Pro Football : Flores 7-0 Against Walsh, Shula

Bill Walsh and Don Shula, the widely respected coaches of the 49ers and Dolphins, have at least two things in common:

--They’ll be in the Super Bowl together for the first time Jan. 20 at Palo Alto.

--Neither has ever won a football game from Tom Flores, who has coached the Raiders to 66 wins in six years.

Flores is 7-0 against them in regular-season competition, having taken five straight from Shula and a pair from Walsh.

As a Super Bowl coach, moreover, Flores is the NFL’ most successful leader of the decade.

The standings since his 1980 Raider team won Super Bowl XV:

Flores 2-0, Walsh 1-0, Joe Gibbs 1-1, Shula 0-1, Dick Vermeil 0-1, Forrest Gregg 0-1.

One difference between the Super Bowl quarterbacks, Joe Montana of San Francisco and Dan Marino of Miami, is that Montana is more human.

He makes an occasional mistake.

The first-down interception he threw on the Chicago goal line in the first quarter Sunday was inexcusable.

Although Chicago safety Gary Fencik made a good play, a pass in those circumstances--with three downs remaining in scoring position--should be thrown only if it can’t possibly be intercepted.

Even so, Montana demonstrated in that game that he has matured into the most graceful of pro football’s quarterbacks. He never makes a jerky move.

On a rollout, he doesn’t race to the outside, he flows. Even his dropback is like a dance.

What’s more, Montana is still the most accurate running passer of his time, perhaps of any time. In an era when mobile quarterbacks are prized, Montana is the most successful example of the species.

Can a stationary quarterback beat a model mobile quarterback? That depends on who it is that’s standing around. If it’s Dan Marino, the answer is probably yes.

Thus in some respects, this seems the strangest of Super Bowl matchups.

The 49ers, unlike the Dolphins, run the ball well, play defense soundly and kick field goals reliably. They also throw good passes. They’re the league’s most complete team.

But they’ll be meeting a quarterback who throws passes with uncanny timing and accuracy.

The word for Marino is unreal. In a team sport such as football, it’s astonishing that one player can be so dominating.

If they win the toss, the 49ers can be expected to control the first quarter and probably take the early lead. After that, though, from anywhere on the field, Marino will be a better bet to score than Montana.

Assuming Marino plays the way he has played all season--as only a second-year pro--Miami will win. The one thing that could beat the Dolphins is Marino’s first off-day.

There are two ways to handle blitzing defenses. The quarterback can run away from the blitz if he’s nimble enough, as Montana is. Or the pass can be thrown before the blitzers hit. That’s Marino’s way.

Thus, the season’s two big winners, the 49ers and Dolphins, made the Super Bowl.

Some other very good teams were buried under waves of rushing linebackers and safeties in recent weeks and fell a little short. In the NFC, the Redskins were waylaid by the blitzing Bears. In the AFC, the Raiders and Broncos were beaten by the blitzing Steelers.

As all-around football teams, the Redskins, Raiders and Broncos probably all outrank the Bears and Steelers. But not if the pass rush is factored in.

These are influential times for those who coach the blitz. Thinking of next year, the lesson to the others is get a Montana or a Marino, or else get a pass rush.

Walter Payton of the Bears had what might have been the greatest one-yard run ever Sunday.

Heading into the line on fourth and one in a second-half series that represented, as he well knew, the Bears’ last chance, Payton was confronted instantly by a 49er who threatened to toss him for a three-yard loss.

Payton’s instinctive reaction was a huge sidestep with his left foot, keeping the 49er from getting more than a piece of him. Turned sideways, falling, Payton nonetheless squared himself up and took on three more 49ers, coming at him from underneath.

Suddenly raising his back, with the three riders aboard, he somehow pushed in for the first down.

Few, if any other, running backs have ever combined such agility, strength and determination. The tragedy of the Super Bowl is that Payton didn’t make it.