1994 San Francisco 49ers season
The 1994 San Francisco 49ers season was the team's 49th season in the National Football League, and was highlighted by a victory in Super Bowl XXIX. The championship made San Francisco the first team to win five Super Bowls. After losing to the Dallas Cowboys in the previous two conference championship games, the 49ers made significant acquisitions in the 1994 Jake Matthews Jersey free agent market. This included the signing of two sport star Deion Sanders and Cowboys linebacker Ken Norton, Jr. Sanders had a major impact on the team's success, winning the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award and recording six interceptions.
Quarterback Steve Young had his best NFL season and won his second MVP award. Steve Young set what was, at the time, the NFL record for highest passer rating in a season 112.8.[1] Cold Hard Football Facts states that Young's 1994 season is the second greatest passing season in NFL history.[2]
For the third consecutive season, the 49ers met the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game. From the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, the AFC was widely regarded as the NFL's inferior conference. Thus, this meeting between the NFC's perennial powerhouses was dubbed by many as "the real Super Bowl." The contest was one of the highest rated non Super Bowl games http://www.falconsauthenticofficial.com/Jake_Matthews_Jersey_Falcons in NFL history.
The 49ers would go on to defeat the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. Additionally, several rookie players made key contributions to the team, some becoming season long starters. This included defensive tackle Bryant Young, fullback William Floyd, and linebacker Lee Woodall. The 49ers started slowly early in the season. They defeated the Raiders in a game where Jerry Rice broke the NFL record for touchdowns, but followed with a 24 17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, led by former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana.
Despite victories over the Rams and Saints, the 49ers offensive line was struggling having lost four starters to injury, and in Week 5 the Niners were crushed 40 8 by the Eagles. Following the Eagles game, a poll conducted on local sports radio station KNBR showed that an overwhelming majority of 49er fans wanted head coach George Seifert fired.
The game against the Eagles was a turning point for the 49ers despite being a lopsided loss. Steve Young was benched for Elvis Grbac abruptly during a series in the 3rd quarter. Soon after, Young was livid on the sidelines, shouting profanities at head coach George Seifert. Young later admitted "I was looking for a fistfight," and would later say that this incident caused his teammates to respond better to his leadership, as they saw how much he cared about winning ("It galvanized the guys behind Steve," said Brent Jones). The following week in Detroit, the 49ers trailed the Lions 14 0. After throwing a pass, Young was hit, picked up, and driven into the ground by three Lions defenders. After the hit, Young was screaming with his face dark red in color. He crawled most of the way off of the field before refusing help from the trainers as he limped the remaining way off the field. He miraculously returned to the field one play later (NFL rules state that after trainers attend to an injured player, that player must leave the field for at least one play) to lead the 49ers to a 27 21 victory.
The team rallied around Young to win 10 straight games, including a 21 14 victory over the two time defending Super Bowl champion Cowboys. The 49ers chose to wear a version of their 1955 uniforms as throwbacks. This design featured sans serif block numerals that were outlined and shadowed in black. White pants with thinner red black red striping were also worn, along with the old striped red socks (the team later reverted to their regular solid red socks after receiving permission from the NFL to wear the uniforms for the rest of the season). The team's regular 1989 95 gold helmet was worn with this uniform, as there was no logo on the 1955 helmet.
The team first donned the 1955 throwback uniforms during a week 3 match against the falconsauthenticofficial.com/Rashede_Hageman_Jersey_Falcons Los Angeles Rams and the following week at home versus the Saints. Both games ended in victory (coincidentally, these were also the first two games Deion Sanders played with the 49ers after signing as a free agent after week 2). The team then suffered an embarrassing 40 8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at home wearing their regular red uniforms with gold pants. (Football statistics site Football Outsiders calculates this 49ers loss to be the second most lopsided football game they'd tracked from 1994 2008.)
For the subsequent three games until their BYE week, the team again was scheduled to play games wearing the throwback uniforms with white pants and dropshadows, and all three games resulted in wins. During the following weeks the 49ers embarked on a 10 game winning streak. The team, prompted both by the superstition of coach George Seifert, and the preference of players, petitioned the NFL to wear the throwback uniforms for the rest of the season. The league granted the request and the switch to solid red socks after the BYE week marked this occurrence. In all, the team went 15 1 (including the playoffs) wearing the 1955/1994 throwback uniforms. The only loss occurred during the regular www.falconsauthenticofficial.com/Rashede_Hageman_Jersey_Falcons season finale at Minnesota, with the team wearing white jerseys and resting most of their starters for the playoffs. Meanwhile, the 49ers went undefeated wearing the red jerseys of the throwback uniform. After winning Super Bowl XXIX however, the team was compelled to revert to wearing its regular 1964 style uniforms (1991 revised design) for the following 1995 season. One year later, the throwback design strongly influenced the 49ers to redesign their uniform set. In 1996, the team revealed a new helmet and uniform design featuring a darker red, shadowed numbers, black accents, and white pants. In 1998, the team changed the pants to a gold color and wore these uniforms through the 2008 season.
SF Jerry Rice 7 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick) SF 49 18
SD Tony Martin 30 yard pass from Stan Humphries (Alfred Pupunu pass from Stan Humphries) SF 49 26
()The Chargers became the first team to have a successful two point conversion in the Super Bowl. This was the first season in which the NFL allowed 2 point conversions (a rule in place in the American Football League in San Diego's first ten seasons), and the Chargers actually had two in the game.