Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 19

NFC championship: 49ers 23, Bears 0 Monday, January 7, 1985 3C Reno Gazette-Journal Tyler, Craig stand up when Montana falls By GREGG PATTON GNS SAN FRANCISCO Late in the game, an official asked 49ers running back Wendell Tyler to display his hands, presumably to check him for a sticky substance. Not this time. "I don't know why he did it," said Tyler, smiling. "Maybe he was expecting me to be fumbling." The guy who could have used some gooey stuff on his hands was Joe Montana, whose slickness in the 49ers National Conference championship game victory Sunday seemed to center mainly on the palms of his hands. San Francisco may have advanced to Super Bowl XIX by defeating the Chicago Bears 23-0 at Candlestick Park, but for his part, Montana often seemed to be slip-sliding in the opposite direction.

At three crucial points in the first half, when the 49ers had driven inside the Bears 5-yard line, the normally proficient quarterback (1) fumbled a third-down snap; (2) tossed a first-down interception and (3) threw a third-down pass directly into a rushing lineman. Late in the half, after the 49ers reached the Bears 25, another floating pass was intercepted. The upshot of all this bumbling was a mere 6-0 San Francisco lead, which easily could have been four times that. Overall, the 49ers quarterback was a respectable 18-of-34 for 233 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn't his day to be a hero in the clutch. "I think I kept us off-balance more than anything in the first half, said Montana, who seemed to have little trouble with the top-ranked Bears defense when he wasn't shooting himself in the foot.

"Most of the breakdowns were my fault." As it was, the 49ers didn't need a super-sharp Montana to knock off the Bears. Instead, San Francisco's defense stole the thunder from Chicago's highly publicized defensive unit and extended to 10 consecutive quarters its streak of keeping opposing offenses out of the end zone. As for the 49ers offense, it got the clutch plays from runningbacks Tyler and Roger Craig. If it is the team's passing game that usually bedazzles 49ers opponents, San Francisco offered something a little different to attack the Bears' aggressive defense Sunday an occasional veer-formation running play and a ground game that netted 159 yards. Tyler ran 10 times for 68 of them, once off the veer for a 10-yard touchdown in the third period that finally extended a shaky looking 6-0 lead to a monumentally more comfortable 13-0.

And Craig crashed through a hole early in the fourth quarter for 39 yards, setting up the clinching San Francisco TD. The Runnin' Niners even shifted into a formation that had wide receiver Freddie Solomon switch posi-' tions with Montana, with Solomon taking a center snap, rolling to his right and pitching out to Craig. It went for no gain, but at least it kept the Bears guessing. "We had them as befuddled as they had us last year," said San Francisco guard Randy Cross, referring to a 13-3 Bears win in 1983. "If they wanted to blitz and play funny, we were going to make them pay for it.

The veer plays Montana running down the line to hand the ball to Tyler enabled the 49ers to bypass the Bears' hard rush. "The veer helped me. I ran it in college (at UCLA)," said Tyler. "We ran it a little last year (with the 49ers), but not this year at all." Montana has now played both post-season games at below-Montana standards. He had three passes intercepted against the New York Giants last week.

That may leave some people in the 49ers camp feeling less than secure going into the Super Bowl with their quarterback on a downswing. But a reference to Super Bowl XIX being a Battle of the Quarterbacks between Montana and record-setting Dan Marino of Miami doesn't faze Montana. "If we win, they'll forget all about his TD passes," said Montana, Associated Press GOING DOWN: Bear quarterback Steve Fuller is sacked by the 49ers' Gary Johnson. 14) 49ers enjoy a Super Bowl set for their own back yard Montana questioned From page 1C "We moved the ball all day long," said Montana. "People seem to forget there are 11 guys on the other side of the line of scrimmage paid to stop you.

They've done a great job of it all year Jong. You can't take any credit away from them. They do their homework, also. One was just a bad throw by me, or we would have got in the end zone. Other than that, they stopped us.

What can you say?" The 49er offense didn't score a second-half point in the team's final regular-season game, a 19-16 win against the Los Angeles Rams. San Francisco didn't score in the second half against New York. But Montana engineered two second-half touchdown drives against the Bears. He threw a 10-yard pass to wide receiver Freddie Solomon for the 49ers' final touchdown. "We'd called an out (pattern) to Freddie," said Montana.

"The defensive back jumped to his outside, so he (Solomon) just decided he was going to hook. He hooked, then he slid back outside. He made a great adjustment." According to 49er offensive guard Randy Cross, Solomon caught his touchdown pass on the same play that resulted in wide receiver Dwight Clark's famous end zone catch that beat Dallas in the 1982 NFC title game. "Keep in mind that Freddie was supposed to have been the primary receiver on Dwight's catch, also," said Cross. "Our receivers start sliding when Joe keeps moving and that makes it awfully tough on a defensive back." Montana kept Chicago's blitzing defense off-balance with quick passes to Solomon and Clark.

"We knew coming into the game that they (Bears) have a great defensive line," said Solomon. "So, we wanted to set up quick and throw the quick passes. We knew that sometimes they would back off us, and sometimes they would try to bump-and-run. We were able to guess right and make some key first downs." The 49ers' offensive strategy included lining up Solomon at quarterback and Montana at wide receiver for one play. "My assignment was to get out of the way," said Montana.

"As soon as the ball was snapped, I ran the other way." Rookie guard Guy Mclntyre lined up at running back to provide extra blocking on several plays. "Coach thought with my size and speed, I stood a better chance of knocking them back on my said Mclntyre. "We ran the formation off a couple of different sets. We call it Angus. It got its name from the Black Angus Restaurant, because earlier in the season I used to hang out there a lot." By Don Cox SAN FRANCISCO The San Francisco 49ers have their championship cake, and they can eat it, too.

"We're staying home, and we're going to the Super Bowl," Dwight Hicks of the 49ers' defense said after Sunday's 23-0 shutout of the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship game. Coach Bill Walsh's team will take an 11-game winning streak and 17-1 overall record into Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium, a half-hour ride from Candlestick Park. Miami's AFC champion Dolphins are 16-2. "It's not too early now for us to talk about it. People have been talking all year about a Dolphins-49ers Super Bowl, and now they've got it," said Gary "Big Hands" Johnson, the defensive lineman who had two of his team's nine sacks Sunday.

The San Francisco defensive unit which has allowed only three points in two postseason games and just two touchdowns in the last four games will face a record-breaking Miami offense. "Our defense can do anything it wants to do, and that's the truth," Johnson said. His eyes glistened with tears as he talked in front of his locker, savoring the title game victory and looking forward to the Jan. 20 game with Miami. "It took me ten long years to get to the Super Bowl," he said.

"I can't wait to get outside this stadium, kiss my wife, and tell her, we're going. As a member of the San Diego Chargers, he came close a few times but never reached the National Football League's biggest event. Many of his current teammates, however, played on the 49ers' Super Bowl team which beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21 three years ago in Pontiac, Mich. "A lot of guys play their whole careers without getting there, and we're going for the second time," linebacker Keena Turner said. "Detroit was crazy, with that cold weather.

It S.F. locker room will be crazy here, too, but we don't have to travel to it." Sunday's sack-filled performance by the 49ers helped the team avenge a 13-3 loss to the Bears in a 1983 regular season game. "We had them about as befuddled this time as they had us last year," offensive guard Randy Cross said. The Chicago defense set an NFL record with 72 sacks this season and added seven in its playoff victory over Washington. The Bears dropped quarterback Joe Montana three times for a measly 8 yards in losses.

"We threw the ball quickly, before they could get to us blitzing," Walsh said of the early strategy. THE BEARS entered the game with one of the most publicized pass rushes in the league. They finished the regular season with a record-72 sacks with Richard Dent picking up 17'i and Dan Hampton 11. Paul Hackett, San Francisco's quarterback-receiver coach, said the 49ers knew they had to adjust. And giving Wendell Tyler more latitude with the ball was one such tactic.

"With Wendell's college background, we decided to go with it and try to surprise them off tackle," Hackett said. "We told Wendell (an All-America at UCLA) to just read like he did in (college). He was to read inside and break outside." The strategy worked as Keith Fahn-horst easily handled either Hampton and Steve McMichael, allowing Tyler to gain 68 yards in 10 carries. Fahnhorst said the 49ers discarded the blocking alignments they used all year. "It was completely different from anything we did this year," he said.

"We had to do a lot of communicating out there and learn a whole new pass protection scheme." Wire service reports Assocaited Press STOPPED SHORT: The 49ers' Roger Craig is tackled by Bear linebacker Mike Singletary on the Bears' 3-yard line in the second quarter. Payton drowns in pool of sorrow SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Walter Payton's eyes stayed dry but his soft voice cracked as he talked about the hollow end of his championship dream. "I'll never get over this," Payton said of the Chicago Bears' 23-0 loss. "You've got to realize, in 10 years this is the closest I've been. To get this close and get turned back, it's kind of hard to deal with." It was the closest the Bears had come to the NFL title in 21 years.

They could be proud of the 10-6 regular season record that brought them the Central Division title. They could be proud of their victory last week over Washington. But there was a sour feeling Sunday in the Bears' locker room after the game because they felt their own mis- Chicago locker room takes had beaten them. "When you miss one guy in a blocking scheme, it breaks down the whole scheme of the play," said Payton, the league's all-time rushing leader who rushed 22 times for 92 yards and caught three passes for 11 yards. "We still moved the ball.

It's just a matter of doing it consistently that we didn't do." Payton seemed to be limping around the locker room as he tried to dress in the crush of writers, photographers and other players. "I'm not hurt, not on the outside," he said, closing his eyes again as he walked away as if trying hard to hold back tears. 49ers NEW USED NEVADAS LARGEST SUPPLIER BMW PARTS IN STOCK NEVADA MOTORCYCLE PARTS SALVAGE CONFUSED ABOUT BUYING YOUR FIRST BUSINESS COMPUTER? Get Professional, unbiased help! Selecting hardware software Training Management Consulting MJH CONSULTING 329-5442 WE SHIP S. DAILY 1000 MARRIETTA WAY -SPARKS 359-5088 NEW 4 USED VUARNET SUNGLASSES 1. 1 in yULr I Associated Press VICTORY: 49er running back Wendell Tyler shows his pleasure after his team's 23-0 victory over the Bears in the NFC title game.

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On the next play Carter tackled Matt Suhey for a three-yard loss after the Bears fullback caught a short pass from Fuller. "Their defense reminded me of ours," said Chicago offensive guard Mark Bortz. "They were coming from all different angles, and they have so many defensive linemen. It's tough to single any one of them out. But it was hard not to notice 97 (Johnson) and 95 (Carter).

Wherever we looked, they were right on top of us." The 49ers' most impressive defensive sequence came on Chicago's first possession of the second half. The Bears started from their own 11 and punted four plays later from the 12. During the series, Board and outside linebacker Dan Bunz stopped Payton for a 3-yard loss on second down. Fuller's third-down pass to Pay-ton was incomplete and Dana McLemore's 15-yard return of Dave Finzer's punt gave the 49ers a first down on the Bears 35. San Francisco, which led 6-0 on a couple of first-half field goals by Ray Wersching, scored in five plays.

Wendell Tyler got the touchdown on a 10-yard run with 8:27 left in the third quarter. "We were somewhat frustrated that we wees not Meto run effectively in the first half," said Tyler, who finished with 68 yards on 10 carries. "We just stayed with our basic plays and they started to work in the second half." The 49ers increased their lead to 20-0 on quarterback Joe Montana's 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Freddie Solomon early in the fourth quarter. Wersching finished San Fran- I think out of our first 25 plays, we must have thrown 16 or 17 passes," said Clark, who caught Montana's second throw and gained 38 yards to Chicago's 45. "We were trying to bring their defense up." The strategy worked.

Chicago was never able to establish the kind of defensive domination it used to beat the Washington Redskins in last weekend's NFC semifinal. The 49ers totaled 387 yards. Montana passed for 233 on 18 completions. "As a defense, we never really got going or in the flow of the game," said Hampton. "The 49ers pretty much controlled the game and didn't enable us to do anything we wanted to do." San Francisco's offensive tricks included lining up rookie guard Guy Melrrtyren.it running back for extra blocking and using Solomon at quarterback and Montana as a receiver on one play.

But Chicago's defense was hampered by injuries in the secondary that forced Todd Bell to move from strong safety to cornerback. Montana was sacked three times, but he rolled out to avoid Chicago's rush most of the Cisco's scoring on a 34-yard field goal with 1:57 left to play. "We just couldn't seem to get into the end zone in the first half," said wide receiver Dwight Clark, who gained 83 yards on four pass receptions. "We knew sooner or later we had to score to win the game. With just a 6-0 lead, we were in a position where they (Bears) could have come back to beat us, 7-6." The 49ers reached inside the Bears 6-yard line three times in the first naif.

San Francisco's opening series stalled when Montana fumbled the snap from center on Chicago's 2. Wersching kicked a 21-yard field goal for 3-0. Later in the first quarter, San Francisco reached Chicago's 2, where Montana's pass was intercepted in the end zone by Bears free safety Gary Fencik. In the second quarter, Wersching kicked a 22-yard field goal after Montana's pass from Chicago's 5 was knocked down by Bears defensive tackle Dan Hampton. But San Francisco's offense kept Hampton and his blitzing teammates off-balance with quick passes to Clark and Solomon that gained 139 yards in the first half.

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