Super Bowl XIX - 49ers 38, Dolphins 16
Super Bowl XIX was an American football game played on January 20, 1985 at Stanford Stadium, on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion following the 1984 regular season.
The National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers (18-1) defeated the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins (16-3), 38–16, to win their second Super Bowl.
The game had been hyped as the battle between two great quarterbacks, Miami's Dan Marino and San Francisco's Joe Montana - and indeed this was the first Super Bowl ever in which the starting quarterbacks of each team both threw for over 300 yards. In addition, the two teams combined total of 851 offensive yards was a Super Bowl record (later broken in Super Bowl XXII & Super Bowl XXXVIII). But the 49ers would end up taking the game in dominating fashion. It would be Marino's only trip to the Super Bowl during his 17 year career.
Montana, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, completed 24 of 35 passes for a Super Bowl record 331 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 5 rushes for 59 yards and 1 rushing touchdown. His 59 rushing yards were the most rushing yards ever gained by a quarterback in the Super Bowl at that time.
This Super Bowl was unique in that it fell on the same day that Ronald Reagan was inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. Because January 20 fell on a Sunday, Reagan was sworn in privately and the public ceremony took place the following day.
It was one of the most watched games in history with an estimated 115.9 million viewers. This game also was the first time television commercials ran for a million dollars a minute.
Fun Facts:
As a result of the 1982 television contract signed by the NFL with the three networks, this game was the first Super Bowl to be televised in the United States by ABC, as they earned their first turn at the Super Bowl, with a new alternation process started for the 1983 game. Previously, the Super Bowl telecast alternated between CBS and NBC, while both networks simulcasted the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game.
Actress Teri Hatcher was a 49ers cheerleader at the time, she can be seen on several close ups during the game. Also, in a Strong Bad e-mail cartoon from the Homestar Runner website, a flier advertising this particular game washes up in a bottle on a deserted island that Strong Bad and Homestar happen to be stranded on.
Clips from this game can be seen in the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as the character Ray Finkle is in reality Dolphins kicker Uwe von Schamann. Von Schamann made three field goals and an extra point in this game, but Finkle missed the game-winning field goal in a fictional Super Bowl XVII. Also, in the Sliders episode "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome", Quinn recognized he was not home on his Earth due to a newspaper headline that showed the 49ers had beaten the New York Jets in Super Bowl XIX.
