NFL Old School Game of the Week: Montana Gets Revenge on 49ers

Joe Montana would get payback as he led the Chiefs to a win over his former team, the San Francisco 49ers.

When the San Francisco 49ers traveled to Arrowhead Stadium for a game with the Kansas City Chiefs during the second week of the 1994 season, they would be going a familiar face at quarterback.
Joe Montana, who had become a San Francisco legend as he helped lead the 49ers to four Super Bowl titles in the 1980s, would be the starting quarterback for the Chiefs as they prepared to face San Francisco in one of the most anticipated games of the 1994 season.
After Montana suffered an elbow injury during the 1991 preseason which ultimately sidelined him for two years, he was replaced by Steve Young, who would finish as the NFL's top rated quarterback the following two seasons and lead the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game in 1992, which they lost to the Dallas Cowboys.
By then Montana was finally healthy and wanted to compete for the starting quarterback job, but 49ers management had decided that Young should be the starter and Montana the backup.
Montana then requested for a trade which was granted just before the 1993 NFL draft as the 3-time Super Bowl MVP was traded to Kansas City, along with defensive back Dave Whitmore.
Paired with former Raiders running back Marcus Allen, Montana lead the Chiefs to their first postseason victory since they won Super Bowl IV, with a 27-24 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card Round, followed by a 28-20 upset of the Houston Oilers in the Divisional Round, only to fall in the AFC Championship Game to the Buffalo Bills 30-13.
With Montana and Allen back and head coach Marty Schottenheimer at the helm, the Chiefs were considered Super Bowl contenders in 1994 just like the 49ers.

Steve Young and Joe Montana greet each other before thier much-hyped showdown during the second week of the 1994 season.

While expectations were high in Kansas City, there was more pressure for Young and the 49ers as they had fallen to the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game for the second year in a row.
With an offense which featured running back Ricky Watters, wide receiver John Taylor, and perhaps the greatest player in NFL history, wide receiver Jerry Rice, nothing short of a Super Bowl title would satisfy the 49ers' fanbase in 1994.
But first they had to get by an old friend as both the 49ers and the Chiefs won their season openers the week before, with Rice breaking the record for most touchdowns scored by a NFL player in the 49ers' 44-14 rout of the Raiders.
 The Chiefs got the ball at their 33-yard-line and were able to drive down to the 49ers' five-yard-line, thanks to a pair of 3rd down conversions as Montana hit Willie Davis for 18 yards on a 3rd & 2, then hit tight end Keith Cash for six yards on a 3rd & 5, which was followed by a 25-yard pass to J.J. Birden to give Kansas City a 1st-and-goal.
But after three plays netted four yards, the Chiefs were faced with a 4th-and-goal from the one-yard-line.
That is when the normally conservative Schottenheimer decided to gamble and go for the touchdown.
Montana took the snap and lofted a pass for offensive lineman Joe Valerio, who lined up as an eligible receiver on the play, made the catch for the game's first touchdown to give Kansas City a 7-0 lead with 9:16 left in the first quarter.

Joe Valerio celebrates after his one-yard touchdown catch gave Kansas City an early 7-0 lead.

After both teams traded punts, the 49ers took over at their 30-yard-line when Young hit tight end Brent Jones for 30 yards on the first play of the drive to put the Niners in Chiefs territory at the Kansas City 40-yard-line.

The 49ers then went backwards as John Taylor lost three yards on a reverse which was followed by an illegal use of hands penalty on left tackle Steve Wallace, forcing a 2nd & 23 back at the San Francisco 47-yard-line.
But Young would hit back-to-back passes to Watters and Nate Singleton totaling 31 yards to give the 49ers a 1st down at the Chiefs 22-yard-line.
Then on the first play of the second quarter, Young found Jones for a five-yard touchdown to tie the game just three seconds into the second quarter.
After forcing a three-and-out, the 49ers got the ball at thier 45-yard-line and proceeded to drive 55 yards in 10 plays, culminating with a one-yard touchdown run by fullback Marc Logan to give San Francisco a 14-7 lead with just over eight minutes before halftime.
On their ensuing possession, the Chiefs drove from their 20-yard-line to the 49ers' 34-yard-line until Montana was sacked by 49ers defensive end Richard Dent on a 3rd & 9 that pushed Kansas City back to the 49ers' 43-yard-line and forced a punt.
However, punter Louie Aguiar was able to pin the 49ers back as his punt landed on the San Francisco three-yard-line.
Young was able to get the 49ers out of danger of a safety when he hit Rice for a 16-yard gain to the Kansas City 22-yard-line, only to have back-to-back penalties push the Niners back to their seven-yard-line where they faced a 1st & 25.
That is when Chiefs pass rusher extraordinaire Derrick Thomas struck as he ran past right tackle Harry Boatswain and sacked Young for a safety to give the Chiefs two points and cut the Niners' lead to 14-9 with 2:12 left before halftime.

Derrick Thomas sacked Young three times in the game, including one for a safety.

But after beginning their next drive at their 31-yard-line following the free kick, the Chiefs went three-and-out, punting the back to the Niners who took over at their 20-yard-line with a minute and a half left in the first half.
Young was precise on the drive as he completed four of six passes for 47 yards to set up a 43-yard field goal attempt by Doug Brien.
But Brien's kick sailed wide right and the 49ers' lead was still 14-9 as the first half came to a close.
After forcing the 49ers to go three-and-out on their first possession of the second half, the Chiefs got great field position as Danan Hughes returned the ensuing punt 43 yards to the 49ers' 42-yard-line, though the Chiefs would lose 15 yards because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, making Kansas City start its opening possession of the second half at their 43-yard-line.
The penalty would not haunt the Chiefs as they drove 57 yards in eight plays as Montana hit two big completions to Davis gaining a total of 34 yards and then fired his second touchdown pass of the game, an eight-yard pass to Cash that gave the lead back to Kansas City.
The Chiefs decided to go for two to give them a three-point lead and after Montana hit Birden in the end zone, Kansas City had a 17-14 lead with 8:43 left in the third quarter.
The KC defense would give their offense an excellent opportunity to extend the lead when strong safety Charles Mincy intercepted a Young pass intended for Jones and returned the pick 31 yards to the 49ers' 17-yard-line.
Four plays later, the Chiefs put another touchdown on the scoreboard as Allen ran it in from four yards out to increase the Kansas City lead to 24-14 with just under five minutes to play in the third quarter.
The Chiefs kept the momentum going as free safety William White intercepted Young on the second play of the 49ers' ensuing drive, giving Montana and the Kansas City offense the ball at their 27-yard-line.
This time, the Chiefs were unable to convert the turnover into points giving the ball back to the 49ers at their six-yard-line after another perfect coffin-corner punt by Aguiar.
Following an exchange of punts, the 49ers took over at their 20-yard-line and were able to drive to the Chiefs' five-yard-line as Young completed five passes for 46 yards.
After Watters picked up four yards on 1st & goal, the Chiefs called timeout to give their defense a rest in hopes they would rise up and keep the Niners out of the end zone.
The rest worked as defensive end Vaughn Booker dropped Watters for a one-yard loss on 2nd down, then Whitmore made his presence felt as stopped Young for no gain when the quarterback tried to run in on a naked bootleg.
With plenty of time remaining in regulation,49ers head coach George Seifert settled for the field goal, a 19-yarder by Brien to cut the deficit to a touchdown at 24-17 with 5:34 left in the fourth quarter.

Marcus Allen finished with 114 total yards(69 rushing, 45 receiving) and one touchdown.

Needing a defensive stop, the 49ers got one as they forced a three-and-out to get the ball back at their 31-yard-line with 4:14 left and a chance to tie the game with a touchdown.
But on 2nd & 4 from the San Francisco 48-yard-line, Young hit Taylor for a six-yard-pass, only to have Taylor lose the football when he was hit by Chiefes linebacker George Jamison, forcing a fumble that was recovered by defensive back Jay Taylor at the Chiefs' 46-yard-line, though Kansas City would lose 15 yards because of an unnecessary roughness penalty on Mincy as the KC offense took over at their 31-yard-line with 2:23 left.
With the 49ers defense expecting run on 1st down, Montana crossed them up and went deep for Allen, who made a 38-yard catch before being knocked out of bounds at the San Francisco 31-yard-line.
The Chiefs would stick to the ground for the rest of the drive as Allen carried the ball six straight times for 27 yards to run out the clock and give Kansas City a 24-17 victory and a win for Montana over his former team as "Joe Cool" finished with 203 yards on 19-of-31 passing and two touchdown passes while Young completed 24 of 34 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown, but threw two interceptions while Montana threw none.
The loss would just be a bump in the road for the 49ers as they would go on to finish the regular season 13-3 behind the league's #1 offense, finally defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game, then destroyed the San Diego Chargers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX as Young threw a Super Bowl record six touchdown passes, ironically breaking Montana's record of five touchdown passes he set in San Francisco's 55-10 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV.
As for Montana, the win over the 49ers would be one of the high points in a up-and-down season as the Chiefs finished with a 9-7 record and entered the playoffs as the AFC's #6 seed, where they would lose to the Miami Dolphins 27-17 in the Wild Card round.
Then on April 18, 1995, Montana announced his retirement from the NFL after 16 seasons in an event held at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco where "Joe Cool" was joined by former 49ers head coach Bill Walsh and other former teammates from San Francisco.