The Super Bowl And The Presidential Inauguration , 1 9 8 5

TWENTY - TWO YEARS AGO , on 2 0 January of 1 9 8 5 ,

President RONALD WILSON REAGAN took the Inaugural Oath

for the second time . The second Reagan Inauguration occured , as

is the custom established with the passage of CONSTITUTIONAL

AMENDMENT X X , on the Twentieth day of January at High Noon .

It was one - of - a - kind in that the SUPER BOWL was played

on the same day .



Fittingly , a team from Reagan ' s adopted home State , the

SAN FRANCISCO FORTY - NINERS , reached Super Bowl

X I X ( Nineteen ) - - and all butt hosted the game . That is to

say : the 4 9 e r s did not actually have their home field ,

CANDLESTICK PARK in San Francisco , as the venue ;

they did , however , play the MIAMI DOLPHINS at

STANFORD STADIUM , some thirty miles to the South .

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This Miami Dolphins team was the last of head coach DON SHULA ' s

ballclubs to reach the Super Bowl . Shula , winningest coach in

National Football League history ( 3 4 7 victories in thirty - three

seasons ) , coached six Super Bowl teams butt only won it twice .



The 1 9 8 4 Dolphins had a record of 1 4 wins , 2 losses , butt this

is deceptive ; I myself believe theirs was the least impressive 1 4 and 2

team I ' ve ever seen , a consequence of their unproductive running

game and their abysmal defense . Although the late PETE AXTHELM ,

writing for NEWSWEEK , predicted a Dolphins win over

San Francisco , I knew that was unlikely .



Indeed - - the Dolphins only scored 1 6 points against San Francisco ' s

defense , none in the second half . Miami ' s usually impeccable pass

blocking actually yielded four sacks . Miami led briefly in the first

half , 1 0 to 7 , butt yielded over five - hundred yards in total

offense and lost , 3 8 to 1 6 .



The record shows that DAN MARINO , now in the Hall Of Fame ,

made it to the Super Bowl in just his second season ( Marino was

drafted by the Dolphins out of the University of Pittsburgh in 1 9 8 3 )

and never made it back . Still , no mention of the 1 9 8 4 season

( and post - season ) can be considered complete without an

acknowledgement of Marino ' s stellar sophomore season :

his forty - eight toouchdown passes bested Y . A . TITTLE ' s

previous single - season mark by a third . ( Tittle , playing in

all butt one of the NEW YORK GIANTS ' 1 9 6 3 contests ,

had thirty - six touchdown passes . )



San Francisco ' s head coach , BILL WALSH , likely had his

finest team in 1 9 8 4 - - even without JERRY RICE , who wouldn ' t

be drafted by the team for three more months . Walsh was a head coach

in the N . F . L . for just ten years ( 1 9 7 9 through 1 9 8 8 , all with

San Francisco ) yet he did reach the Super Bowl three times .

All three - - 1 9 8 1 , 1 9 8 4 , 1 9 8 8 - - prevailed in their

respective Super Bowls , with the CINCINNATI BENGALS

victimized twice , albeit by a total of just nine points .



( At The PONTIAC SILVERDOME , Pontiac , Michigan , 2 4 January 1 9 8 2 )

SAN FRANCISCO FORTY - NINERS 2 6

CINCINNATI BENGALS 2 1

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - - JOE MONTANA , San Francisco



( At PRO PLAYER STADIUM , Miami , Florida , 2 2 January 1 9 8 9 )

CINCINNATI BENGALS 1 6

SAN FRANCISCO FORTY - NINERS 2 0

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - - JERRY RICE , San Francisco

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In the lineup for the 4 9 e r s when they defeated Miami on 2 0 January 1 9 8 5

was MICHAEL CARTER , defensive lineman , who competed in the 1 9 8 4

LOS ANGELES SUMMER OLYMPIAD . Carter took the Silver Medal

in the shot put .



Lest it seem that I ' m depicting the 1 9 8 4 San Francisco team as a

superior entity , let me point out that the 1 9 8 5 squad , with essentially

the same roster and coach , could do no better than 1 0 wins , six losses ,

which in turn placed the 4 9 e r s one game back of the LOS ANGELES

RAMS in the standings . San Francisco did make the playoffs that year ,

BARELY ( they had to beat the DALLAS COWBOYS in the season ' s

final game ) only to be drubbed in the first round of the playoffs , 1 7 - 3 ,

by their two - time ( 1 9 8 1 , 1 9 8 4 ) victim , the NEW YORK GIANTS .



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