Marino Pressured Into Showing His Age and Mortality

It all came to an end for Boy Wonder. It was here, in the locker room of the losing Miami Dolphins, that you realized that Dan Marino is only 23 years old.

It’s easy to forget sometimes.

Marino had the kind of season Joe Namath dreamed of having. Dan Marino could do no wrong.

Until Sunday. Until the Super Bowl. We all found out that Dan Marino isn’t Superman, merely super. And he’s only human. He can’t part seas or move mountains.

Sometimes, he can’t even get away from a pass rush.

Marino stood in the shower, water dripping down his face. There was a welt on the side of his face. Marino removed the chewing tobacco from his mouth and slammed it to the floor.

It was time to meet the press. It was time to tell them what went wrong in Sunday’s 38-16 loss. It was a strange feeling.

The Dolphins lost and Marino had a bad day. When was the last time that happened?

“I can’t honestly say he’s had a bad game in a year and a half,” Miami receiver Joe Rose said of Marino. “But you can’t throw this on his back. It was a bad game for 49 guys in here.”

Still, you expect so much of Marino. He’d thrown 56 touchdown passes coming into the Super Bowl game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Sunday, he threw just one. Most guys would take his statistics (29 for 50, 318 yards), run to the front office and demand to renegotiate their contracts.

But for Marino, it was just a bad day at the office.

“Personally, I didn’t play as well as I should have,” Marino said. “It was a rough game for me and a tough game for the team.”

Marino found out, much to his displeasure, that he’s just as popular when he loses as when he wins.

As a crowd gathered around, Marino dragged himself up to the podium and diplomatically answered questions for the last time this season. He doesn’t like interviews much.

“The whole season is not a loss,” Marino said, “But when you get to this game you want to win.”

The Dolphins didn’t win because the 49ers knocked Marino off his game. He had been sacked only 13 times all season. The 49ers sacked him four times Sunday. They made him throw passes he didn’t want to throw. They took away his deep receivers by playing with six defensive backs, four who are headed for the Pro Bowl.

“I think their whole defense is going to the Pro Bowl,” Rose said. “And the few guys that aren’t going, well, maybe we got them on the team today.”

Like Rose said, you can’t hang this one all on Marino.

He spent much of the day side-stepping 49er defensive linemen Dwaine Board, Lawrence Pillers, Fred Dean, Manu Tuiasosopo and Gary Johnson.

“When you put pressure on a guy, most people would get rattled,” Miami tackle Cleveland Green said. “I don’t think Dan did. But their pressure had a lot to do with it. It’s hard to throw a ball with a guy in your face.”

The Dolphins knew what was coming. They knew the 49ers would dare Miami to run by playing much of the game with only one linebacker, Keena Turner, who is almost as agile as a defensive back.

But running isn’t the Dolphins’ specialty. And when they got behind early, they had to scrap it totally from their game plan.

Miami tried to keep the Dolphins in their regular defensive alignment in the first half by operating with no huddle, which, by design, doesn’t allow the 49ers time to substitute.

But as soon as San Francisco got a lead, they started every series with six defensive backs.

“Their defense is the best defense we faced all year,” Marino said. “They were able to get some pressure on us and cover our receivers well. The chances we did have, when guys were open, sometimes I didn’t hit him.”

It was hard for Dan Marino to say. In two years with the Dolphins, he hasn’t had to make many of these speeches.

“Thank you,” Marino said, signaling to all that his interview was about to end. “Is that enough, now?”