MIAMI — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…January 20, 1985:
In a matchup of two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, San Francisco’s Joe Montana is the decisive winner over Miami’s Dan Marino in Super Bowl XIX. For the first time ever, both quarterbacks in the Super Bowl threw for over 300 yards. But Montana added 59 rushing yards to his 331 yards passing, and the 49ers blew the game open with three second-quarter touchdowns on the way to a 38-16 victory at Stanford Stadium. It would be the only Super Bowl appearance of Marino’s NFL career.
Marino played his college football at Pittsburgh and was the last of six quarterbacks chosen in the famous first round of the 1983 NFL Draft (preceded by John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason and Ken O’Brien). Marino went on to play 17 seasons in the NFL, winning 155 games, the most ever by a QB who never won a Super Bowl.
Ironically, Marino would meet Montana again in the postseason in 1994, and it would be the final game of Montana’s stellar NFL career. Montana, finishing his second season with Kansas City after being traded by the 49ers, threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns, but a late-game interception sealed a 27-17 AFC wild card win for Marino and the Dolphins. Marino retired following the 1999 season.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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