Super Bowl XXIX – Chargers and Forty-niners

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Super Bowl XXIX was held in Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami in January of 1995 between the SanDiegoChargers 13-5 and the San Francisco Forty-niners 15-3.

It was the Chargers first Super Bowl appearance and it took two close wins in the playoffs, 22-21 over Miami and 17-13 over the Steelers, to represent the AFC against San Francisco who were appearing in their fifth Super Bowl, having won each of their previous four.

The Chargers were coached by longtime coach Bobby Ross and his offense was led by quarterback Stan Humphries who passed for 3209 yards, 17 TD’s and 12 interceptions. Their rushing leader was Natrone Means with 1350 yards and 12 TD’s and the main receiverswere Tony Martin 885 yards, Mark Seay 695, Stan Jefferson 627 and Ronnie Harmon with 615 yards.

Their place kicker was John Carney who made 34 of 38 field goal attempts and their defense was led by future Hall of Famer Junior Seau with 155 tackles, 5.5 sacks, one forced fumble and 3 recovered fumbles, linebacker Darrien Gordon 89 tackles, three forced fumbles and 4 interceptions, safety Stanley Richard with 4 interceptions and Darren Cavington with 86 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and 3 interceptions.

The 49ers still coached by George Seifert had defeated the Bears 44-15 and the defending champion Cowboys 38-28 to get to the Super Bowl. Steve Young passed for 3969 yards with 35 touchdowns and only ten interceptions and rushed for 293 yards and seven TD’s. Rickey Watters replaced Roger Craig as the all-purpose back with 877 rushing yards and 719 receiving for a total of 1596 yards. Future Hall of Famer Jerry Rice hauled in 112 catches for 1499 yards and seven TD’s, Brent Jones had 679 and John Taylor had 531 yards receiving.

Linebacker Ken Norton, Jr. led the defense in tackles with 86 and forced one fumble and had one interception, safety Merton Hanks led the team in interceptions with seven and linebacker Eric Davis had 74 tackles, forced one fumble and recovered two.

The Forty-niners also had baseball/football star Deion Sanders who had a 15 yard interception in the game.

The place kicker was Doug Brien who converted on 15 of 20 field goal attempts.

The 49ers scored first on touchdown passes from Steve Young to Jerry Rice for 44 yards and to Ricky Watters for 51 yards while Natrone Means scored on one yard TD run for the Chargers and the score was 14-7 after the first quarter.

The second quarter was similar as San Francisco scored twomore TD’s on a five yard pass from Young to William Floyd and another TD pass to Watters this time for eight yards. San Diego added a 31 yard field goal by John Conway and the score at the half was 28-10.

In the third quarter Ricky Watters got his third TD on a nine yard run and Jerry Rice scored his second on a fifteen yard pass play from Steve Young to make the score 42-10 in favor of the 49ers.

San Diego got two TD’s in the fourth quarter on a 98 yard kickoff return by Andre Coleman and a TD pass from Stan Humphries for 30 yards to Tony Martin. San Francisco added another TD pass from Young to Rice for seven yards and the final score was 49-26.

Steve Young got the game MVP with 24 of 36 passing for 325 yards and a Super Bowl record six TD’s while throwing no interceptions. The Forty-niners did not return until 2013 and San Diego has not returned to the Super Bowl.

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By Ron Griffitts

Contributing Columnist

Ron Griffitts a contributing columnist for the Daily Advocate

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