Super Bowl XXIII
NFL owners gathered in Phoenix on the 14th of March 1985 to vote for the host city of Super Bowl XXIII. Miami, Florida won the bid against eleven other cities including Detroit, Houston, and San Francisco. This decision marked the sixth time the game returned to the Miami area but the first time it would be played at Joe Robbie Stadium. The previous five Super Bowls in the region had been held at the older Miami Orange Bowl. The selection process itself took longer than expected because voting for Super Bowl XXI had consumed over two hours during a prior meeting. Organizers rescheduled the ballot for Super Bowl XXIII to ensure all twelve bidding cities received proper consideration. The choice of Miami was significant as it represented a shift away from the traditional Orange Bowl venue that had hosted the event since its inception in the area.
The 1988 regular season saw the Cincinnati Bengals finish with a 12, 4 record while the San Francisco 49ers posted a 10, 6 mark. Both teams entered the playoffs as division champions but faced different paths to the title game. The 49ers narrowly secured their playoff spot after three other NFC West teams also finished 10, 6. A quarterback controversy existed between Joe Montana and Steve Young during the year yet Montana led the team to four wins in their final five games. Jerry Rice recorded 64 receptions for 1,306 yards and nine touchdowns as Montana's primary target. Boomer Esiason won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award after throwing for 3,572 yards and 28 touchdowns for Cincinnati. Ickey Woods rushed for 1,066 yards and fifteen touchdowns while James Brooks added another 1,218 combined rushing and receiving yards. The Bengals offense ranked first in the league with 448 points scored and 6,302 total yards gained.
Stanley Wilson, the Bengals' third-leading rusher with 398 yards that season, was suspended from the team on the night before the Super Bowl. He had been caught using cocaine in his hotel room which resulted in a lifetime ban from the league. This incident removed a key offensive weapon just hours before kickoff. Bill Walsh and Sam Wyche shared a deep coaching history dating back to 1979 when Walsh convinced Wyche out of retirement to join the 49ers staff. Wyche remained on that staff until 1982 winning a championship ring against the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI. The matchup represented only the third time two teams met twice in the Super Bowl following previous rematches between Miami and Washington as well as Dallas and Pittsburgh. Esiason played through a sore left shoulder throughout the playoffs throwing for only 202 yards and one touchdown in two games compared to Montana's 466 passing yards and five touchdowns.
With 3:10 remaining on the clock and trailing 16, 13, San Francisco received the ball at their own 8-yard line after an illegal block penalty pushed them back. Joe Montana led an eleven-play drive covering 92 yards to score the game-winning touchdown with 34 seconds left. He first threw completions to Roger Craig and tight end John Frank down the middle of the field to confuse the defense. A 17-yard pass to Jerry Rice moved the team to the 48-yard line before another completion to Craig advanced them to the 35. An eight-yard pass to Craig brought them to the 10-yard line where Montana found John Taylor for the final score. Before the drive began, Montana pointed into the crowd and asked his teammates if they saw John Candy to calm their nerves. This moment became known as the defining play of his Joe Cool reputation. The Bengals attempted a desperation heave to Boomer Esiason's target Cris Collinsworth but the pass bounced off his hands near the sideline as time expired.
NBC introduced the Quantel Cypher graphics system for this telecast marking the network's first use of that technology in football coverage. The system had previously debuted during the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was also used for the World Series presentation that same year. Dick Enberg handled play-by-play duties while Merlin Olsen provided color commentary in the booth. Bob Costas and Gayle Gardner hosted the Super Bowl Live! pregame show which ran for two hours before kickoff. Ahmad Rashad and John Candy hosted the Diet Pepsi Talent Challenge at the Miami Seaquarium during the pregame festivities. The USA Today Ad Meter made its debut with an American Express commercial starring Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz winning the first annual survey. Rod Stewart's Forever Young played over highlights from the Summer Olympics and World Series during NBC's closing credits. AFN TV Europe viewers missed the actual touchdown because commercials interrupted the broadcast just before the Montana-Taylor connection.
The halftime show titled Be Bop Bamboozled in 3-D featured an Elvis impersonator named Alex Cole performing alongside hundreds of local dancers. Two portions of Elvis Presley songs Blue Suede Shoes and Burning Love were performed before shifting to musical theater tunes. Computer generated 3-D images appeared throughout the performance and Coca-Cola distributed glasses to viewers beforehand. A 3-D commercial for Diet Coke aired as part of the halftime break marking the first time such technology was used in a Super Bowl advertisement. The event took place against the backdrop of rioting in Overtown that occurred five days prior on January 16. A Hispanic police officer shot and killed a black motorcyclist which sparked violence lasting until January 18. More than $1 million worth of damage was done including fires set to buildings and vehicles. Rumors circulated about moving the game to Tampa due to the unrest though it remained in Miami.
Bill Walsh retired from NFL coaching immediately after this victory ending his tenure with the 49ers who had won three Super Bowls under his leadership. He spent three seasons as a broadcaster for NBC before coaching Stanford from 1992 to 1994. Pete Rozelle presided over his final Super Bowl as NFL Commissioner before Paul Tagliabue took over midway through the 1989 season. Randy Cross and Cris Collinsworth both retired as players following the game and later became broadcasters for CBS and HBO respectively. Jerry Rice earned Super Bowl MVP honors catching eleven passes for 215 yards and one touchdown while setting a new record for receiving yards in a single game. Joe Montana completed 23 of 36 passes for 357 yards throwing two touchdowns without an interception. The 49ers became the first team since the league adopted a 16-game schedule in 1978 to win the championship with only ten regular season victories. Their six losses tied the most ever by a champion until the New York Giants matched that mark in 2011.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When and where was Super Bowl XXIII played?
Super Bowl XXIII took place on the 1st of February 1989 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida. This venue hosted the game for the first time after previous events in the area occurred at the older Miami Orange Bowl.
Who won Super Bowl XXIII and what were their regular season records?
The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals to win Super Bowl XXIII. The 49ers finished the 1988 regular season with a 10, 6 record while the Bengals posted a 12, 4 mark.
Why did Stanley Wilson get suspended before Super Bowl XXIII?
Stanley Wilson received a lifetime ban from the league after being caught using cocaine in his hotel room on the night before the game. He served as the Bengals third-leading rusher with 398 yards that season but was removed from the team hours before kickoff.
How did Joe Montana lead the winning drive in Super Bowl XXIII?
Joe Montana led an eleven-play drive covering 92 yards to score the game-winning touchdown with 34 seconds remaining. He completed passes to Roger Craig, John Taylor, and tight end John Frank to secure the victory over the Bengals.
What technology debuted during the NBC broadcast of Super Bowl XXIII?
NBC introduced the Quantel Cypher graphics system for this telecast marking the network first use of that technology in football coverage. The system had previously debuted during the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was also used for the World Series presentation that same year.