Super Bowl XXIX

Ahh...One of my favorite Super Bowls ever. Not because of the competition. C'mon, after seeing the score, you see there was none. Not because of the location. Although, living in Miami, I am glad they hosted yet another Super Bowl. But because of the sheer dominance exhibited by the San Francisco 49ers when they destroyed the San Diego Chargers 49-26. The game was played on January 29, 1995 at Joe Robbie Stadium (which was later renamed to Pro Player Stadium) in Miami, Florida in front of 74,107 people.

The San Francisco 49ers wasted little time in showing the Chargers why they dominated the NFL the entire season. They scored 1:24 into the game on a 44-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Steve Young to receiver Jerry Rice. They never looked back. On their next possession, the 49ers marched 79 yards in just four plays capped by a 51-yard touchdown pass to running back Ricky Watters. The 49ers were now up 14-0 and the game wasn't even five minutes old.

Well, San Diego wasn't going to be shut out, so they put together a 13 play, 78 yard drive consuming more than seen minutes. Chargers' running back Natrone Means scored the boring one-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 14-7.

San Francisco then answered back with a 70 yard drive capped by Steve Young throwing a 5 yard touchdown pass to fullback William Floyd. Some time later, with 4:44 before halftime, Young threw his fourth touchdown pass of the half, this time an eight yard pass Watters to give the 49ers a 28-7 lead.

Now let us begin the third quarter. Ricky Watters ran in a nine yard touchdown for his third touchdown of the game. This equaled Jerry Rice's previous Super Bowl record of most touchdowns in a game. This same game Rice scored three touchdowns as well, the second time in his career he's done so in a Super Bowl.

Well, there's really nothing left to say except how the 49ers scored three more touchdowns, and the Chargers did some scoring of their own.

The 49ers quarterback, Steve Young, was the games leading rusher with 49 yards on five carries. He had scrambled 21 yards and 15 yards to set up touchdowns in the first half, thus establishing himself as the games leading rusher. The leading rusher for San Diego was their running back, Natrone Means, who was limited to 33 yards on 13 attempts.

49er Jerry Rice caught 10 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns. He established career records for receptions, yards, and touchdowns in a Super Bowl.

Chargers' rookie Andre Coleman returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, becoming only the third player to do so in Super Bowl history.

Chargers quarterback Stan Humphries completed 24 of 49 passes for 275 yards. On the other side, Steve Young earned game MVP honors by directing an explosive offense which generated seven touchdowns, 28 first downs, and 455 total yards. Young completed 24 of 36 passes for 325 yards. He threw six touchdowns, a new Super Bowl record. The previous record was five by his predecessor, Joe Montana of the 49ers, in Super Bowl XXIV.

With this victory, the 49ers became the first team to win five Super Bowls. Also, the 75 combined points (49 by the 49ers and 26 by the Chargers) was the most points ever in a Super Bowl. The previous record was 69 points when the Dallas Cowboys routed the Buffalo Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII. This was the eleventh straight Super Bowl victory for the NFC over the AFC.