San Francisco 49ers: Best Individual Performances in Playoff History
No. 1: Steve Young — Super Bowl XXIX vs. San Diego Chargers
Young had played in the shadow of the great Joe Montana for many years, including the back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 1988 and 1989.
When he was finally given the chance to lead the team, the 49ers and Young had experienced two excruciating losses in the NFC Championship Game to the Dallas Cowboys in 1992 and 1993.
1994 arrived, and with a bevy of free agents signed, the 49ers coasted to a 13-3 regular season and they finally beat the Cowboys 38-28 in the NFC Championship Game.
Already known as one of the greatest teams in NFL history, the 49ers just had one more game to win.
Young was ready to make his mark on the Super Bowl. Within 84 seconds of the game starting, Young threw a 44-yard TD to WR Jerry Rice (the fastest TD score in Super Bowl history), which set the tone for the offense for the rest of the game.
Young was nothing but brilliant in the first half — he threw four TD passes and led the 49ers to a 28-10 lead at halftime, and the game was over, and the franchise’s 5th Super Bowl trophy was within sight.
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Young went 24-of-36 for 325 yards and a new Super Bowl record six TD passes, and he led the team with 49 rushing yards. He won the Super Bowl MVP award. Young finally proved that he was the man, that he could win the big game and he finally exited the shadow of Montana.
Who can forget middle linebacker Gary Plummer ripping the “monkey” off Young’s back in the waning moments of the game? Young had silenced the doubters for good. Young’s speech in the locker room after the game was poignant — holding the Super Bowl trophy he said: “No one can ever, EVER take this away from us, ever!”.
Young finally had the piece of hardware that his idol had. His performance still stands today as an all-time great Super Bowl performance, and just edges Montana in Super Bowl XXIV.
Next: San Francisco 49ers: An Early Look at Locks for the 2016 Roster
All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and ESPN.com unless otherwise indicated.