49ers Crush the Rams, Head for Super Bowl : Pro football: Joe Montana leads San Francisco to a 30-3 victory. Showdown against Denver is next.

The San Francisco 49ers, led by the precision passing of quarterback Joe Montana, scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter en route to a 30-3 victory over the Rams in Sunday’s NFC championship game at Candlestick Park.

The victory, before a record crowd of 64,769, gave the 49ers a chance to become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowl championships since the Pittsburgh Steelers, who won consecutive titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons and again in 1978 and 1979. San Francisco will face the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV on Jan. 28 in New Orleans.

The Rams scored first on Mike Lansford’s 23-yard field goal in the first quarter, but wouldn’t score again. Montana, who completed 26 of 30 passes for 262 yards in the game, led the 49ers on scoring drives of 89, 27 and 87 yards in the second quarter to put the game out of reach.

The 49ers took the lead for good with 11:27 remaining in the half on a 20-yard scoring pass from Montana to tight end Brent Jones. Montana was at his best, though, near the end of the half, when he drove his team 87 yards in 14 plays, capping the drive with an 18-yard scoring pass to receiver John Taylor with nine seconds remaining.

On the drive, Montana completed eight of 10 passes for 90 yards. One of his incompletions was deliberate to stop the clock.

“We’ve got the kind of man who can handle that situation better than anyone in football,” 49er Coach George Seifert said of Montana. “He’s the best there’s ever been.”

The 49ers outgained the Rams in total yards, 442 to 156. The Rams were held to only 26 yards rushing.

The Rams, whose record ends up at 13-6, needed consecutive road victories against the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants the last three weeks to gain a rematch with their NFC Western Division rivals, but the game turned out to be no match at all.

Quarterback Jim Everett completed just 16 of 36 passes for 141 yards, with no touchdowns and three interceptions.

San Francisco free safety Ronnie Lott prevented the Rams’ best chance for a touchdown in the first quarter when he made a last-second deflection of Everett’s pass intended for receiver Willie (Flipper) Anderson inside the 49ers’ five-yard line.

“It was as good a performance as I’ve seen from a 49ers team,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “Defensively, we did the best we could, but couldn’t do anything on offense to make the game competitive.”

Sunday’s game was the third meeting between the teams, who had split regular-season contests. The Rams defeated San Francisco, 13-12, at Candlestick Park on Oct. 1, the 49ers winning, 30-27, at Anaheim Stadium on Dec. 11.

San Francisco, 16-2, enters the Super Bowl with the NFL’s best record. Their only other loss this season came against the Green Bay Packers.

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