Super Bowl XXIII

In a rematch of Super Bowl XVI, Elbert 'Icky' Woods and Boomer Esiason led the Cincinnati Bengals against Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and the San Francisco 49ers. 

After Super Bowl blowouts two years in a row courtesy of the Denver Broncos, fans were treated to perhaps the most exciting finish since Super Bowl V.

Both teams suffered serious injuries in the early going. San Francisco's left tackle Steve Wallace broke his leg three plays into the game and Cincinnati's nose tackle Tim Krumrie broke his leg in two places in the next series. The center of the field at Joe Robbie had been resodded a month before the game and was in bad shape. Groundskeepers ran out during the timeouts to try to stomp down the loose sod.

The teams managed only a pair of field goals each through the first 44 minutes before Bengal reserve running back Stanford Jennings took a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown.

San Francisco responded early in the fourth quarter with a four play driving culminating in a 14 yard pass from Montana to Rice leaving the game tied at 13.

After a punt by the Bengals and a missed 49 yard field goal attempt by 49er Mike Cofer, Esiason led the Bengals on a 10-play drive that was capped by a Jim Breech 40 yard field goal to give Cincy the lead at 16-13.

After a penalty on the ensuing kickoff, Joe Montana found himself trailing by three with 3:10 on the clock and the ball on the 49er eight yard line. Montana marched the 'Niners down the field with four passes each to Rice and Craig and found John Taylor open over the middle for a 10 yard score with only 34 seconds remaining.

Cincinnati was able to run four more plays after the kickoff, but got no further than their own 27 yard line.

SF–FG Cofer 41
Cin–FG Breech 34
Cin–FG Breech 43
SF–FG Cofer 32
Cin–Jennings 93 kickoff return (Breech kick)
SF–Rice 14 pass from Montana (Cofer kick)
Cin–FG Breech 40
SF–Taylor 10 pass from Montana (Cofer kick)

Substitutions

Cincinnati–Offense: K–Jim Breech. P–Lee Johnson. QB–Turk Schonert. RB–Stanford Jennings, Marc Logan. WR–Cris Collinsworth, Ira Hillary, Carl Parker. TE–Jim Riggs. G–Jim Rourke. T–Dave Smith. Defense: DE–Eddie Edwards, Skip McClendon. DT–David Grant. LB–Leo Barker, Ed Brady, Emanuel King. CB–Rickey Dixon, Ray Horton, Daryl Smith. S–Barney Bussey. DNP: QB–Mike Norseth.

San Francisco–Offense: K–Mike Cofer. P–Barry Helton. RB–Del Rodgers, Harry Sydney. WR–Terry Greer, Mike Wilson. TE–Ron Heller, Brent Jones. C–Chuck Thomas. G–Bruce Collie. T–Bubba Paris. Defense: DE–Pierce Holt, Pete Kugler, Jeff Stover, Danny Stubbs. LB–Riki Ellison, Sam Kennedy, Bill Romanowski. CB–Darryl Pollard, Eric Wright. S–Greg Cox, Tom Holmoe. DNP: QB–Steve Young.

Officials

Referee–Jerry Seeman. Umpire–Gordon Wells. Line Judge–Bob Beeks. Head Linesman–Jerry Bergman. Back Judge–Paul Baetz. Field Judge–Bobby Skelton. Side Judge–Gary Lane.

 

PASSING
Cincinnati	Att.	Comp.	Yds.	Long	TD	Int.
Esiason	25	11	144	23	0	1
San Francisco
Montana	36	23	357	44	2	0

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