1977 Broncos 27 - 1984 49ers 24

Wow. The 77 Broncos pulled off the most improbable upset of the Tournament on a play which had everything to do with blind luck, and none to my play calling skills. The 49ers rolled early, as Joe Montana got hot in the first quarter, and led the 49ers to a 14-3 lead. As the 77 Broncos are not a team you want to play from behind with this was disheartening. The Broncos running attack, dormant so far in the tourney, came alive in this game, as Rob Lytle, Jon Keyworth, and other assorted RB's combined to grind out yardage in repeated ball control drives, and the Broncs defense stiffened through the 2nd to late in the 4th quarter. Denver was able to close most of the deficit by half time on a clutch 18 yard catch by Haven Moses for a TD. In the Third Quarter the Broncos formula of draws and screens continued to move the ball, but Jim Turner missed two FG's, as Denver found it difficult to move in the Red zone. The Niners added a FG to boost their lead to 17-13 going into the 4th. Denver mounted a great TD drive midway through the 4th, with the big play coming as Jack Dolbin hauled in a long Craig Morton throw, and 15 yards were tacked on due to a personal foul. The Broncs scored from the 4 out of a 2 TE set, with Morton tossing a short score to little used backup TE Ron Egloff and their first lead of the day. Joe Montana sprang to life. He is one of the all time greats, and he led a drive to the Denver 22 with 2:00 remaining. Montana faded back to throw deep to Dwight Clark, only to have the pass intercepted by Steve Foley in the End Zone....BUT...a Personal Foul, for roughing the passer (probably Alzado) kept the ball in San Francisco's hands at the 11. The next play saw Roger Craig take a draw play into the end zone for a 4 point lead. The Broncos got a good KO return, but frankly this is not a 2 minute offense team. Except for today. Morton caught fire himself, and the San Francisco pass defense is surprisingly vulnerable. Denver moved the ball smartly, with 20+ catches by Moses and Upchurch moving the ball to the 49er 17 with a minute left and no timeouts. First down, incomplete to Dolbin. Second down incomplete to Moses. 3rd down SACK, -8, as immobile Craig Morton and the awful Bronco pass blocking do what they so often do in passing situations. 4th and 18 at the 25. :30 Left. Play calling options are, well, limited. I chucked a long pass to Rick Upchurch, into dime coverage, playing deep, and hit the pass. That was it. TD This miracle required a die roll of a 4 on Morton's card. . I had to have eityher a 2 or a 4 on 2 dice combined, PLUS a 1,2, or 3 on a third die, for that to work. This time it did.

1977 Denver 27, 1984 San Francisco 24
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
1977 Denver	3	10	0	14	0	27
1984 San Francisco	14	0	3	7	0	24

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
1	11:15	1984 San Francisco	C.Monroe 7 yd. pass from J.Montana (R.Wersching kick)	7-0 SFN
1	6:51	1977 Denver	J.Turner 28 yd. field goal	7-3 SFN
1	5:09	1984 San Francisco	F.Solomon 62 yd. pass from J.Montana (R.Wersching kick)	14-3 SFN
2	11:43	1977 Denver	J.Turner 49 yd. field goal	14-6 SFN
2	2:00	1977 Denver	H.Moses 18 yd. pass from C.Morton (J.Turner kick)	14-13 SFN
3	11:58	1984 San Francisco	R.Wersching 26 yd. field goal	17-13 SFN
4	5:43	1977 Denver	R.Egloff 4 yd. pass from C.Morton (J.Turner kick)	20-17 DEA
4	1:45	1984 San Francisco	R.Craig 11 yd. run (R.Wersching kick)	24-20 SFN
4	0:45	1977 Denver	R.Upchurch 25 yd. pass from C.Morton (J.Turner kick)	27-24 DEA

Team Statistics
	1977 Denver	1984 San Francisco
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	9-14-3-26	5-12-1-18
Third Down Efficiency	4-15-27%	5-13-38%
Fourth Down Efficiency	2-2-100%	0-1-0%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	24-35-69%	17-21-81%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	443-80-5.5	442-62-7.1
Total Net Yards Rushing	174	113
Total Rushes	44	22
Average Per Rush	4.0	5.1
Passes Completed/Attempted	20/34 (58.8%)	20/39 (51.3%)
Net Yards Passing	269	329
Avg Yards Per Pass	8.3	8.4
Sacked/Yards Lost	2/13	1/0
Punts/Average	4/45.5	5/37.8
Punts Received/Return Yardage	2/0	1/2
Kickoffs/Returns	5/126	6/148
Interceptions/Returns	1/0	0/0
Penalties/Yards	8/57	7/75
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	3/0	0/0
Time of Possession	35 mins 36 secs	24 mins 25 secs
Average Drive Start	DEA 26	SFN 25

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
1977 Denver
Craig Morton	34	20	282	58.8	8.3	3	8.8	0	0	33	2/13	115.1
1984 San Francisco
Joe Montana	39	20	329	51.3	8.4	2	5.1	1	2.6	62	1/0	86.4

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
1977 Denver
Rob Lytle	14	61	4.4	18	0	0	0/0
Jon Keyworth	9	33	3.7	8	0	0	0/0
Lonnie Perrin	9	41	4.6	15	0	0	0/0
Otis Armstrong	7	17	2.4	6	0	0	0/0
Jim D. Jensen	3	24	8.0	11	0	0	0/0
Craig Morton	2	-2	-1.0	-1	0	0	0/0
1984 San Francisco
Wendell Tyler	13	62	4.8	33	0	0	0/0
Roger Craig	6	45	7.5	17	1	0	0/0
Derrick Harmon	2	0	0.0	1	0	0	0/0
Joe Montana	1	6	6.0	6	0	0	0/0

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
1977 Denver
Riley Odoms	5	53	10.6	16	0	0
Jack Dolbin	3	74	24.7	33	0	0
Rick Upchurch	3	51	17.0	25	1	0
Haven Moses	2	40	20.0	22	1	0
Jim D. Jensen	2	38	19.0	30	0	0
Ron Egloff	2	13	6.5	9	1	0
Rob Lytle	2	5	2.5	7	0	0
Otis Armstrong	1	8	8.0	8	0	0
1984 San Francisco
Freddie Solomon	4	86	21.5	62	1	0
Roger Craig	4	36	9.0	15	0	0
Earl Cooper	4	60	15.0	30	0	0
Dwight Clark	3	82	27.3	44	0	0
Carl Monroe	2	37	18.5	30	1	0
Wendell Tyler	2	16	8.0	10	0	0
Russ Francis	1	12	12.0	12	0	0

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
1977 Denver
Jim Turner	0/0	1/2	0/0	1/2	0/0	2/4	50.0
1984 San Francisco
Ray Wersching	0/0	1/1	0/1	0/0	0/0	1/2	50.0

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
1977 Denver
Bucky Dilts	4	45.5	45.0	0	3	53	0
1984 San Francisco
Max Runager	5	37.8	37.8	0	2	45	0

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1977 Denver
Rick Upchurch	5	126	25.2	32	0
1984 San Francisco
Carl Monroe	4	82	20.5	23	0
Derrick Harmon	2	66	33.0	37	0

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1977 Denver
Rick Upchurch	2	0	0	0.0	0	0
1984 San Francisco
Dana McLemore	1	3	2	2.0	2	0

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
1977 Denver
Bob Swenson	6	0	0
Randy Gradishar	6	0	0
Bill Thompson	5	0	1
Bernard Jackson	5	1	0
Steve J. Foley	4	0	0
Tom Jackson	4	0	0
Louis Wright	4	0	1
Rubin Carter	3	0	0
Joe Rizzo	1	0	0
Lyle Alzado	1	0	0
Chris Pane	1	0	0
Otis Armstrong	0	0	1
1984 San Francisco
Dan Bunz	9	0	0
Hacksaw Reynolds	8	0	0
Riki Ellison	7	1	0
Dwight Hicks	6	0	0
Manu Tuiasosopo	6	0	0
Keena Turner	5	0	0
Eric Wright	4	0	0
Carlton Williamson	3	0	0
Mario Clark	2	0	0
Milt McColl	2	0	0
Ronnie Lott	2	0	0
Michael Carter	2	0	0
Jim Stuckey	2	0	0
Dwaine Board	1	0	0
Dana McLemore	1	0	0
Gary Johnson	1	1	0

Interceptions
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1977 Denver
Bernard Jackson	1	0	0.0	0	0
1984 San Francisco

Game Story

It was a disheartening defeat for the home team, as the visiting team from Denver defeated San Francisco by the score of 27 to 24. Denver controlled the ground game, out-rushing San Francisco 174 to 113 yards. They controlled the ball for 35:36. San Francisco got out to an early lead outscoring Denver 14 to 3 in the first quarter. Joe Montana threw 39 times for 329 yards and 2 touchdowns for San Francisco, in a losing effort.

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