From 1966 to 1981, 16 seasons, under head coach Tom Landry, the Dallas Cowboys had made the Playoffs 15 times (missing only in 1974), won their Division 12 times, won 18 postseason games, reached 11 NFL or NFC Championship Games, reached 5 Super Bowls, and won 2 of them. They had produced Hall-of-Famers, great comebacks on offense, and a united known as "the Doomsday Defense."
They had won Super Bowl VI in 1972, and Super Bowl XII in 1978, and also lost Super Bowls V, X and XIII. Following their Super Bowl XII win, they began advertising themselves as "America's Team." There was some reason for that: They had gained a nationwide following. Part of this was due to CBS, which had the NFC's TV contract at the time, putting them on TV nearly every week, to the point where people who hated the Cowboys said that "CBS" stood for "Cowboys Broadcasting System."
Ask fans of the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins who their arch-rivals were, and they wouldn't say any of the other nearby teams. It was the team that, geographically speaking, didn't belong in the NFC East, but was. They would all have said, "The Dallas Cowboys," possibly with a qualifier starting with the letter F or the letter G.
And the retirement of Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, following the 1979 season, didn't slow them down much. In 1980 and 1981, with Danny White having replaced him, and still having Hall-of-Famers like running back Tony Dorsett and linebacker Randy White, they again reached the NFC Championship Game in those seasons. For 1980, they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. For 1981, they would play the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers began play in 1946, in the All-America Football Conference. In 1950, they entered the NFL. For most of their early history, they were usually good, but never anything special. They won the AAFC Western Division title in 1949, but lost the league's Championship Game to the Cleveland Browns. They tied for the Western Division title in 1957, but lost a Playoff to the Detroit Lions. They won the NFC Western Division in 1970, '71 and '72, but lost to the Cowboys all 3 times, the 1st 2 in the NFC Championship Game.
And then they collapsed. In 1978, they finished just 2-14. In 1979, team owner Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. hired Stanford coach Bill Walsh as head coach and general manager. Walsh had been an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, and thus a student of team owner Paul Brown, who, as head coach of the Browns in the 1940s and '50s, revolutionized football offense.
(Eddie DeBartolo developed shopping malls, including the Brunswick Square Mall in my hometown of East Brunswick, New Jersey, along with his father, Edward Sr., who owned the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. The family is from Youngstown, Ohio, slightly closer to Pittsburgh than to Cleveland.)
Walsh began rebuilding the team. In 1979, they finished 2-14 again. Then Walsh drafted Notre Dame quarterback Joe Montana. (Both Edward DeBartolos were also Notre Dame graduates.) The improvement was noticeable, as they went 6-10 in 1980.
But nobody imagined the jump that would occur in 1981. After a 1-2 start -- losing to the Lions in Detroit, beating the Chicago Bears at home, and losing to the Falcons in Atlanta -- the Niners nearly ran the table, to finish 13-3. Their only loss was 15-12 at home to the Browns. They avenged their loss to the Falcons, clobbered the Cowboys 45-14 at Candlestick Park, and beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, twice.
They won the NFC West for the 1st time in 9 years. In the Division Playoff, they beat the New York Giants, 38-24 at Candlestick. Now, they were set to play the Cowboys for a trip to Super Bowl XVI. If the Cowboys were to win, it would be their 6th World Championship Game. For the 49ers, it would be their 1st.
There was an NFL team in Baltimore, but it was the Colts, not the Ravens. There was one in Houston, but it was the Oilers, not the Texans. The Cardinals were still in St. Louis. The Rams were the only team in Los Angeles. The Raiders were about to leave Oakland for L.A., and the idea that the Chargers would ever leave San Diego was ridiculous.
The 49ers had never won a Super Bowl. This was also true for the Rams, the Cardinals, the Chicago Bears, the New York Giants, the Denver Broncos, the New England Patriots, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Seattle Seahawks, the New Orleans Saints and the Philadelphia Eagles. (The Bears, the Giants, the Cardinals and the Eagles, at least, had won NFL Championships in the pre-Super Bowl years.)
The 49ers had never even been to a Super Bowl. This was also true for the Bears, the Patriots, the Chargers, the Buccaneers, the Seahawks, the Saints, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Buffalo Bills, the Atlanta Falcons and the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise. And the Carolina Panthers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Houston Texans, and, sort of, the Ravens didn't even exist.
All of those facts are no longer true.
Most of the defining players of my childhood
were still active, although Mean Joe Greene was about to retire, and Roger Staubach,
Larry Csonka and O.J. Simpson had all done so after the 1979 season.
Lawrence Taylor, Marcus Allen, Herschel Walker, John Elway, Dan Marino, Bo Jackson, Jerry Rice, Steve Young and Bruce Smith were in college. Troy Aikman and Deion Sanders were in high
school. Emmitt Smith and Brett Favre were 12 years old, Kurt Warner was 10, Terrell
Davis was 9, Ray Lewis was 6, Peyton Manning was 5, Tom Brady was 4, Drew
Breese was about to turn 3, Eli Manning was 1, Troy Polamalu was 9 months old,
and Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers and Colin Kaepernick weren’t born yet.
The current coach of the New York Giants (as of this writing, he may be fired by the time you read this), Joe Judge, had just been born. Jets coach Robert Saleh was about to turn 3. Tom Thibodeau of the Knicks was an assistant coach at Salem State University outside Boston. Lindy Ruff of the Devils was playing for the Buffalo Sabres. Buck Showalter of the Mets was playing for the Yankees' farm team, the Nashville Sounds. Gerard Gallant of the Rangers was playing for the Sherbrooke Castors of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Barry Trots of the Islanders was playing for the Regina Pats to the Western Hockey League.
Aaron Boone of the Yankees was 8 years old. Steve Nash of the Nets was 7. Ronny Deila of NYCFC was 6. Gerhard Struber of the Red Bulls was about to turn 5. And Liberty coach Walt Hopkins wasn't born yet.
The defending World Champions were the Oakland Raiders in football, the Philadelphia Phillies in baseball, the Boston Celtics in basketball and the New York Islanders in hockey. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Larry Holmes.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America 3 times; twice each in Canada, Korea and Japan; and once each in Bosnia, France, Spain, Norway, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Britain, Russia and Brazil. The World Cup has since been held in America, Mexico, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
There were 26 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. (There are now 27.) The idea that people of the same gender could get married and have all the benefits of marriage was considered ridiculous. But then, so was the idea that corporations were "people" and entitled to all the rights thereof. No person then on the Supreme Court is still on it now, and Sandra Day O'Connor is the only Justice on it then who is still alive.
The President of the United States was Ronald Reagan. George H.W. Bush was his Vice President. Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, their wives, and the widows of Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman were still alive.
Bill Clinton was running to regain the office of Governor of Arkansas. George W. Bush was running an energy business into the ground in Texas. Barack Obama was at Columbia University in New York. Donald Trump was beginning to make a name for himself in real estate -- and not a good one. Joe Biden was in his 2nd term as a U.S. Senator from Delaware. And Kamala Harris was at Howard University in Washington.
The Governor of California was Jerry Brown, and the Mayor of San Francisco was Dianne Feinstein. The Governor of the State of New York was Hugh Carey, the Mayor of the City of New York was Ed Koch, and the Governor of New Jersey was Brendan Byrne, but Tom Kean was a few days away from being inaugurated as his replacement.
The current holders of those offices? Gavin Newsom was in high school. London Breed was 7 years old. Kathy Hochul was attending law school at the Catholic University of American is Washington. Eric Adams was attending the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system. And Phil Murphy was at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia.
There were still survivors of the Spanish-American War, the Boer War, the Russo-Japanese War, the Potemkin Mutiny, and the crew of the RMS Titanic. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Francis, then Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel in his native Argentina. The Prime Minister of Canada was Pierre Trudeau, father of the current holder of the office, Justin Trudeau; and of Britain, Margaret Thatcher. The head of state for both nations was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed. There have since been 6 Presidents of the United States, 6 Prime Ministers of Britain, and 3 Popes.
Birmingham-based Aston Villa were the defending Champions of England's Football League, and went on to win that year's European Cup. They would succeed Liverpool FC as holders of that trophy, and Liverpool would succeed them as League Champions. Tottenham Hotspur of North London were the holders of the FA Cup, and would repeat as such.
Major novels of 1982 included The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Battlefield Earth by Scientology salesman L. Ron Hubbard, North and South by John Jakes, Mistral's Daughter by Judith Krantz, The Parsifal Mosiac by Robert Ludlum, Space by James Michener, Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon, The BFG by Roald Dahl, War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella (on which the film Field of Dreams would be based), Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin (that's how the future Game of Thrones author spelled it), and Pet Sematary and The Running Man by Stephen King.
Bruce Feirstein wrote Real Men Don't Eat Quiche, John Naisbitt Megatrends, and Tom Peters In Search of Excellence. And 17-year-old J.K. Rowling took the entrance exam for Oxford University, but failed.
Not many major films were released in the Winter of 1982. Holdovers from the 1981 Christmas season included Absence of Malice, Sharky's Machine, Chariots of Fire, Taps, and Neighbors, which turned out to be John Belushi's last film.
Gene Roddenberry was working on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, George Lucas on Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, and Steven Spielberg on E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Roger Moore was playing James Bond, Peter Davison was playing The Doctor, and Christopher Reeve was playing Superman. But the last live-action Batman was still Adam West, and the last live-action Spider-Man was still Nicholas Hammond.
Fame and Late Night with David Letterman had just debuted on television. Soon to close their runs were Late Night with Tom Snyder, In Search of... , The Lawrence Welk Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Incredible Hulk with Lou Ferrigno, Mork & Mindy, and the greatest cop show of all time, the ABC sitcom Barney Miller.
Robert and Kris Kardashian were still married to each other. Kourtney and Kim had been born, but not yet Khloe and Rob. The following week would be the last week of the old Match Game with Gene Rayburn. The panelists were Skip Stephenson, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Melinda O. Fee, McLean Stevenson and Betty White.
The Number 1 song in America was "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John. Ozzy Osbourne played in Des Moines, Iowa, and had what he thought was a rubber bat thrown at him onstage. He bit its head off. As it turned out, it was a real bat, still alive. A month later, he was arrested in San Antonio, for pissing on The Alamo. Pat Benatar married her guitarist Neil Giraldo. They're still together.
Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $2.80 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 20 cents, and a New York Subway ride 75 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.31, a cup of coffee $1.10, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) was $2.40, a movie ticket $2.94, a new car $9,903, and a new house $81,200. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the preceding Friday at 866.53.
The tallest building in the world was the Sears Tower in Chicago. There were mobile phones, but they were still big enough to be called "bricks." The leading home video game system was the Atari VCS. (It was renamed the Atari 2600 later in the year, when the Atari 5200 SuperSystem came out.) There were Apple II computers, and the Commodore 64 was introduced the week before. But the Internet as we know it did not exist. There were heart transplants, liver transplants and lung transplants, and artificial kidneys, but no artificial hearts.
At the beginning of 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed upon takeoff from Washington National Airport, the closest airport to the White House, just 5 months after President Reagan had fired the air traffic controllers. This crash killed 78 people. Did the public hold this against Reagan? No. In fact, in 1998, a Republican-controlled Congress voted to rename the airport in question after him.
AT&T settled the lawsuit filed against it by the federal government, and "Ma Bell" agreed to divest itself of its "Baby Bells." The first computer virus was discovered. And in Great Britain, temperatures were their lowest in the 20th Century, and unemployment reached its highest level since World War II. The Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher could not be blamed for the former, but it could be blamed for the latter.
Victor Buono, and Hans Conried, and Paul Lynde died. Kate Middleton, and Dontrelle Willis, and Dwyane Wade were born.
That's what the world was like on January 10, 1982, when the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, for the NFC Championship and a trip to Super Bowl XVI.
*
But first, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time, the Cincinnati Bengals hosted the San Diego Chargers at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, for the AFC Championship.
Eight days earlier, the Chargers had beaten the Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl, in an overtime thriller that was dangerously hot and humid. The weather conditions for this game couldn't have been more different. It was 9 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, and the wind chill factor dropped it to 59 below. It was the coldest game in NFL history, even colder than the 1967 NFL Championship Game in Green Bay, known as the Ice Bowl.
This one became known as the Freezer Bowl. And Cincinnati isn't even known for being especially cold, unlike its cross-State rival Cleveland. Nevertheless, 46,302 people showed up for this game.
For going from the dry heat of San Diego to the humidity of Miami to the frigidity of Cincinnati, the Chargers should have gotten hazard pay. They committed 4 turnovers, the Bengals jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the 1st quarter, and the game was never really in doubt. The Bengals won, 27-7, and were AFC Champions for the 1st time.
The NFC Championship Game kicked off at 2:00 Pacific Time, 5:00 Eastern Time. Candlestick Park was infamous for its winds, and baseball games there, especially at night, could be cold -- although not as cold as Cincinnati was on this day, or Green Bay has been for many Packers games. In fact, it was 52 degrees and sunny, with hardly any wind. I've often said that San Francisco is the only city with baseball weather in football season and football weather in baseball season.
The Cowboys' 1st drive came to nothing. Montana made the most of this, and took the Niners downfield, resulting in an 8-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Solomon. The Cowboys came back with a field goal by Rafael Septién. The 49ers fumbled on their next possession, leading to Danny White throwing a 26-yard touchdown pass to Tony Hill. After 1 quarter, it was 10-7 Dallas.
In the 2nd quarter, Everson Walls of the Cowboys intercepted Montana in the end zone. Timing is everything, I suppose: This is not the play from the game for which we remember Walls. But the 49ers forced the Cowboys to punt, and Montana threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Dwight Clark. Now, it was 14-10 San Francisco. And this is not the play from the game for which we remember Montana and Clark, either.
For years, fans complained that the Cowboys got favorable calls from the officials. Ronnie Lott, a rookie who went on to become perhaps the greatest defensive back of all time, intercepted a pass, but this was wiped out by a pass interference call. So, instead of 49er ball, it was a 35-yard Cowboy gain. And Tony Dorsett scored on a 5-yard run to make it 17-14 Dallas.
Late in the half, the 49ers recovered a fumbled punt in Dallas territory, but on a later play, Clark was called for an illegal block, and Montana then fumbled the ball away. Early in the 3rd quarter, Montana had another turnover, as he was intercepted by Randy White. But Danny White was then intercepted by Bobby Leopold, and this time, the Montana got the job done, driving the Niners until Johnny Davis ran 2 yards for a touchdown. It was 21-17 San Francisco.
Septién kicked a field goal early in the 4th quarter to make it 21-20. And Walls recovered a fumble, and Danny White threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Doug Cosbie, and it was 27-21 Dallas. Walls intercepted Montana again, but the Cowboys couldn't convert, and had to punt. The 49ers got the ball back at their own 11, with 4:54 left in regulation.
What followed was one of the epic drives in NFL history. It included 30 yards of rushing by Elliott, and Solomon rushing for 15 and catching 2 passes for 18. With 58 seconds left, the Niners were at 3rd-and-goal on the Cowboy 6.
Walsh pulled a play out of the old Paul Brown playbook. He called it "Change Left Slot - Sprint Right Option." He had his offense practice it many times. But it had never been done with Clark as the 1st choice.
Montana took the snap. He rolled to his right. But Solomon was covered. He saw Clark in the end zone, and threw. Clark was covered by Walls, but jumped.
If he hadn't caught it... The Cowboys would have won the game, and might have won Super Bowl XVI. Instead of losing the next season's NFC Championship Game, this new generation of Cowboys would have had the confidence to win that, and Super Bowl XVII, too. They were 12-4 in 1983, but lost to the Rams in the 1st Round. Maybe they would have won that, too, although it's hard to imagine them turning around the 38-9 loss the Redskins had to the Raiders. So they could have extended the Cowboy legacy with 3 more Super Bowls and 2 more wins.
And the 49ers? Walsh would have remained head coach, and Carmen Policy was soon brought in as general manager. They would have won eventually, but they wouldn't have won as much as they did. They might have been a one-and-done, instead of a dynasty of 4-for-4, and 2 other NFC Championship Games, in 10 seasons.
Instead, Clark did make what became known as The Catch. "I don't know what got me up there," Clark said. "It must have been God, or something." He got it: Touchdown, 49ers. Ray Wersching kicked the extra point, and it was 28-27 49ers.
But there were still 51 seconds to play, and the Cowboys only needed a field goal. And the Niners needed a key tackle by rookie cornerback Eric Wright on Drew Pearson to prevent a touchdown. On the next play, Lawrence Pillers sacked Danny White, forcing a fumble, which was recovered by Jim Stucky. Game over.
The photo above, by Walter Iooss Jr., became the cover of Sports Illustrated. It made Clark a legend, even if he wasn't as good as receiver as Solomon, or his later teammates Jerry Rice, Russ Francis or John Taylor. He died in 2018, from the effects of Lou Gehrig's disease.
The 49ers went on to win Super Bowl XVI, beating the Bengals, 26-21 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. After a losing season in 1982, they reached the NFC Championship Game in 1983, losing to the Redskins. In 1984, they went 15-1 in the regular season, and won Super Bowl XIX, beating the Miami Dolphins.
Having drafted Rice, they reached the Playoffs in 1985, 1986 and 1987. They won Super Bowl XXIII, winning a rematch with the Bengals; and Super Bowl XXIV, beating the Denver Broncos. Montana became the greatest quarterback of all time, and Rice the greatest receiver. DeBartolo, Walsh, Montana, Rice, Lott, Fred Dean and Charles Haley have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Policy, Roger Craig, Randy Cross and Guy McIntyre should probably also be elected.
In the 1990 NFC Championship Game, the 49er dynasty game to an end, as they lost to the New York Giants, who went on to win Super Bowl XXV. Everson Walls, burned by The Catch, was a key figure on that Giants defense, so he gained a measure of redemption.
While this was going on, the Cowboys were falling apart, sold, and rebuilt. In 1992, '93 and '94, the Cowboys played the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. The Cowboys won for '92 and '93, winning Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII.
The 49ers won in 1994, with Steve Young having taken over at quarterback for Montana, and led them to win Super Bowl XXIX. They did so with former Chicago Bears Super Bowl MVP Richard Dent, and longtime New Orleans Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson, who won his 1st title. Both of them probably secured their Hall of Fame elections with this win. The 49ers also had Deion Sanders that season, but he signed with the Cowboys the next season, and they won Super Bowl XXX, without having to go through the 49ers in the Playoffs. Both teams remained Playoff-capable for the rest of the 1990s.
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