Each NFL team’s out of nowhere season
By Randy Gurzi
San Francisco 49ers: First Super Bowl win
Earlier, we looked at Tom Brady and the beginning of his dynasty with the New England Patriots. Long before that happened, the 1981 San Francisco 49ers saw a dynasty of their own begin ‚— as did a young Brady who grew up nearby and was a fan of the team.
Third-year head coach Bill Walsh and his 49ers were coming off a 6-10 campaign, after going 2-14 the season prior. In 1981, Walsh decided to give the keys to his West Coast offense to his third-round pick from 1979 in quarterback Joe Montana. The Notre Dame product had just eight starts in his first two seasons and owned a 2-6 mark in those games.
As the leader of the team, he started out slowly, as they dropped their opening game to the Detroit Lions and then lost in Week 3 to the Atlanta Falcons.
Sitting at 1-2, Montana and the 49ers finally got rolling and reeled off seven straight wins before finally losing again in Week 11 to the Cleveland Browns. From there, they dropped five more opponents and ended the year with a 13-3 mark, which was their best regular-season record at the time.
San Francisco entered the playoffs and continued to find success. The 49ers beat the New York Giants by two scores and then showed insane resiliency against the Dallas Cowboys. In that game, Montana had the signature play of his career, which became known as “The Catch.”
Down 27-21, Montana was able to roll out and hit Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone for a six-yard score that won them the game. They then disposed of the Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 26-21, giving Montana his first of four Lombardi Trophies with San Francisco.