to the guys that witnessed the glory days...

Originally posted by JerryRice1848:
To think at one time we could have had a potential 11-0 vs. 11-0 showdown on MNF with the Giants in 1990

I still remember Ronnie and Phil Simms jawing and coming close to fistacuffs in front of the tunnel immediately after we won the game. Those were the days. Crazy that both of us lost the week prior.

Originally posted by putangina:
We sure as hell could use Bob McKitrick now...among others. RIP That guy took low round and undersized guys and molded them into great O Lines.

Yeah, not to mention having M. Shanahan as o-coordinator. He brought that knowledge w/him to Denver, where they basically made every RB into a pro bowler.

Originally posted by Dr_Gonzo:
I just miss knowing that no matter what the score or how much time was left on the clock we could win it. Miracles were commonplace back then.

Yeah back then we could be down by 10 points with 5 minutes to go and you knew we could still win. Now we can be up by 10 points with 5 minutes to go and you know we could still lose

It was an overall feeling of confidence. Living in Chicago, normally it would be hard to see 49ers games but they were always the featured game on tv. My friends were jealous of my favorite team, I could brag about Rice, Montana, Young, Lott, Craig, etc......

There was an aura of being invincible. I never thought we didnt have a chance in a game, on the flip side many times I thought the other teams were in trouble. Road wins were not hard to come by. A lot of times it was a matter of how many pts will we win by.

I remember the 1994 Superbowl, I have never been more confident in a victory. Steve Young and the team were on a mission and wow did it come together!

I was born in 1978, first football memory as a child was 1st Superbowl against the Bengals, ever since then I've been hooked on the 49ers. The last 9 years have been tough but one day we will get back to glory!

CHITOWNNINERFAN

I was born in 1961, lived in the Bay Area from 1966 to 1996, and have been a fan since 1981. Imagine having the best QB, the best WR, and the best Safety to ever play the game all on the same team at the same time. Then add one of the most (if not the most) innovative coaches in the history of the game to coach those guys. Add in a whole bunch of talented players as a supporting cast. Then add an owner who spared no expense signing players, whether they were starters or backups, because there was no salary cap. Seriously, some of the backups on the 49ers then were good enough to be starters on other teams but came to the 'Niners to win a SB. From the perspective of signing players, the 49ers were kind of what the NY Yankees are today. They just stockpiled talent.

Back in the late 80's when my friends and I were watching a non-49er game on TV, we used to comment on how different football looked if the 49ers weren't playing. The offense and its execution were way ahead of what other teams were doing at the time. It was an absolute pleasure to watch Montana play QB. He never got rattled, never had happy feet, and always seemed to know where everyone was on the field. His pocket awareness was amazing. Absolutely the thinking mans QB. Ronnie Lott used to constantly preach to the defense to never, ever give up as long as #16 was behind center. Consequently, from 1981 until he went the the Chiefs (with the exception of the strike shortened 1982 season), Montana never lost a regular season game by more than 16 points, which was a 1985 26-10 loss to the eventual SB winning Bears that year. When Montana was behind center, the 49ers were in every game he played, no blowouts.

It's been hard to watch the last 10 years and I doubt I'll ever see that level of greatness by the 49ers again in my lifetime. I hope you do though.

Where to start...Montana hitting Rice right between the 8 and 0 on a post pattern. Roger and his crazy high knees. Brent Jones doing his best Jason Witten imitation. John Taylor a superstar receiver on any other team taken for granted because God was lining up on the other end. The great D where someone always stepped up and made a play. Led by Ronnie Lott, who led the league in "WOO" hits. What was a "WOO" hit? That was the sound the whole stadium made because he had just destroyed a guy. And Jerry... well I remember when he first broke out in 87. In particular one play against Green Bay where a friend of my dad described it as looking like a gazelle as he went through the middle on the way to another touchdown, the defenders helpless to stop him. And knowing they were never out of a game when Montana was there because he had willed them to victory so many times. Bill Walsh on the sidelines, who you knew was just going to school the other coach.

Fast forward to the early Nineties. Steve Young and his absolute NEED to be great. As accurate as Montana, with a stronger arm, and the kind of mobility they talk about with Michael Vick now. Jerry still doing his thing dominating the league every year even though teams always schemed to stop him. Didn't matter. Ricky Watters slashing up defenses out of the backfield or catching passes and slashing up defenses that way. The outstanding D led by Tim McDonald who wasn't real flashy but just kicked ass and took names. Merton and his 6th sense for being in the right place to make a play and his crazy chicken dance that always had you jumping around the room in celebration. Bringing in half the hall of fame inductees the last couple of years for the title run in 94. Having watched Richard Dent, Rickey Jackson kick ass for other teams and realizing that the now played for US. Kenny Norton, who came over from Dallas to anchor the middle of the defense and used to imitate his boxing champion father whenever he laid the wood on someone. Neion Deion and knowing that he was taking away half the field and was a high stepping TD waiting to happen. And George Seifert, the former Kezar Stadium usher, turned mad scientist genius defensive mastermind. Who was as good schematically on that side of the ball as Walsh was on offense. And how he would drive you nuts when he meddled in the offense or tried to run a draft. Dexter freaking Carter? Dana frigging Hall? Especially when you had a guy named Holmgren calling the plays, and when he left bringing in a guy named Shanahan. Who walked by a group of us fans at Rocklin unrecognized one summer and seemed delighted when I recognized him. And of course the young stud Defensive Tackles Stubby and BY who you knew would anchor the defense for the next decade.

I was about your age during the glory years and that is what it felt like to me.

we were simply the best,went into games expecting to win flawlessly.

was not scared going into the 4th with a lead .confident when the qb would throw.

honestly some of my best child hood memories

I started going to 49ers games when DeBerg was the quarterback. I got to see the progression of the Niners and it was quite magical.

In 1981, Bill Walsh drafted an entire secondary, Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright, Carlton Williamson and Lynn Thomas
He traded for Fred Dean when the san diego front office wouldn't redo his contract. He was the extra piece for the Defense that made it great. And he picked up Hacksaw Reynolds who was a real leader for the team. He was almost like another coach.
Joe Montana and the offense played great and Dwight Clark, Freddie Solomon, Charlie Young and a collection of mediocre running backs.
They had a strong defense and played a 3-4 (seem familiar), and our offense wasn't the juggernaut it was going to become, but they moved the ball. I remember the 49ers scored a ton of field goals and Montana managed the game. (What harbaugh is trying to get alex to do.)
The team was relied a lot on its defense and the defense with Ronnie Lott and Dwight Hicks scored a lot of points for them. Hicks had 9 picks with 220 return yards. Dallas was the huge hurdle and to beat them twice in the same year was a miracle at the time. The 49ers caught lightning in a bottle but in 1982 the 49ers were exposed for not having a run game and defense suffered.

1983 Walsh trades for Wendell Tyler who was a great back and drafts Roger Craig. He adapts the team to mix more of a balance of run and pass. The West Coast offense really opens up. WEST COAST OFFENSE is flying on all cylinders. Montana with more weapons becomes the dominant passer that he was known for. And if it wasn't for a b******t penalty called on Ronnie Lott against the Redskins we would have played the Raiders in the Super Bowl would have kicked their ass.

1984 BEST TEAM EVER.....Eddie D with the 49ers is making a lot of money and they go out and spend the Money. This team had so many weapons and the defense was fierce. Everyone in the league was jealous of the 49ers. They were so fun to watch. They could look so good with precision passes spread all over, hard runs by Craig, and bursts by Tyler. And the Defense would LAY THE WOOD. They were not a finesse team on defense. BEST TEAM EVER!!!!

1985 Jerry Rice's rookie year. I remember watching Jerry in his first year and you could see flashes of greatness with Jerry but the thing I remember early on was that he dropped a lot of passes, but he kept getting better.

1985-1994 Montana and Young - GREAT DOMINANT TEAM......Brilliant West Coast Offense with Jerry Rice becoming the best player ever to play the game. A sick sick receiver. A GREAT WEST COAST OFFENSE looks awesome. And the team played it's best ball in the big games.

MAN I MISS THE OLD DAYS.......give Harbaugh time to bring the magic back. He is working with a much better foundation than Bill Walsh had in 1978. I hope we see some of that greatness in the second half of the season. GO 49ers!

Originally posted by gold49digger:

Originally posted by backontop:
Youtube is your friend

i know but i want it from a fans perspective.. peoples personal experience when they watched it live.

man it was great
It all started with my older brother who make me interested in football, NFL style, in 1984. I loved San Fran as a mythical town, then they win SB XIX and i see the highlights on RTBF, a local channel in Brussels. Looking at the NFL game of the week and highlights presented by Bob Payton on Sky Sports from 1985 to 1986, staying awake until 1 am to hear their performance on AFN radio network from 1987, waiting fot the tuesday edition of the Herald Tribune international just to have a small capsule on their games. I had to wait til 1991 to finally see my first NFL game live (W6: Giants vs Cardinals) then my first niner game live (W13: vs Saints). But a true reward in 1994 when i see them live crushing the chargers. There was no doubt before this game that they would win quite easily.
It was also pains : the flat game against the vikes in 1987, the Craig fumble against the Giants in 1990, the Hail Mary loss against the falcons in 1991 and the loss against a beatable cowboy team in 1992
We were the cream of the crop and frankly we could have won the SB in 1987, 1990, 1991 and 1992 if not for those sad moments. That means we could have sixpeated !!!
It was just great.
Sorry for you man, you just have to take the hard pill right now without anything to cheer for. Maybe in a few years you'll look at harbaugh the way i looked at bill "genius" walsh. That would be nice...
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh memories !

Originally posted by putangina:

Originally posted by JerryRice1848:
To think at one time we could have had a potential 11-0 vs. 11-0 showdown on MNF with the Giants in 1990

I still remember Ronnie and Phil Simms jawing and coming close to fistacuffs in front of the tunnel immediately after we won the game. Those were the days. Crazy that both of us lost the week prior.

I remember that game 7-3 final--the Giants threatening at the end to win---great defense!!

Originally posted by Chicago49erFan:
It was an overall feeling of confidence. Living in Chicago, normally it would be hard to see 49ers games but they were always the featured game on tv. My friends were jealous of my favorite team, I could brag about Rice, Montana, Young, Lott, Craig, etc......

There was an aura of being invincible. I never thought we didnt have a chance in a game, on the flip side many times I thought the other teams were in trouble. Road wins were not hard to come by. A lot of times it was a matter of how many pts will we win by.

I remember the 1994 Superbowl, I have never been more confident in a victory. Steve Young and the team were on a mission and wow did it come together!

I was born in 1978, first football memory as a child was 1st Superbowl against the Bengals, ever since then I've been hooked on the 49ers. The last 9 years have been tough but one day we will get back to glory!

CHITOWNNINERFAN

In the 80's the Niners road record was better than any other team's home record for that decade--this team came to win every game!

We didn't have the Yorks. And we were winning Super Bowls.

Originally posted by Oldschool9erfan:

1983 Walsh trades for Wendell Tyler who was a great back and drafts Roger Craig. He adapts the team to mix more of a balance of run and pass. The West Coast offense really opens up. WEST COAST OFFENSE is flying on all cylinders. Montana with more weapons becomes the dominant passer that he was known for. And if it wasn't for a b******t penalty called on Ronnie Lott against the Redskins we would have played the Raiders in the Super Bowl would have kicked their ass.

I still have that game against the Redskins on BETA. Must have watched the replay of that BS penalty 20 times back then. The ball was nowhere near the receiver and was uncatchable. At least we had the pleasure of watching the overrated Redskins get smoked by the Raiders in the SB.

It was disappointing if we didn't win by at least 14. And whenever we won the NFC Championship, forget about it. Bill Walsh in one game with two weeks to prepare or no holding back in his gameplan.

i got into the niners in 1968 when i got a footbal card for jimmy johnson, dave wilcox aqnd charlie krueger

when walsh came aboard it was great, of course, but without things like message boards and the internet we didnt analyze the team as much as we do now...i sometimes wish that we had had all of this internet stuff in the glory days..........

i can see the posts now---"guy benjamin has the it factor and should be starting" or "walsh is an idiot and should be fired---he traded for an old retread like wendell tyler"