Mark Rypien and the 'Skins face Joe Montana and the juggernaut 14-2 49ers, who begin their quest to become the first team in NFL history to pull off a "threepeat". (apologies for subpar quality)
It’s hard to think of one conference/league in sports history as deep and talented as the NFC from 1981 to 1996, a period where an NFC team won the Super Bowl every year except for 1983. The amazing thing was having playoff games seemingly every year featuring the previous year’s champ, the current year’s champ, and the next year’s champ. Here in 1990 you have the 1989 (and 88) Super Bowl champs 49ers - probably the greatest team in NFL history - playing a Redskins team that in 1991 would be one of the 10 greatest teams in history also. In the NFC Championship game, the ‘88-89 champ Niners will lose to the eventual 90-champ Giants. And this happened almost every year! In ‘83 NFC Title game the ‘82 Champ Redskins beat the eventual ‘84 Champ Niners. In ‘84 NFC Title game the ‘84 champ Niners beat the eventual ‘85 Champ Bears. In the ‘85 NFC Wild Card round the eventual ‘86 champ Giants knocked off the ‘84 champ Niners. The next week in the Divisional Round the legendary champ ‘85 Bears beat those same Giants. In the ‘86 NFC Divisional round the eventual ‘87 champ Redskins upset the ‘85 Bears repeat-bid in Chicago. The next week in the NFC Title game the ‘86 champ Giants beat those Redskins. Then you have the ‘93 champ Cowboys beating the eventual ‘94 champ Niners (they also beat the Niners in the ‘92 NFC Title game). In ‘94 the Niners struck back and knocked off the Cowboys...who would win it themselves again in ‘95. In the ‘95 Divisional Rd the Niners were upset by a Brett Favre-led Packers team that would win the Super Bowl the following year in ‘96. Then the Cowboys, the eventual champs of ‘95, themselves knocked off their eventual successors from Green Bay. We have never seen anything like it before, and I doubt we ever will again.
Brady fans dont understand how hard it was in those days just to get to the superbowl. If joes 49ers were in the afc in the 80s they probably make it to 8 of the 10 superbowls. But he also probably wouldnt have been undeafeted in the superbowl vs the nfc.
HD, I knew of the NFC dominance during that span , but the conf win/loss perspectives never dawned on me to that extent. Thanks for detailing all that , it really in incredible. Wow.
It’s a great point. I always come back to the mid to late 1980s. You have consistent teams that keep showing up. Those late 1980s Vikings squads all get overlooked. A divisional playoff team three straight years, and nearly snuck into a Super Bowl. The Eagles right the wayward Leonard Tose ship with Buddy Ryan in the same era, though playoff success eluded them. No one remembers that the John Robinson Rams went to two NFC title games. And even the teams that barely miss out are insanely competitive, such as New Orleans and either the Giants (1987-88) or Washington (1985, 1989). Great era of football.
@@DanStrayer Yes! I often think of those Rams and Vikings teams making noise in the playoffs every year! The Niners made 3 straight NFC title games from 1988-90, but their 1987 team that lost in the Divisional Round to the Vikings is probably the 2nd best Niner team of those 4-years, behind only 1989 team. That ‘87 loss was so painful to Bill Walsh it’s why he burned out and retired after winning his 3rd Super Bowl in ‘88. He regretted leaving quickly, especially when the ‘89 team under George Seifert went 14-2 and repeated as champs (as I said, I consider the ‘89 to be the greatest team of all-time). If the Vikings and Rams were in the AFC, they might have made a Super Bowl appearance or 2 in this time span. But to put things in a different way of thinking, the following teams will almost all be in lists of the top 15 teams of all-time (listed here chronologically): 1984 49ers (usually ranked top 5, sometimes top 10) 1985 Bears (usually ranked top 5) 1986 Giants (usually ranked top 10 or just outside it) 1989 49ers (usually ranked top 5) 1991 Redskins (usually ranked top 10 or just outside it) 1992 Cowboys (usually ranked top 10) 1994 49ers (usually ranked top 10 or just outside it) 1996 Packers (usually ranked top 10)
Thank you for uploading this. I'm always down for more classic 49ers games. You wouldn't happen to have the 92 49ers/Lions game would you? Montana's last game in a 49ers uniform.
When CBS made the NFC very magical and exciting, unlike FOX which does not really care about the NFL or the NFC. I wish CBS would get the NFC package back ASAP.
Always thought this was one of Montana's finest games. The Harry Sydney half-back pass to Brent Jones was an ode to Joe Gibbs having Riggins do that to the 49ers in the '83 Championship game. One of Roger Craig's last games as a 49er and he had some amazing plays in this game.
Merlin Olsen called games for CBS? I only remember him teaming up with Dick Enberg for games on NBC. Funny thing is I am sure I watched this game live on TV as a young teen but never noticed.
I still can't believe Craig fumbled the ball away. Ball security is the most crucial aspect at that moment. The game was over. It's inexcusable, which is why most don't forgive Craig.
@@jjames7771 easily shoulda 3 peated. instead a fluke team got in, and won by playing it close to the vest cause they buffalo woulda killed them in real 50-50 football....giants were a fluke. 9ers and bills obviously were better teams.
Rypien just fell apart when he came to Candlestick and the same thing happened 3 years later against Steve Young. The Redskins had that one year window since Montana was out the next year and the Cowboys were not Super Bowl contenders yet until the following year. The Redskins always always had trouble playing at Candlestick.
Redskins fortunately were lucky that year the 49ers did not slip into the playoffs at 10-6 with steve young. The 49ers started slow and then they won I think 6 in a row to end the season.
Truth Be told Steve Young played like shit in that game and Niner defense saved Young. He played just as bad the following week against Dallas. The Skins really could've won that 92 game
@@shtcoinmaxi1367 Lucky?? C'mon the 91 Redskins were one of the best teams ever, regardless of Young or Montana did. Say what you want about Rypien, he's not sniffing the HOF, but he was a HOF QB in 1991. He literally hit almost every single deep pass that year.
@@stackleft2925 i am a huge redskins fan, but I was glad to see the 49ers out of the playoffs that year and the falcons as the 6th seed. I think redskins offensive line only allowed like 15 sacks all year and you are right they probably would have dominated the 49ers
Yup. Thats why the broadcasters mentioned the 49ers were more worried ab this game w the 'Skins than the Giants/Bears div. playoff game winner, who they'd face next week...the 49ers seen the 'Skins coming.
Jerry Rice #80 of the San Francisco 49ers Career Accomplishments 3× Super Bowl champion (XXIII, XXIV, XXIX) Super Bowl MVP (XXIII) 13× Pro Bowl (1986-1996, 1998, 2002) 10× First-team All-Pro (1986-1990, 1992-1996) 2× Second-team All-Pro (1991, 2002) Bert Bell Award (1987) 2× NFL Offensive Player of the Year (1987, 1993) 6× NFL receiving yards leader (1986, 1989, 1990, 1993-1995) 2× NFL receptions leader (1990, 1996) 6× NFL receiving touchdowns leader (1986, 1987, 1989-1991, 1993) Sports Illustrated Player of the Year (1986) NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team First-team NFL 1980s All-Decade Team First-team NFL 1990s All-Decade Team NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year (1985) Pro Football Hall of Fame selection NFL records 1,549 career receptions 22,895 career receiving yards 197 career receiving touchdowns 208 total touchdowns 23,546 career all-purpose yards
Also career stickum user, but yeah a truly great player, not sour grapes, just wonder if those numbers would be this great if that crap was banned like it is today. In fairness his slant running and run after catch which the west cost offense helped facilitate were unparalleled, a true legend, even world class speedster darrell green couldn't cover him very well, neither could deion sanders.
No doubt. Craig's fumble is easily the biggest choke moment in NFL history, because of what was lost. No team still has come this close to winning three SB's in a row.
@@jjames7771 Craig's fumble would've mattered if that game wasn't screwed up by the officiating that day. taylor lining up in the neutral zone all day long (all career long) and not flagged for it, fat a$$ed #70's helmet to helmet hit on Montana and no flag, but every time the 9er's gained any momentum the refs threw a flag, had a five minute discussion, drank tea and ate crumpets off the tea cart, and then picked up the flag and said "there was no flag on the play" It's ok, I digress... taylor, sims, the giants et al got what was coming to them the last trip in '94
@@graciemaemarie11jones16 Hilarious. Giants beat 'em both with their back-up QB & back-up RB. Carry on with your fantasy though; it's quite entertaining!!
I'll say that in all my years of following the NFL is that playoffs and super bowls the hardest teams to beat was the NFC east best division ever assembled by the NFL
Gibbs always had the Redskins ready to play in the big games. Other than that Raider debacle in the Super Bowl the Skins always showed up to play in the playoffs during the Gibbs era. The Niners were the better team in '90, but the Skins sure had their chances. Jeeze, I forgot how bad Rypien could be at times. This game was played a lot closer than the final score indicates.
Yes, Gibbs always had less talented teams, especially at quarterback. He would be listed higher on the all time coaches list if it hadn't been for getting slammed by the Raiders in Super Bowl 18.
The Niners didn't use the shot gun formation while Montana was there. When I played Tecmo Bowl ages ago the slant to either Jones or Rice was automatic.
This was a good game here. Typical NFC playoff football that defined the era. Here was THE Niner team going for their third straight Super Bowl playing against a soon to be awesome Redskin team. Outside of the Super Bowl loss to the Raiders, Gibbs always had his guys ready to play in big games. This game was closer than the final score indicates. In the second half the 'Skins' have the ball inside the Niners 15 three separate times yet come up empty. Montana gets shut out for the entire second half, but the Niners defense comes up big in the end. The era of NFC football from the 80's into the early 90's is second to none.
The 49ers were still a great team in '90 but a lack of any run game was their undoing and they were exposed the following week against the Giants when the Giants played nickel the whole game.
1:22:06 why Mark Rypien was not a great QB... he couldn't pass in the Red Zone. Its also why he passed deep so often from midfield in 1991. great deep passer but terrible in the Red zone. Might as well gamble from mid field and punt than work it slowly down field with Rypien.
That's not true... The Native organizations were rightly concerned and irritated about sporting mascots and those same careless names being used along with the negative portrayals of Natives in film and television for a long time before things started getting done about it in the late 1960s. Stanford University was the only one that I can remember changing from The Indians to The Cardinal in the very early 1970s I think it was Jim Plunkett's last year there.
I do remember that Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen was on the CBS Sports NFL playoffs broadcast alongside Dick Stockton in the 1990 NFC Divisional Playoffs.
Opposing defenses back then heard it so often they hated it. They brought it back for awhile and even played it at Levi's. I wish they'd still use it. 🎵 SAN FRANCISCO OPEN YOUR GOLDEN GATE... 🎶🎵
Winner faces the Unstoppable New York Giants in the 1990 NFC Championship Game. Either at "The Stick" or Giants Stadium. We know how that turned out. No 3-peat.
9ers put a lot of pressure on Rypien all game long, though. And playing from behind is never easy. In 91' the Skins were never behind in the playoffs that I can remember. That makes a huge difference. I mean, I believe that the NFL is as rigged as the 64000 question, so the basic same team with part-time vet Matt Millen in 91' can win the SB easily, when they couldn't get through the playoff the year prior. The real reason is it's fixed. But, I digress, the Skins never trailed in 91' postseason
john smith the 49ers took their foot off the gas offensively in the 2nd half by killing the clock running the ball. montana had no problem completing passes against them if the skins scored more. he set the tone in the 2nd qtr with 3 straight long td drives.
The '90 Redskins were a notch below the elite teams, going 0-4 combined against the Giants and 49ers, all with similar scores (13-26, 20-24, 10-21 and 10-28). Divisional round of the playoffs was their ceiling. The following season would obviously be a VERY different story.
