simms got the Giants to the Niners twenty seven yard line. So had they kicked the field goal before, they could have kicked the field goal there in one. But on the final play of the game, Simms is sacked by Kevin Fagan, and I'll always remember this. Sims gets up and just slams the football down to the ground. He

was so piste off. The Niners win this game seven three, and it was Super Bowl blank and a half, and it was the first NFL game broadcast live in England. So England saying, oh, we're gonna get the Niners and the Giants, these two great teams, and are there any points? There's only ten points in the game. This is not not not the first taste of American football. I think the NFL was expecting England to get in this game televised. Well,

especially if you're gonna shoe field goal opportunities. They love their kickers, well, they'll love Matt Barr and oh we'll have more on Matt Barn coming up. Yeah, but I mean seven three. You know this is where midway through the second quarter you start selling it as a couple of defensive stalwarts and the you know, chess match between ten coaches a defensive quarters. Looking at me, he's got a pencil behind his just right, Oh, he's serious. He's got a pencil behind his ear. Like he just pulls

up his play sheet in front of his mouth. He's upset. He is upset with that last alignments. So the road to the rematch in the NFC Championship game, the Giants have to change quarterbacks. Phil Simms breaks his foot week fifteen against Buffalo and Jeff Hoss Stetler comes in. Now you all know what he did in the Super Bowl and winning, but it's not like he him in and started throwing touchdowns all over the place. The Giants still won games squeakers because of their defense. They beat Chicago,

sorry buddy, in their divisional playoff games. Tom Zack, you Mike tom Zack through two picks. Neil Anderson only ran for nineteen yards. They crushed Chicago in this game. I just remember always Jimmy the Greek. I like Anderson, Yeah, he bugs. He was obsessed with the with Neil Anderson, and I'm not sure why I remember. This is also the NFL where we're still running with three divisions and then three wild cards, so it's still the old format as you roll through. But yes, I'm gonna do everything

I can to deflect thinking about tom Zack in the Bears. Yeah. I mean, the Giants win this game pretty easy, and their formula is very simple. We control the football, Hosteller makes plays when he has to make more plays with his legs, and Phil Simms does we're gonna run the football, Well, we're gonna play great defense, and that's how we're gonna win. And that was the Giants. Hosteller had to complete ten passes in that game. You know ten, do you times

you gotta throw the ball? Ten? No? Get this ten of seventeen one, twelve and two touchdowns. Yeah. I think back to that game and it's just maddening. It's like you're not even forcing the issue. So this is where the Giants and forty Niners meet in a legendary NFC Championship game, a game that turned on three plays and one play that I don't think the forty Niners ever got over. That's coming up next right here on special teams. So we are all set for the NFC Championship Game

for the ages, the Giants and the forty Niners. And just like the first game Today Night Football that they played earlier in the year, this was a defensive struggle. Matt Barr and Mike co for the two field goal kickers exchange field goals. It's six six at halftime. There was really only one offensive play all the way up till the fourth quarter. This was a sixty one yard touchdown pass from Joe Montana to John Taylor. Everson Walls goes for the interception, he misses it. It's the only

touchdown of the game. It gives the forty nine is a thirteen seven lead. Even though they didn't really score. Montana played well. I mean, look, this turned out to be the last game he would start for the forty niners. But he was eighteen out of twenty six for one ninety a touchdown. But you're only gonna get so much against this Giants defense, Mike, so it's not surprising that they shut him down as much. But still from Montana,

this was a pretty decent game. Yeah, I mean, certainly not expecting a scoring fest with these two teams getting after Montana. The clean sheet, the big thing. You're looking for his turnovers, right, that's where the Giants feast did over the course of the season. Eighteen six not exactly world beating. And let's face it, when we got to halftime and you're talking six six, you know in the when we're talking about having events with no fans, that

would be the reaction. Anyway, It was six six halftime. A lot of folks looking around like what are we doing here? Like there's no cheering and so whatever. The halftime entertainment was, uh, starts rolling up. So eighteen and twenty six one absorbed three sacks. It's not world beating, it's not flashy. But again, owing to the the box scores of the time, we weren't lighting it up all over the field. And I still thought the Niners were gonna win this game because they always pulled out games

like this. And we look this, This is the Niners going for a three pet No one had ever done that, and you're used to seeing them. Hey, when when the players get big, the Niners are the team that make them. And we go to the you know, we go in to the fourth quarter of this and the Niners have the lead, and there was no way I thought they weren't gonna win this game. Well that's it. And then

one big play Joe Cool at the helm. You're talking about all those veterans, all these would be in future Hall of Famer's hell, all these years later, we're still fighting over how many more of these guys should be getting in. No inches given on either side, so he earned every one of those extra points. This game goes to the fourth quarter with the forty Niners holding a thirteen nine lead, and this is where the game turns.

Early in the fourth quarter, Jeff Hostetler gets hitting the knees by Niners DT and former Giant Jim Burt Right hostetlerhould come in and played pretty well for Phil Simms. Uh, since Sim's got hurt. Hostetler was okay. But the Giants, to a man said that fired them up and when they got back on the field they wanted payback because they thought Bert hit Hostetler illegally. Now again, Hostetler comes back in and plays, but the next forty Niners drive,

Joe Montana rolls out away from pressure. Lawrence Taylor's coming in, he evades him. He rolls out looking down field, and this is the part that that gets George Seafort forty head coaches that on this play, John Taylor was wide open way down field, and another second or a half second and Montana is able to at least release this pass and maybe it's a touchdown and the game's over. But instead Montana gets hit by Leonard Marshall harder than I've ever seen him hit in his entire NFL career.

Marshall just crumples him from behind. You see this video of it, It's it's Montana looking like he's gonna throw and then suddenly you can see the pain on his face as his body contorts. Bruce Sternham broken finger on his throwing hand and a concussion. Montana is knocked out of the game. He stays on the ground for a good couple of minutes. The ball comes loose, but the Niners recovered so at least they hold onto the ball.

Marshall said it was the biggest play of his NFL career, And I mean, I have never seen Joe Montana hit that hard. And to think about that's how he really went out as a forty Niner. He already had back trouble and this hit did him in and it was,

oh my goodness, look at what just happened to Joe Montana. Well, this is one of the big pushes where he eventually started uh hawking for anything that had copper in it, trying to get himself back into in shape a copper belt, so I can be okay with us, No, that's just it, after just getting absolutely obliterated, uh in this particular play.

And and you recognize guys have their shelf lives, and and you see how many big hits they take, and some some are more damaging that aren't that egregious on tape, right, we know the obvious when there's the Joe Thiesman and and some of the big hits we've seen layout quarterbacks.

But you go through the process some of those that are the innocuous, and they got taken down a little bit awkwardly, and then you go back and look and it's like, all right, his ankle bent this way, or his knee buckled a little bit here as he got hit, and all of a sudden you recognize, Wow, there's a lot of damage. Uh that was later diagnosed. And for Joe Montana that the years have already taken a bunch of hits add up and you already had the air apparent.

So that's the other part that hangs in the balance here of well, not quite a percent. Not Joe cool. And the fact that you hung an oul on him here, that's huge. So Montana comes out of the game and the Giants get the ball back down thirteen nine, but the Niners defense holds and then the Giants play number two that turned this game for them in the fourth quarter. Three big plays. Leonard Marshall was the first. This one

was the second down thirteen nine. They're punting from their own forty one yard line, and they call a fake punt and Gary reasons who's a linebacker? And the up back runs for thirty yards only the kick return the punt returner stopped him from getting in the end zone. This is a linebacker that shouldn't be running for more than seven or eight yards in the first down. This completely took the forty niners by surprise. I mean, yeah, watch them go go No one taking him down. They

completely had no idea this was coming. Now, the defense stiffens and holds and holds the Giants to a field goal. But this play that this is one of the one of the most gutsiest calls you'll possibly see. When it's a one score game from your own forty one yard line, you're gonna bring in a new quarterback, Steve Young, with a short field when you're gonna give him, you know, just get a few yards for what could be a

game clinching field goal. What a guts he called by Bill Parcels and the Giants, and this, you know, makes it a one point game with just a few minutes left to go. I've probably watched this play now fifty times since you and I started talking about this game. There's no rhyme or reason to it, right, just a brilliant call executed perfectly, and you can just see the San Francisco response, like he's fifteen twenty yards before he gets touched. So it's thirteen twelve, there's five and a

half minutes left in the game. The Niners get the ball back, and here comes Steve Young. Steve Young who had been the quarterback and waiting for a long time, and now obviously his time was coming sooner after that Joe Montana hit. But this is not Steve Young, future Hall of Famer. This is Steve Young, who has a lot of talent but still has not gotten a lot of chances, not a lot of reps, and he comes into the game cold, trying to kill the clock and hope the forty Niners can win the game. Now, he

threw exactly one pass in this game. He throws a twenty five yard completion of Brent Jones, which gets the Niners out of the shadow of their own end zone, and then Roger Craig gets the first down in the six yard run. Right, this is how tough it was for the Niners. That was their first rushing first down of the day. And now you were down under three minutes and the Niners or maybe one first down away

from winning. You know, Young has already completed one pass because look, Brent Jones gets behind the defense, the Giants bring him down. Young is feeling a little confident. Now, Roger Craig is feeling confident, and you're thinking, okay, boy, it's been a big run from the Giants. But still the Niners look like they have enough. And on the next to play, the Giants flood the box. Eric Howard, getting double teamed, forces a fumble with his helmet on

Roger Craig. Roger Craig who had fumbled on the very first play of the game, but luckily San Francisco recovered so hey he had already had trouble holding on to the football once. Now Eric Howard just happens to get his helmet on the ball, and it's one of those plays where you can tell he just got hit earlier than expected, you know, because obviously with the Giants closing, look, everybody's trying to get in the backfield. He knows he's

gonna get hit. He gets to the line, it looks like he's looking for a way to get out and he just gets hit earlier than he thought. The helmet hits the football, knocks it out, and Lawrence Taylor is right there to fall on the football. Giants ball, the Niners offenses off the field, and this is what is happening now, this, this this forty Niners dynasty is now crumbling because the Giants don't like you can't kill him. It's like Jason Vorhees in a Frinda of the Thirteenth movie.

Do you think the Giants are dead? All right? But they get this one play? All right? But now they're dead. I had to get one more play, all right, But now they're dead. No, Now they're in control of the game and can win it with a field goal because they have the football, they have time left and it's not a lot of it's not a lot of yards they have to get to for a game winning field goal. He fumbled twice in a hundred sixties six touches during

the regular season. Over the course of his career, fumbled forty two times. Then one that comes up absolutely huge here because you talk about the potential to keep this train running one last time, right, the last dance? How do I owe so many money for no, no, no, it's okay. It's not like Michael Buffer or pat Riley. Riley's not gonna come through my phone line waving at me. You fine, You're absolutely fine. So yeah, I mean their

last run. I mean with with Montana um Buckling and that back eotomy in order and some of the other veterans that we look at on either side of the ball. I mean, this is it. And for Roger Craig, this could have been a career to find uh and instead it is the other way. He won't talk about it, like it's a really tough thing to get him to talk about that fumble, and you've got a feeling that he looks back. What's my one regret? What's the big regret of my career? That fumble? Because that said that

stopped to three peat. If he doesn't fumble and they don't turn the ball over, do they really stop the Niners? They have to Niners have to not get a first down pun it, and the Giants have to drive down the field enough to get Matt barn range for a field goal. We'll get to Matt Barmore in a couple of seconds. So if he doesn't fumble, he said, that's we're legendary. We're three time defending Super Bowl champions. But

he fumbles. The Giants takeover and Jeff hoss Stetler makes a couple of huge plays because they still had to drive to get into field goal range. He has a huge completion of Mark Bavaro, a huge one to Steven Baker, who, oh, by the way, would have you know, a couple of big plays in the Super Bowl, and that sets up Matt bar for the game winning field goal on the

final play and they win the game. Fifteen thirteen. Now I told you watching this game, I remember the Niners winning this and you feel like, Okay, they're gonna find a way to win. But going back to watch this again for this episode, obviously knowing how the game ended, but now I watched it from the perspective of boy, you just feel like in the fourth quarter, no matter how tough it was, the Giants were gonna make one more play than the Niners and they were gonna win.

And that's really what they did. They made one more play than the forty Niners to win this football game. One play is gonna decide it. Right. There's nobody running away and hiding, nor did you have the inclination that that was ever going to happen. So you're slowly just inching up in your seats, like watching horror movies like

you like to do. Right. You always wanted to be the old guy sitting on the porch warning anybody and then having a close circuit television whereabout you could watch the carnage because they didn't listen something here, there's the anticipation, but that big play never comes, that breakaway plane never comes except on the form of the Roger Craig fumble and as the old man on the lawn drinking your Bartles and James with your straw hat going. I told

you you had the famous patch summer all call. There will be no three pt that Niners fans can still here. Uh, you know the shock of the Giants winning this. Remember Lawrence Taylor after the game was asked about the win and he said, yeah, we won. Nobody believed in us, and we're going to the Super Bowl. We're gonna win that game too. And it was shocking how the Giants were able to do this and and win this game.

But really underrated. All right, you had Matt Barr made five out of six field goals in this game at Candlestick, which is not the easiest place in the world to kick. Did you ever get to a game there? Yes, I did actually get to a game Candlestick. Candle is that that place was a whole and it was impossible to get out of. Yeah, oh yeah. Well they had the fog though, and the fog is always fun. The well

what the fog rolling in? Just like seeing you're saying the fog rolling in made it seem like it was a really great field, but it wasn't. You see the divots in the field and you're kicking forty yard field goals, which it's not like now where if you're kicking from forty yards out, your kickers gotta make it. We have better kickers now than we've ever had in the NFL. This is five to six and three of them for forty yards out. That's about as unlikely as you can get,

you know. And this is from a guy who was doubtful for the game earlier in the week because he heard his neck against the Bears and he was only kicking for the Giants because raoula Legra got hurt earlier in the year. That's how unlikely this was. And here's Matt Barr Giants hero five field goals in the NFC Championship game. Almost didn't play and almost didn't even kick

for the team. Like we always talk about, you're gonna find a hero from an unknown source right one big play, whether it's that backup linebacker who's in for a player two because the guy needs to blow on a long protracted drive and all of a sudden he's got the fresh legs, or the kicker return comes up and put you in good field position. Here you actually celebrate the kicker.

George Seafford after the game or later years said that game, he doesn't think the forty Niners ever forgave him for losing that game, like it was it was such a tough deal, and the Niners say this this centaur organ zation into a tail spin, and clearly it was the wasn't the end of the forty Niners dynasty. It was the end of the Joe Montana dynasty. And you know, for George Seaffort, it was, Hey, this game we were supposed to win. We had the NFC champion game at home,

we were the best team in the NFL. We had them coming to our place and we still couldn't win this game, and it didn't quite send the forty Niners into a tailspin, but it completely changed them for the next few years. As crazy as that is, it changed the Giants worse. We have that more coming up next right here on the Special Teams podcast. Montana's end. What was up for the Niners and the Giants in their

future following this game? So what was next for both of these teams, the Giants and the forty Niners, the best teams in the National Football League follow wingc Championship game. It actually turned out to be somewhat of the end of an error for both teams because as great as they were this moment in time, and the Giants had one more week because they won the Super Bowl in the game, in one of the most historic Super Bowl games ever, both of these Titanic franchises had to turn

the page. The Niners turned the page a little bit better. The Giants turned it way worse. But of course, the Niners turned the page without Joe Montana, who up until that point was the best quarterback in the history of the NFL. Well, it's a nice fallback option, right again.

You spent a lot of money on because that was the other thing going back to the seat for comment of our second segment here was you thought you had the guy, even in a pressure pack situation without a lot of reps, that it would just be a seamless transition, and unfortunately five thirty left in the game wasn't enough to make it happen. But we're talking about two of the storied franchise in the National Football League and they go in very different directions here as to the futures.

So the Giants win the Super Bowl and you think, okay, they're just gonna continue on with his dynasty. After the season, Bill Parcels retires. Tom Coughlin has offered the job, but leaves to become the head coach at Boston College. I don't want to take over for Bill Parcels, the guy's alleged he just won two Super Bowls. Instead, running backs coach Ray Handley gets the job. Bill Belichick has passed

over for the head coaching job. So the Giants could have had Bill Belichick, No could have had Tom Coughlin, No guys that have combined for eight Super Bowls, And instead they hire Ray Handley, who was widely viewed as one of the worst head coaches in NFL history. I mean, the Giants players didn't like him. It was one of those situations where right away you knew how long is Hanley really gonna be here? How long? I mean, because it's not gonna be very long, because this is just

not working with the New York Giants. He didn't like Bill Belichick's leadership abilities. That's what George Young said. He didn't like him. He had a negative review when it came to Belichick's billed to lead. Think about that for just a second. You may not like the way Bill Belichick goes about his business. You as a Jets fan, hate him for a million reasons, but leadership ability is never something you've ever put into your mouth as questioning.

Right when we talk about the pantheon of NFL coaches, we just commemorated the life and times of Jerry Stiller recently, you passed away at ninety two, famously playing Vince Lombardi in a series of ads. Uh, And we talked about perennial just dominant coaches. Bill for two decades is the the leader among all leaders. I mean there's Ted talks and things where folks trying to clean any insight from two seconds of audio on a on a postgame press conference.

And here he couldn't get the job because, um, I guess Handley went to Stanford. I guess that's where it got because he was a smart guy that went to Stanford. Well, and also, you know, look, the thing about Belichick's leadership is that he needed to break a few eggs with the Browns when he finally got the head coaching job. You know, if later he made mistakes. Right here, you're cutting Bernie Kosar and people are picketing, and boy, you gotta really do things a little bit differently. And then

he out right, but then he figured things out. Oh, if I get the other team's plays, things are a lot easier. I draft Tom Brad Hey, hey, hey, And you know it wasn't so widely, you know, out of the realms there. I don't don't know about Bill Belichick's you know, leadership abilities. But still you know, at the time nobody knew. But still you look back and go, man, they could have had either one would be a great job.

Instead they get Ray Handley, I mean Handley who presides over the Giants and in the following season, Simson Hostetler battle it out. Hostetler wins the job, but then he gets hurt. Sims finishes the season. They go eight Nate. Things are not the same. A year later, Ray Handley is fired and suddenly, as as much as you thought, well, the Giants are gonna be one of those teams that they win Super Bowls every couple of years, nope, it

was over. It was over, and there into trying to make things work with Dave Brown is their quarterback, and you know, can Rodney Hampton be someone that carries the load for us? And things change for the Giants really fast. You go from where they were standing on top of the Football World NFC Championship game, Lawrence Taylor, this defense playing as well as they are parcels, and then two years later, not only is it over, it looks like this error was a bygone era and it was like

twenty years ago. They had all these guys as we always talk about how blink of an eye, I mean, and nothing changes faster than an NFL team, whether guys age out right and they just can't play anymore, or you have situations like the Seahawks that we talked about so often. That man is one of the great case studies for building a franchise and also watching its timeline right here with the Giants, who was well, we hired the wrong coach, and watch how quickly this can disintegrate.

For the forty Niners, things are a little differently because it wasn't just the end from Montana UH in the off season. Roger Craig and Ronny Lott left unprotected UH in the off season draft, which which they used to have back in the nineties, and both wind up going to the Raiders, you know, and and and just think about from Montana's career and the way it does. Roger

Craig's career ends with a fumble. And the only reason we don't talk more about that is it's overshadowed by Joe Montana because Montana would try to come back and play the next season and he would blow out his elbow in the preseason, so he misses all of nine and into this is Montana coming back from all these injuries, blows out his elbow and now he's thirty four, thirty five years old, and the Niners, no, we have to

move on at this point, all right. They know that Montana is huge and he's part of their past, but they gotta move on. Steve Young gets the job because Montana gets hurt. He winds up winning the passing title the first year, but the Niners missed the playoffs. But it didn't matter because it was now Steve Young's team. You know, they knew we have to make this move. We have to make the transition. It's not gonna be very popular, but we gotta move on to Steve Young's team.

So they go into and Steve Young is the quarterback and they go fourteen in two and that cementsent. Montana plays one more game for the forty Niners in a meaningless Monday night football game on December against Detroit. San Francisco had the number one seed clinched. Montana comes off the bench, throws a couple of touchdowns and over a hundred yards in the second half against the Lions and they win twenty four to six. But that was it. Montana's last game as a forty Niner only came in

to mop up for Steve Young. I mean, that was it. You knew Montana was gone after that year, and the Niners they go to the NFC Championship game. They play the Cowboys, Steve Young has a bad game. He throws a couple of interceptions, and shockingly, for that game only, I'm really surprised they didn't go back to Joe Montana. I mean, this was Steve Young's first taste of the playoffs. You're the guy now, and he doesn't play very well,

and it was certainly it wasn't all his fault. But you're looking for some kind of spark, and you have the best quarterback in history. The NFL is pretty fresh, you know, and just you know, he just showed you a couple of weeks ago. Hey, I can I can come off the bench in the middle of a game and get it done. I know this offense. I'm really surprised for a spark, they didn't try to go to Joe Montana in this game he never played, starts singing

about he can't go home again? Right is? I guess what the decision was in real time on the sidelines, going all right, we go back here. We got ourselves a problem. I say, you know, we gotta be heroes, if only for one day. Steal from David Bowie as you go. I mean, whatever disruption in the locker room, you're you're trying to succeed and proceed. But yeah, the

decisions made to leave him in mothballs. Uh, and and away you go, and then we move on and we get the weird Joe Montana's running around in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform with success s minds you but still uh. You know, we talked about the other members of the forty nine ers finishing their run. It's it's odd, right, It's always odd when a guy like I, I celebrate the dude walking around with the Rams Nameth jersey when

I went to see the Bears Rams this past year. Uh, But didn't mean it didn't look odd the entire time as I was staring at him. Likewise, Montana had success with the Chiefs, but it's never gonna look right. It just hits the brain wrong every time. You know, It's not that he didn't play great with the Chiefs. He played well. He staved off his NFL mortality, looked like playoffs a couple of times. He had some big moments. He had a big Monday Night win over the Broncos,

but clearly it was getting to the end. His body had betrayed him, and as difficult of a choice as it was the Niners made the right call. They had to go to Steve You look, Steve Young goes on when Super Bowls becomes a Hall of Fame player. It wasn't as popular, but I think even the fans knew, all right, at some point, Steve Young, he's got to

play right, he's pretty good. So even though it was controversial, it wasn't that it wasn't like, oh my goodness, you know, we're benching a superstar for a guy that's never done anything. I mean, this was Steve Young was brought in to do this, and he set for four years. I mean, he sat for a long time. He didn't get the starting job to he was thirty. You know, this is all right, you know we gotta see Steve Young, and you know, hey, that kept the dynasty somewhat going. Albeit

it was different players, a different push. It was still Jerry Rice who was the constant from Montana three Young, but it was it was a lot of different players and and the Niners knew, okay, we gotta make this. It's tough, and they did it. And clearly, what were they gonna do? Could Montana have one other games? You know later on, would he have stayed healthy enough to win. Young was a different dynamic, and he was able to get outside the pocket and make plays with his legs,

and he was really difficult to defend. And you know, look the Niners kept it going, so clearly, how was the right choice? Yeah, I mean think about that now. Four years, four years, right, he comes over from Tampa Bay.

You have the USFL high price guy, a lot of expectations, and four years, I mean in recent memory, you go from the far of Rogers relationship and we we fast forward to and now it's well as that Aaron Rodgers and Jordan's love and everybody's getting their popcorn ready to see how that goes, right, whether it's still the same apprenticeship. Insert your obligatory Star Wars reference here, which I know

you will. But the idea of being you don't you don't sit right unless you're just some backup journeyman dude, just kind of hanging in the weeds and they like you enough to where they're eventually going to promote you. You don't have these kinds of situations, right. It comes to a head a lot faster either. Steve Young would be fighting saying this is not the right situation I need out or Joe Montana would have. I mean, just think about that for a second. To go back in

time as we finish up here. If going into the NFC Champions of Game, Niners are going for a three pece. If I said to you watch this game's the last game, Joe Montana is gonna start for the Niners, you just said you're crazy. Yeah, I'll bet any amount of money

this is wrong. And I just think about how that turned out because that that's the one thing about both of these teams, is that to go back to right before this game and think about where they were, you would have said the good times are going to continue to roll for both of these teams, and instead it was it was change and it was different directions for both of them. Absolutely insane. Ill, how about a little where are they now? Where? A little where are they now? Well,

you got my guy, Bran Jones. I'm gonna start with him, uh, a guy who I once had a great conversation at an East West Shrine game practice with him and Jerry Jones and Hayden Fry of the Iowah Haws. So you from the Coach Show, Hayden Fox, Because I love the show. I like the Jerry Van Dot character too. He's pretty fun. One of those where you wish you had a digital camera back in the day so you can take a selfie because I'm standing on the sideline. Uh. And it

was suddenly like I was a scout. It's a beautiful thing business around your neck? Hey, can I can? Can we get a nice polaroid like I'm in Rocky three? Right? Uh? He went in the big investment in Northgate Capital venture capital private equity firm, did some broadcasting, uh, and then got into politics a bit. Uh, So we've got that. Uh. He coached monte Vista High all the way back where he actually coached Zach Ertz, one of our favorite players

to watch as you roll through. You mentioned Raoul leg Gray a bit earlier. Monday Night Football for Latin America is where he headed Matt Barr two times Super Bowl champion and hero here. Uh. He's an electrical engineer. You've got gary reasons. We had to talk about him. Why because he's the He was the coach at the Oklahoma Yard Dogs d A w Z. He also is one of the founders a Pro Athletes team. After a long broadcasting career. But the idea of hey, we all have

these networks, right taking linked in for athletes more or less. Um, hey, you've got connections. You can help this guy, and you can help that guy. Let's all get together, uh and try to look out for everybody in terms of their wallets and their mental health. We talked about the bears of it earlier, and but I like Neil Anderson, so let's talk about him Gainesville, Florida. He helped start a bank and he owns a two thousand acre peanut farm. Peanuts,

how about that? Leonard Marshall. Leonard Marshall one of the guys, one of the pioneers in terms of NFL players starting to do research on the positive effects of cannabis. UH. He was diagnosed with ct back in t UH and does speeches and talks about the positive effects that has had on his life. And then you've got Harry Sydney running back. Has a mentoring outfit I guess would be the a mentoring business and an outreach program called My

Brother's Keeper. As we go through, he holds the the interesting tidbit of the only player to catch touchdowns from Joe Montana and Brent Farve. Wow, you know it's funny you mentioned rolla legre Alegree would go and kick for the Jets the following year because now the Giants had Matt Barr. Like, dude, you're a hero. Where to let you go? He winds up kicking for the Jets, right, and in his Jets career. I remember this because this was such a big game in the season finale against

the Dolphins. He kicks the game tying field goal in the final minutes and then wins the game in overtime, right, And the kicks were huge, Like one of the kicks was like fifty three yards, And I always remember going, oh my god, rolla leg, what a hero gets us into the playoffs. It was awesome. The Jets were back in the playoffs for the first time in years. I

was so excited. Right. So, years later, I'm hosting on ESPN Radio All Night and and he was doing uh like PN deport taste, like being an analyst for the Monday night game. So I had him on my show after the game was over to talk about the Monday Night game. So the first time he comes on, I go rule. First of all, I want to say thank you because I remember those two field goals you kicked for the Jets to get us to the playoffs, and I appreciate that. He goes, thank you so much. I

remember those kicks so well. Thank you so much for bringing that. Suddenly Rule Legre was my guy, right he would come on every week for the rest of the season, and I remember those kicks you had, Man, those were two big kicks in my life. Thank you, and he was thank you so much. Great dude had him on every week. He was fantastic. That's fantastic. Oh. I love that.

I love going into the histories made a lot of guys that end up in coaching and and in a lot of our episodes, you can't dismiss that because they're doing a lot of good thing and mentorship that flows through those coaching jobs. But every once in a while we get some some really real left turns of guys going into passion projects or maybe something they're family members and always talking about. Now they had the funds to do it. Uh. It's it's a fun part of the

doing this special teams podcast each week. So there is our look back in NFC Championship Game, the Giants and the forty Niners, Montana's End. I'm Jason Smith. He's Mike Carmen. Our show on Fox Sports Radio airs Monday through Friday, ten pm to two am on the East coast, seven to eleven on the West Coast. You have an idea for a future Special Teams episode, A drop us a line on Twitter at how about a Fresco Mike of Swollen Dome. Let us know who you might want to

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