Super Bowl XVI
Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League champion for the 1981 season. The 49ers defeated the Bengals by the score of 26–21 to win their first Super Bowl.
The game was played on January 24, 1982, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, a suburb northwest of downtown Detroit. It was the first Super Bowl to be held in a cold-weather city. The domed stadium saved the crowd at the game from the cold and snowy weather, but the weather did affect traffic and other logistical issues related to the game. Super Bowl XVI also became one of the most watched broadcasts in American television history, with more than 85 million viewers, and a final national Nielsen rating of 49.1.
For the first time since Super Bowl III, both teams were making their first Super Bowl appearance. The 49ers posted a 13–3 regular season record, and playoff wins over the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. The Bengals finished the regular season with a 12–4 record, and had postseason victories over the Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers.
Cincinnati's 356 yards of offense to San Francisco's 275 marked the first time in Super Bowl history that the losing team outgained the winning team in total yards. However, the Bengals committed four turnovers to San Francisco's one, and this was a major factor in the outcome. The 49ers scored 20 of their 26 points off of Bengals turnovers.
Super Bowl XVI was initially dominated by the 49ers. Three Cincinnati turnovers helped San Francisco build a then-Super Bowl record 20–0 halftime lead on a touchdown pass and a rushing touchdown from quarterback Joe Montana and two field goals by Ray Wersching. The Bengals rallied in the second half with quarterback Ken Anderson's 5-yard touchdown run and 4-yard touchdown pass, but a third-quarter goal-line stand by the 49ers defense and two more Wersching field goals ultimately decided the game. The Bengals managed to draw within less than a touchdown with 16 seconds remaining but could not recover the ensuing onside kick. Montana was named the Super Bowl MVP, completing 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing for 18 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Cincinnati tight end Dan Ross recorded a then-Super Bowl record 11 receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns.
Background
Host selection process
The NFL awarded Super Bowl XVI to Detroit on March 13, 1979, at the owners' meetings in Honolulu. For the first time, three Super Bowl host cities were deliberated and selected at the same meeting. A total of eight cities submitted bids: New Orleans, Detroit, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Dallas and Houston. For the first time, a northern, cold-weather city was picked to host a Super Bowl. The game would be played inside the Pontiac Silverdome, in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac. Former NFL executive director Don Weiss wrote in his book "The Making of the Super Bowl" that the game had been awarded to the Silverdome by the league as a "reward" to the locally headquartered automobile companies Ford Motor Company and Chrysler for their "many years of sponsoring pro football". Automotive executives Tom Murphy, Henry Ford II, John J. Riccardo, and Gerald C. Meyers were all members of the Detroit host committee.Michigan governor William Milliken, Detroit mayor Coleman Young, and Pontiac mayor Wallace E. Holland were part of the delegation, and notably offered the Silverdome rent-free. Detroit received rousing support from several NFL owners, including George Halas, Art Rooney, and Paul Brown. New Orleans and Pasadena were other cities chosen at the meeting.
After hosting five previous Super Bowls, Miami was noticeably left out, largely due to the deteriorating condition of the Orange Bowl and a hotel room mix-up at Super Bowl XIII two months earlier. Dolphins owner Joe Robbie, locked in an ongoing feud with the city of Miami and Dade County over stadium improvements or construction of a new stadium, actually lobbied against Miami hosting the game. Robbie convinced the other owners to vote down Miami in an effort to gain leverage towards building a new stadium. South Florida would not be selected to host another Super Bowl until Joe Robbie Stadium was built, and it hosted XXIII.
San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco finished the regular season with a league-best 13–3 record. The 49ers' success surprised many because they finished with a 6–10 record during the previous season and a 2–14 record in 1979. A major reason for the team's improvement was the emergence of their young quarterback, Joe Montana. In his third professional season, Montana completed 311 out of 488 passes for 3,565 yards and 19 touchdowns. His favorite target was third-year wide receiver Dwight Clark, who had the best season of his career with 85 receptions for 1,104 yards and four touchdowns. Fellow wide receiver Freddie Solomon was also a reliable target with 59 receptions, 969 yards, and eight touchdowns, while tight end Charle Young caught 37 passes for 400 yards and five touchdowns. Running back Ricky Patton was the top rusher on the team with 543 yards and four touchdowns, while also catching 27 passes for 195 yards. Multi-talented running back Earl Cooper also provided the team with a rushing and receiving threat, going for 330 yards on the ground and 477 receiving yards on 51 catches. Much of San Francisco's success was aided by its offensive line of Dan Audick, John Ayers, Fred Quillan, Randy Cross, and Keith Fahnhorst.Although the 49ers had three rookies starting as defensive backs, all three were major threats to opposing offsenses. Carlton Williamson recorded four interceptions, Eric Wright had three and Ronnie Lott, who had the best statistical season of his career, recorded seven interceptions and tied an NFL record by returning three of them for touchdowns. Three-year veteran defensive back Dwight Hicks led the team with nine interceptions, which he returned for 239 yards and a touchdown, giving the secondary a total of 23 picks. Defensive end Fred Dean and linebacker Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds made it difficult for opposing teams to rush the ball; Dean became a 49er after an in-season trade with the San Diego Chargers and piled up 12 sacks for San Francisco.
The 49ers' defense ranked second in the NFL with 250 points allowed for the season. Only the Eagles had a better defense in the league that year, allowing just 221 points.
Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals finished with the best regular-season record in the AFC at 12–4. Cincinnati was also a surprise team because, like the 49ers, they had recorded a 6–10 record the previous season. Entering the 1981 season, the Bengals had never won a playoff game in their entire history.Quarterback Ken Anderson was the top rated passer in the league and won both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. He completed 300 of 479 passes for 3,754 yards, 29 touchdowns and ten interceptions. Anderson was also an outstanding scrambler, rushing for 320 yards and one touchdown, leading all NFL quarterbacks in rushing yards.
The Bengals' main deep threat was rookie wide receiver Cris Collinsworth, who caught 67 passes for 1,009 yards and eight touchdowns. Tight end Dan Ross had 71 receptions for 910 yards and five touchdowns, while wide receivers Isaac Curtis and Steve Kreider each recorded 37 receptions, combining for a total of 1,129 yards and nine touchdowns. Fullback Pete Johnson was the leading rusher on the team with 1,077 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was also a good receiver out of the backfield, catching 46 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns. Halfback Charles Alexander contributed 554 all-purpose yards and 28 receptions. A big reason for Cincinnati's production on offense was their line, led by future Hall of Fame tackle Anthony Muñoz and guard Max Montoya. On special teams, punter Pat McInally made the Pro Bowl with a 45.4 yards-per-punt average.
The Bengals also had a good defense that had not given up more than 30 points in any game that season. Their line was anchored by defensive ends Ross Browner and Eddie Edwards, who did a great job stopping the run. Cincinnati's defense was also led by defensive backs Louis Breeden and Ken Riley, and linebackers Bo Harris, Jim LeClair and Reggie Williams, who intercepted four passes and recovered three fumbles.
Playoffs
The Bengals earned their first playoff victory in team history by defeating the Buffalo Bills 28–21, then beating the San Diego Chargers 27–7 in a game known as the Freezer Bowl because of the wind chill conditions at Riverfront Stadium. Meanwhile, the 49ers defeated the New York Giants 38–24, then narrowly beat the Dallas Cowboys 28–27 on a last-minute touchdown pass known as The Catch.Super Bowl pregame news
The 49ers had handily beaten the Bengals in a December game played in Cincinnati and consequently were installed as a one-point favorite. Most experts agreed that both teams were very evenly matched, but many thought Pete Johnson's rushing ability could prove to be the difference. Some observers also pointed out that Ken Anderson was an established 11-year veteran who had just had the best season of his career, while Montana was only just starting to emerge as a top-notch quarterback. Furthermore, Anderson had advanced through the playoffs without throwing a single interception, while Montana had been intercepted four times, three of them in the NFC title game.During the season, both teams had shown impressive ball security. Cincinnati had the fewest turnovers of any NFL team with 24, while San Francisco ranked second with 25.
Cincinnati head coach Forrest Gregg became the first to play in a Super Bowl and then be a head coach in a Super Bowl. Gregg played in Super Bowls I and II as an offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers. Tom Flores, the winning head coach in Super Bowl XV, was a back-up quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV, but did not play.
This was the first Super Bowl to feature two first-time participants since Super Bowl III, and there has been only one since:. If there is another Super Bowl with both conferences featuring first time participants, it would have to match the Detroit Lions vs the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, or Houston Texans. This was also the only Super Bowl to date between two teams that had losing records the previous season, although Super Bowl XXXIV matched a team that had a losing record in 1998 against a team that went 8–8 that year. This is the most recent Super Bowl in which both teams had never appeared in any AFL or NFL title game before the merger.
This was the only Super Bowl to be played at the Pontiac Silverdome. The Super Bowl did return to Michigan for Super Bowl XL, but that game was played at Ford Field in Detroit, which in 2002 had replaced the Silverdome as the home of the Detroit Lions. This was also only the second Super Bowl to not take place in one of the three so-called 'big Super Bowl Cities'. Fourteen of the previous 15 Super Bowls took place in either Miami, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana or in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The next nine Super Bowls would take place in New Orleans, California, or Florida with Tampa, Florida joining the rotation with Super Bowl XVIII. The next time the Super Bowl would be held in a cold weather city would be a decade from now with Super Bowl XXVI being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 26, 1992.
As the designated home team, the Bengals wore their black home uniforms with white pants, while the 49ers donned their road white uniforms with gold pants. This was the only Super Bowl where the 49ers away jerseys featured screen printed numbers. The next Super Bowl where the 49ers were the designated away team, their jerseys featured stitched on numbers. All subsequent Super Bowls where the 49ers have been the away team have featured this ever since.
On the day of the game, a 49ers bus which had Bill Walsh and Montana on board was stuck in traffic due to bad weather and a motorcade carrying then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. As a result, they did not arrive at the stadium until 90 minutes before kickoff time. "Coach Walsh was pretty loose on the bus," Montana told Sports Illustrated after the game. "He said, ‘I’ve got the radio on and we’re leading 7–0. The trainer’s calling the plays.’"