San Francisco's defense in the 1984 playoffs doesn't get enough credit. They gave up only one offensive touchdown in three games. In fact, they didn't give up a point in the 2nd half in any of those games. Incredible performance.
They dominated, no question. I think because their offense was so good with big names & the defense just stopped opponents without any fanfare. I believe they were #1 in scoring defense.
@@fjr70 In fact, the 49ers didn't give up a single touchdown in their next three NFC Championship Game appearances. 1988...beat Chicago 28-3. 1989....beat LA Rams 30-3. 1990...lost to NY Giants 15-13...but the Giants got all their points on FGs. Crazy.
And they owed a great debt of gratitude to Gene Klein, who had sold the Chargers to Alex Spanos during the 1984 season. Three-quarters of the Chargers 1980 defensive line, which happened to be the best in the NFL that season (1980), Fred Dean (who was traded to the 49ers in 1981), Gary Johnson, and Louie Kelcher, were all on that 1984 49ers team (Johnson and Kelcher both joined the 49ers in '84).
@@markminter6312 Another great bit of info there. The 1990 NFC Championship Game ranks up there with one of the greatest games I ever saw. Proves you don't need silly artificial offensive rules to make a game exciting.
@@fjr70 That game was old school smash mouth football. People were getting leveled all game. I remember it too. I honestly didn't expect the Giants to win. Thanks Roger Craig. 🙄
Didn't think I'd ever see these highlights again! Thanks Comrade for the upload...you are the KING. Of course December 30th, 1984 still haunts me to this day as Denver was upset by Pittsburgh. Marino was getting all the notoriety that season & John Elway was buried in his shadow. A Miami fan held a sign that read, "Denver, Come On Down!" during the Seahawk game...as a foregone conclusion that it would be a Elway vs Marino clash for the right to go to the Super Bowl. It was the only time I ever cried over a loss...and Denver lost a bunch of big games in my lifetime. Losing Jay Cutler to Chicago for Kyle Orton made me sick as well.
@@brianwhitaker5081 aargh, still crushes me to this day. I played that match up with Strat-O-Matic the following summer when the cards came out. Marino friggin' killed us. 😆 Thanks for ripping that band-aid off again.
@@MichaelSIngle-gn9qz only met in the regular season 2 times in 16 years also! 85, 98. Crazy Elway played Marino once his first 15 years And twice his last.
49ers, Giants, Bears and Skins. First time the 4 premier NFC teams of the 80s were actually the final four. Denver didn't lose another home playoff game til the Jaguars big upset in 96.
@@sherrodmcclain This season started the 13 year S.B. run for the nfc. Won every one until Elways 1st in 97. Neither conference will ever win 13 straight S.B.'s again. No conference will win 6 straight again. Let alone 13.
This and the Jacksonville loss are Elways only 2 home losses ever. On the two best teams record wise 13-3 he played with. At least up to his last team in 98 which was 14-2.
Crazy that the 3 runners up in the NFC went on to win the next 3 Super Bowls. In the AFC the Dolphins beat the same two teams the Raiders did the year before to go to the Super Bowl in Seattle and Pittsburg.
The Giants defense did give Montana fits. The Giants would go on to beat the 49ers in the 85 and 86 playoffs. This was the best 49ers team during the 80's.
the 84 team had better defense, they played nickel defense for 3 quarters and sacked Dan marino 4 times and allowed 25 rushing yards total, none of the sacks were Marino standing in the pocket looking for receivers all of them were getting to him in a couple of seconds
Not always. You forget to mention the 1981 & 1984 NFC divisional playoffs with the 49ers eliminating the Giants in both of those years at Candlestick Park.
@@PrinceTron1 He said their always tough. Meaning they always play them tough. And beat them 85,86,90. And he didn't mention the 84 game because thats what we're watching. And the whole basis for his comment. That and they played the niners tough even in defeat.
@@CoreyT127 What about the January 1982 Giants @ 49ers game he also forgot to mention? When you say 'always' it means all the time. If you were only focusing on the match ups after 1984 and biased, yeah I get it. Sometimes you gotta go a little further back to get the total history pattern.
0:00 Seahawks at Dolphins (1984 AFC Divisional Playoffs) - Miami avenged their 1983 AFC Divisional Playoff loss to Seattle by ending Seattle's 1984 season at the Orange Bowl 5:05 Giants at 49ers (1984 NFC Divisional Playoffs) - the N.Y. Giants would be the closest team the San Francisco 49ers would encounter in the playoffs on the 49ers road to a Super Bowl World Championship 10:09 Bears at Redskins (1984 NFC Divisional Playoffs) - Chicago hands Washington their first home playoff game loss since the 1940 NFL Championship Game; it would be first of 3 playoff meetings between Da Bears and the Redskins in 4 seasons (1984, 1986, 1987); it was also Chicago first playoff game win since the 1963 NFL Championship Game 15:14 Steelers at Broncos (1984 AFC Divisional Playoffs) - Pittsburgh upsets Denver at Mile High Stadium to advance to the AFC Championship Game
@@Kingmaker33 I remember Curt being compared to Falcons RB, Andrews. I agree with you, but Doornik was still a rampaging bull of a fullback when he got the ball.
Really good on Defensive end, HOF Kenny Easley was DPOY in 84. I have his jersey from that season. This was pretty much Chuck Knox's MO as a HC. Look at his Ram teams in 70's and Bills in 80/81. Never enough Off in playoffs, kinda reminds me of Marty ball.
Has a division ever produced 13-3/12-4/11-5 teams before or since. Like the AFC west did with Broncos,Seahawks, Raiders? None of whom made the championship game. Which is almost as crazy!
People forget (myself included) just how good Freddie Solomon was for the 49ers. Before Jerry Rice, he was their deep threat and he made a ton of big plays. Rice overshadowed him in subsequent years.
Solomon was fantastic. Those early 49er teams were the first offense I can remember saying to myself, "How the hell do these receivers keep getting so wide open?" Also, QB ball security became so paramount during those early years that every offense now applies those rules. QB's took so many chances back then, even after the DB rule changes of '78. Look at the Int's on Danny White, Ken Stabler, Richard Todd, Joe Ferguson, Plunkett...etc. Very daring with the passing game back then, not as much after Walsh's influence.
@@fjr70 Good point - Montana put Walsh’s system into effect perfectly. The quick drop back, and using his RBs for outlet passes. Roger Craig caught 71 passes coming out of the backfield in ‘84. Most of the QBs back then got hammered - even Elway who was a “mobile” QB was banged up “making him an easy target”.
Divisional Playoffs Television Assignments Saturday December 29th 12:30pm NBC Seahawks-Dolphins Marv Albert, John Brodie 4pm CBS Giants-49ers Pat Summerall, John Madden Sunday December 30th 12:30pm CBS Bears-Redskins Frank Glieber, Dick Vermeil 4pm NBC Steelers-Broncos Dick Enberg, Merlin Olsen, Ahmad Rashad
The Dolphins were too one dimensional to win the Super Bowl that year. The 49's just sent 4 rushing and put the rest in pass coverage. Marino was stopped in his tracks.
Very true. He tops the list no doubt. Others who never won that were great - Dan Fouts (who never even reached the Bowl) Jim Kelly (who should have won that first one) Fran Tarkenton (who got there 3 times and....stunk!)
So the four NFC teams that were left in that yrs playoffs,each went on to win a SB in succession,NINERS 84 season,BEARS 85 season,GIANTS 86 season And REDSKINS 87 season,like wtf??
If Miami had decent LBR's they might have had a shot in the SB cuz the giants gave them the BLUEPRINT to sliw the niners offense,drop ur linebackers deep over the middle,as we all know thats where Montana always had his success
Go figure Denver, which won a historically tough AFC West, lost a home playoff game to the aging Steelers who had barely won an AFC Central where 8-8 nearly won the division
Broncos were a little bit of a mirage in '84. They went 13-3 but were 22nd in the NFL in total offense and 25th in total defense (they were 2nd in scoring defense, which is a pretty amazing discrepancy.) Very opportunistic (forced 55 turnovers) but certainly not as dominant as their record might indicate.
What's strange about that is Pittsburgh attacked their strength - the run defense. Abercrombie and Pollard gashed them all day with 6, 7, and 8 yard runs consistently. Elway getting hurt didn't help but no question we were exposed on 12\30\84.
@@harryhighland591 Denver was probably the better team overall but not by 4 games. IIRC, Pittsburgh ranked in the top 10 in both offense and defense. They would have been 10-6 if not for a fluke deflected pass against Indy.
@@bafa7353 I think what made it so tough on Denver fans, and this is off the top of my head, I think they were the 1st 13 or more win team to not advance. 9-7 teams advancing only happened in '79 and '83.
It was sickening. So many Steeler fans where I lived were killing me. Give Chuck Knoll credit, they devised a game plan that stuffed Denver on offense. Almost did it again in '89.
@@fjr70 I remember that '89 game. I was rooting for Pittsburgh because a Steelers-Browns AFCCG would have been awesome...but goddamn Bubby Brister just had to fumble that snap.
@@steelerbacker58 Oof yeah that was bad. That would have put them on at least the 40. Gotta catch those. Bubby put it right in his chest. Also on Bubby's fumble, Merrill Hoge tried to pick the ball up and run. If he had just fallen on it, they'd have been fine. Two screw ups on one play.
San Francisco's defense in the 1984 playoffs doesn't get enough credit. They gave up only one offensive touchdown in three games. In fact, they didn't give up a point in the 2nd half in any of those games. Incredible performance.
They dominated, no question. I think because their offense was so good with big names & the defense just stopped opponents without any fanfare. I believe they were #1 in scoring defense.
@@fjr70 In fact, the 49ers didn't give up a single touchdown in their next three NFC Championship Game appearances.
1988...beat Chicago 28-3.
1989....beat LA Rams 30-3.
1990...lost to NY Giants 15-13...but the Giants got all their points on FGs.
Crazy.
And they owed a great debt of gratitude to Gene Klein, who had sold the Chargers to Alex Spanos during the 1984 season. Three-quarters of the Chargers 1980 defensive line, which happened to be the best in the NFL that season (1980), Fred Dean (who was traded to the 49ers in 1981), Gary Johnson, and Louie Kelcher, were all on that 1984 49ers team (Johnson and Kelcher both joined the 49ers in '84).
@@markminter6312 Another great bit of info there. The 1990 NFC Championship Game ranks up there with one of the greatest games I ever saw. Proves you don't need silly artificial offensive rules to make a game exciting.
@@fjr70 That game was old school smash mouth football. People were getting leveled all game. I remember it too. I honestly didn't expect the Giants to win. Thanks Roger Craig. 🙄
Didn't think I'd ever see these highlights again! Thanks Comrade for the upload...you are the KING. Of course December 30th, 1984 still haunts me to this day as Denver was upset by Pittsburgh. Marino was getting all the notoriety that season & John Elway was buried in his shadow. A Miami fan held a sign that read, "Denver, Come On Down!" during the Seahawk game...as a foregone conclusion that it would be a Elway vs Marino clash for the right to go to the Super Bowl. It was the only time I ever cried over a loss...and Denver lost a bunch of big games in my lifetime. Losing Jay Cutler to Chicago for Kyle Orton made me sick as well.
An Elway vs Marino AFC Championship would have had tons of drama. Too bad Pittsburgh ruined it.
They wouldn't meet in the playoffs until 1998.
I was at Sea vs Mia game, we all thought it was a foregone conclusion that the Dolphins would host Denver the following week.
@@brianwhitaker5081 aargh, still crushes me to this day. I played that match up with Strat-O-Matic the following summer when the cards came out. Marino friggin' killed us. 😆
Thanks for ripping that band-aid off again.
@@MichaelSIngle-gn9qz only met in the regular season 2 times in 16 years also! 85, 98. Crazy Elway played Marino once his first 15 years And twice his last.
49ers, Giants, Bears and Skins. First time the 4 premier NFC teams of the 80s were actually the final four.
Denver didn't lose another home playoff game til the Jaguars big upset in 96.
They would repeat the feat on 1986 and 1990 as well. From 84-91 those 4 teams won all the Super Bowls
The glory days of nfc baby
@@sherrodmcclain This season started the 13 year S.B. run for the nfc. Won every one until Elways 1st in 97. Neither conference will ever win 13 straight S.B.'s again. No conference will win 6 straight again. Let alone 13.
This and the Jacksonville loss are Elways only 2 home losses ever. On the two best teams record wise 13-3 he played with. At least up to his last team in 98 which was 14-2.
Those old Steelers still had some playoff savvy left in their old bones.
Lol. Mark Malone and those darn Steelers!! The '05 AFC Championship sucked too but the '84 loss was a gut punch.
Crazy that the 3 runners up in the NFC went on to win the next 3 Super Bowls. In the AFC the Dolphins beat the same two teams the Raiders did the year before to go to the Super Bowl in Seattle and Pittsburg.
The Giants defense did give Montana fits. The Giants would go on to beat the 49ers in the 85 and 86 playoffs. This was the best 49ers team during the 80's.
What about '89? Jerry Rice, Charles Haley, 55-10.
The 84 team was 15-1.
the 84 team had better defense, they played nickel defense for 3 quarters and sacked Dan marino 4 times and allowed 25 rushing yards total, none of the sacks were Marino standing in the pocket looking for receivers all of them were getting to him in a couple of seconds
Bears Washington would be Frank Glieber's last NFL game as he would die suddenly of a heart attack that May
Bears take a big step with a road win over the team that went to the prior two Super Bowls
Giants were always tough on the 9ers. They won 3 straight playoff games against SF after this one (85, 86 and 90)
Although many years too late, he should have been ruled down at the spot of the interception on that first interception.
Not always. You forget to mention the 1981 & 1984 NFC divisional playoffs with the 49ers eliminating the Giants in both of those years at Candlestick Park.
@@PrinceTron1 He said their always tough. Meaning they always play them tough. And beat them 85,86,90. And he didn't mention the 84 game because thats what we're watching. And the whole basis for his comment. That and they played the niners tough even in defeat.
@@CoreyT127 What about the January 1982 Giants @ 49ers game he also forgot to mention? When you say 'always' it means all the time. If you were only focusing on the match ups after 1984 and biased, yeah I get it. Sometimes you gotta go a little further back to get the total history pattern.
0:00 Seahawks at Dolphins (1984 AFC Divisional Playoffs) - Miami avenged their 1983 AFC Divisional Playoff loss to Seattle by ending Seattle's 1984 season at the Orange Bowl
5:05 Giants at 49ers (1984 NFC Divisional Playoffs) - the N.Y. Giants would be the closest team the San Francisco 49ers would encounter in the playoffs on the 49ers road to a Super Bowl World Championship
10:09 Bears at Redskins (1984 NFC Divisional Playoffs) - Chicago hands Washington their first home playoff game loss since the 1940 NFL Championship Game; it would be first of 3 playoff meetings between Da Bears and the Redskins in 4 seasons (1984, 1986, 1987); it was also Chicago first playoff game win since the 1963 NFL Championship Game
15:14 Steelers at Broncos (1984 AFC Divisional Playoffs) - Pittsburgh upsets Denver at Mile High Stadium to advance to the AFC Championship Game
I had forgotten how strong the Seahawks were then.
No Curt Warner ALL Season, no consistent running game.
@@Kingmaker33 That definitely showed up in the playoffs considering they only scored 23 total points in 2 games.
@@Kingmaker33 I remember Curt being compared to Falcons RB, Andrews. I agree with you, but Doornik was still a rampaging bull of a fullback when he got the ball.
@@tommythomason6187 Dr Dan had a long career after football working in a Hospital 🏥 !
Really good on Defensive end, HOF Kenny Easley was DPOY in 84. I have his jersey from that season. This was pretty much Chuck Knox's MO as a HC. Look at his Ram teams in 70's and Bills in 80/81. Never enough Off in playoffs, kinda reminds me of Marty ball.
The 🐻 gave the League a glimpse of what's to come the following season.
Has a division ever produced 13-3/12-4/11-5 teams before or since. Like the AFC west did with Broncos,Seahawks, Raiders? None of whom made the championship game. Which is almost as crazy!
People forget (myself included) just how good Freddie Solomon was for the 49ers. Before Jerry Rice, he was their deep threat and he made a ton of big plays. Rice overshadowed him in subsequent years.
Solomon was fantastic. Those early 49er teams were the first offense I can remember saying to myself, "How the hell do these receivers keep getting so wide open?" Also, QB ball security became so paramount during those early years that every offense now applies those rules. QB's took so many chances back then, even after the DB rule changes of '78. Look at the Int's on Danny White, Ken Stabler, Richard Todd, Joe Ferguson, Plunkett...etc. Very daring with the passing game back then, not as much after Walsh's influence.
@@fjr70 Good point - Montana put Walsh’s system into effect perfectly. The quick drop back, and using his RBs for outlet passes. Roger Craig caught 71 passes coming out of the backfield in ‘84. Most of the QBs back then got hammered - even Elway who was a “mobile” QB was banged up “making him an easy target”.
Divisional Playoffs Television Assignments
Saturday December 29th
12:30pm NBC
Seahawks-Dolphins Marv Albert, John Brodie
4pm CBS
Giants-49ers Pat Summerall, John Madden
Sunday December 30th
12:30pm CBS
Bears-Redskins Frank Glieber, Dick Vermeil
4pm NBC
Steelers-Broncos Dick Enberg, Merlin Olsen, Ahmad Rashad
The Dolphins were too one dimensional to win the Super Bowl that year. The 49's just sent 4 rushing and put the rest in pass coverage. Marino was stopped in his tracks.
Sickening to see Jack Reynolds and Wendell Tyler in 49er uniforms. Rams front office failed.
Marino. The greatest QB to never win the Super Bowl.
Yes unfortunately you are correct 🤔
Very true. He tops the list no doubt. Others who never won that were great -
Dan Fouts (who never even reached the Bowl)
Jim Kelly (who should have won that first one)
Fran Tarkenton (who got there 3 times and....stunk!)
So the four NFC teams that were left in that yrs playoffs,each went on to win a SB in succession,NINERS 84 season,BEARS 85 season,GIANTS 86 season And REDSKINS 87 season,like wtf??
My bad,nope they actually won the NXT EIGHT seasons!!The NINERS in 88 & 89 seasons,GIANTS in 90 and the SKINS in 91,DAMN that is insane,
If Miami had decent LBR's they might have had a shot in the SB cuz the giants gave them the BLUEPRINT to sliw the niners offense,drop ur linebackers deep over the middle,as we all know thats where Montana always had his success
Go figure Denver, which won a historically tough AFC West, lost a home playoff game to the aging Steelers who had barely won an AFC Central where 8-8 nearly won the division
Steelers were a hard team to figure in '84. Quality wins against SF, Denver and both LA teams but bad losses against Cleveland, Indy and Houston.
Broncos were a little bit of a mirage in '84. They went 13-3 but were 22nd in the NFL in total offense and 25th in total defense (they were 2nd in scoring defense, which is a pretty amazing discrepancy.) Very opportunistic (forced 55 turnovers) but certainly not as dominant as their record might indicate.
What's strange about that is Pittsburgh attacked their strength - the run defense. Abercrombie and Pollard gashed them all day with 6, 7, and 8 yard runs consistently. Elway getting hurt didn't help but no question we were exposed on 12\30\84.
@@harryhighland591 Denver was probably the better team overall but not by 4 games. IIRC, Pittsburgh ranked in the top 10 in both offense and defense. They would have been 10-6 if not for a fluke deflected pass against Indy.
@@bafa7353 I think what made it so tough on Denver fans, and this is off the top of my head, I think they were the 1st 13 or more win team to not advance. 9-7 teams advancing only happened in '79 and '83.
Miami knee dawn
There's no way Denver should have lost to Pittsburgh. That's embarrassing.
It was sickening. So many Steeler fans where I lived were killing me. Give Chuck Knoll credit, they devised a game plan that stuffed Denver on offense. Almost did it again in '89.
@@fjr70 I remember that '89 game. I was rooting for Pittsburgh because a Steelers-Browns AFCCG would have been awesome...but goddamn Bubby Brister just had to fumble that snap.
@@markminter6312 ...and Mark Stock's dropped pass right before that
@@steelerbacker58 Oof yeah that was bad. That would have put them on at least the 40. Gotta catch those. Bubby put it right in his chest.
Also on Bubby's fumble, Merrill Hoge tried to pick the ball up and run. If he had just fallen on it, they'd have been fine. Two screw ups on one play.
@@fjr70 you meant Chuck Noll
.QBs ducked and covered in this era
Giants played the niners better and tougher then anyone that postseason.