1994 San Francisco 49ers season

The San Francisco 49ers 1994 season was the team's 49th season in the National Football League, and was highlighted by a victory in Super Bowl XXIX. The championship made San Francisco the first team to win five Super Bowls. After losing to the Dallas Cowboys in the previous two conference championship games, the 49ers made significant acquisitions in the 1994 free agent market. This included the signing of two-sport star Deion Sanders and Cowboys linebacker Ken Norton, Jr.. Sanders had a major impact on the team's success, winning the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award and recording six interceptions. Quarterback Steve Young had his best NFL season and won his second MVP award. For the third consecutive season, the 49ers met the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the AFC was widely regarded as the NFL's inferior conference. Thus, this meeting between the NFC's perennial powerhouses was dubbed by many as "the real Super Bowl." The contest was one of the highest rated non-Super Bowl games in NFL history. The 49ers would go on to defeat the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. Young was named the game's MVP with a record six touchdown passes.

Regular season
In 1994, the team spent large amounts of money on the addition of several star free agents, including Ken Norton, Jr., Gary Plummer, Rickey Jackson, and Deion Sanders. Additionally, several rookie players made key contributions to the team, some becoming season-long starters. This included defensive tackle Bryant Young, fullback William Floyd, and linebacker Lee Woodall. The 49ers started slowly early in the season, with a 40-8 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, and a 24-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, led by former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana. Following the Eagles game, a poll conducted on local sports radio station KNBR showed that an overwhelming majority of 49er fans wanted head coach George Seifert fired.

The game against the Eagles was a turning point for the 49ers despite being a lopsided loss. Quarterback Steve Young was benched abruptly during a series in the 3rd quarter. Soon after, Young was livid on the sidelines, shouting profanities at head coach George Seifert. Young would later say that this incident caused his teammates to respond better to his leadership, as they saw how much he cared about winning. The following week in Detroit, the 49ers trailed the Lions 14-0. After throwing a pass, Young was hit, picked up, and driven into the ground by three Lions defenders. After the hit, Young was screaming with his face dark red in color. He crawled most of the way off of the field before refusing help from the trainers as he limped the remaining way off the field. He miraculously returned to the field one play later (NFL rules state that after trainers attend to an injured player, that player must leave the field for at least one play) to lead the 49ers to a 27-21 victory. The team rallied around Young to win 10 straight games, including a 21-14 victory over the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. During that span, the 49ers' average margin of victory was nearly 20 points per game.

Throwback uniforms
During the 1994 season, many NFL teams wore "throwback uniforms" for occasional games (after week 2 of the season) to celebrate the NFL's 75th anniversary (a corresponding diamond 75th Anniversary patch was also worn by all teams). The 49ers chose to wear a version of their 1955 uniforms as throwbacks. This design featured sans-serif block numerals that were outlined and shadowed in black. White pants with thinner red-black-red striping were also worn, along with the old striped red socks (the team later reverted to their regular solid red socks after receiving permission from the NFL to wear the uniforms for the rest of the season). The team's regular 1989-95 gold helmet was worn with this uniform, as there was no logo on the 1955 helmet.

The team first donned the 1955 throwback uniforms during a week 3 match against the Los Angeles Rams and the following week at home versus the Saints. Both games ended in victory (coincidentally, these were also the first two games Deion Sanders played with the 49ers after signing as a free-agent after week 2). The team then suffered an embarrassing 40-8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at home wearing their regular red uniforms with gold pants. (Football statistics site Football Outsiders calculates this 49ers loss to be the second-most lopsided football game they'd tracked from 1994-2008.)

For the subsequent three games until their BYE week, the team again was scheduled to play games wearing the throwback uniforms with white pants and dropshadows, and all three games resulted in wins. During the following weeks the 49ers embarked on a 10-game winning streak. The team, prompted both by the superstition of coach George Seifert, and the preference of players, petitioned the NFL to wear the throwback uniforms for the rest of the season. The league granted the request and the switch to solid red socks after the BYE week marked this occurrence. In all, the team went 15-1 (including the playoffs) wearing the 1955/1994 throwback uniforms. The only loss occurred during the regular season finale at Minnesota, with the team wearing white jerseys and resting most of their starters for the playoffs. Meanwhile, the 49ers went undefeated wearing the red jerseys of the throwback uniform. After winning Super Bowl XXIX however, the team was compelled to revert to wearing its regular 1964-style uniforms (1991 revised design) for the following 1995 season. One year later, the throwback design strongly influenced the 49ers to redesign their uniform set. In 1996, the team revealed a new helmet and uniform design featuring a darker red, shadowed numbers, black accents, and white pants. In 1998, the team changed the pants to a gold color and wore these uniforms through the 2008 season.

NFC Divisional Playoff
Scoring Summary

1st Quarter

CHI- Kevin Butler 39 yard field goal CHI 3-0

SF- William Floyd 2 yard rush (Doug Brien kick)SF 7-3

2nd Quarter

SF- Brent Jones 8 yard pass from Steve Young (kick failed)SF 13-3

SF- William Floyd 4 yard rush (Doug Brien kick)SF 20-3

SF- Doug Brien 36 yard field goal SF 23-3

SF- Steve Young 6 yard rush (Doug Brien kick)SF 30-3

3rd Quarter

SF- William Floyd 1 yard rush (Doug Brien kick)SF 37-3

4th Quarter

CHI- Jim Flanigan 2 yard pass from Erik Kramer (pass failed)SF 37-9

SF- Adam Walker 1 yard rush (Doug Brien kick)SF 44-9

CHI- Lewis Tillman 1 yard rush (pass failed) SF 44-15

NFC Championship Game
Scoring Summary

1st Quarter

SF- Eric Davis 44 yard interception return (Doug Brien kick)SF 7-0

SF- Ricky Watters 29 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick)SF 14-0

SF- William Floyd 1 yard rush (Doug Brien kick)SF 21-0

DAL- Michael Irvin 44 yard pass from Troy Aikman (Chris Boniol kick)SF 21-7

2nd Quarter

SF- Doug Brien 34 yard field goal SF 24-7

DAL- Emmitt Smith 4 yard rush (Chris Boniol kick)SF 24-14

SF- Jerry Rice 28 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick)SF 31-14

3rd Quarter

DAL- Emmitt Smith 1 yard rush (Chris Boniol kick)SF 31-21

SF- Steve Young 3 yard rush (Doug Brien kick)SF 38-21

4th Quarter

DAL- Michael Irvin 10 yard pass from Troy Aikman (Chris Boniol kick)SF 38-28

Super Bowl XXIX
Scoring summary

1st Quarter


 * SF - Jerry Rice 44 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick) SF 7-0
 * SF - Ricky Watters 51 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick) SF 14-0
 * SD - Natrone Means 1 yard run (John Carney kick) SF 14-7

2nd Quarter


 * SF - William Floyd 5 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick) SF 21-7
 * SF - Ricky Watters 8 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick) SF 28-7
 * SD - John Carney 31 yards SF 28-10

3rd Quarter


 * SF - Ricky Watters 9 yard run (Doug Brien kick) SF 35-10
 * SF - Jerry Rice 15 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick) SF 42-10
 * SD - Andre Coleman 98 yard kickoff return (*Mark Seay pass from Stan Humphries) SF 42-18

4th Quarter


 * SF - Jerry Rice 7 yard pass from Steve Young (Doug Brien kick) SF 49-18
 * SD - Tony Martin 30 yard pass from Stan Humphries (Alfred Pupunu pass from Stan Humphries) SF 49-26

(*)The Chargers became the first team to have a successful two-point conversion in the Super Bowl. This was the first season in which the NFL allowed 2 point conversions, and the Chargers actually had two in the game.

Awards and honors

 * Led NFL with 66 Touchdowns
 * Led NFL with 505 points scored
 * Jerry Rice, NFL leader, Receiving Yards (1,499)
 * Jerry Rice, NFC Pro Bowl
 * Deion Sanders, National Football League Defensive Player of the Year Award
 * Deion Sanders, Newspaper Enterprise Association Defensive Player of the Year Award
 * Deion Sanders, NFC Pro Bowl
 * Bryant Young, Defensive End, UPI NFL-NFC Rookie of the Year
 * Steve Young, led NFL, 35 Touchdown Passes
 * Steve Young, NFL Passing Leader, 112.8 Passer Rating
 * Steve Young, NFC Pro Bowl
 * Steve Young, All-Pro selection
 * Steve Young, Super Bowl XXIX MVP
 * Steve Young, NFL MVP
 * Steve Young, PFWA NFL MVP
 * Steve Young, NEA NFL MVP
 * Steve Young, UPI NFC Player of the Year
 * Steve Young, Bert Bell Award

Milestones

 * Jerry Rice, 100 reception season (Rice finished the season with 112 receptions)
 * Jerry Rice, 1,000 yard receiving season