NOTEBOOK : Head Bear Isn’t Bullish on the 49ers

Some people, such as ESPN’s Pete Axthelm, are picking the Denver Broncos to cover the 12-point spread today, but hardly anyone is picking the Broncos to win outright.

Chicago Bear Coach Mike Ditka is one of the few.

“If it were a seven- or 10-game series, you’d have to go with the 49ers,” said Ditka, here to take part in today’s pregame show on CBS. “But in one game anything can happen, and I just have a feeling Denver might do it.”

NBC’s Dick Enberg, in New Orleans to announce he has re-signed for three more years as the company spokesman for GTE, is another person picking the Broncos.

Enberg said it will be 27-24. “I always like the underdog,” he said.

Ditka, on the possibility of getting out of the coaching business and getting into broadcasting fulltime, said: “I doubt it. I like coaching. I think my future is in football.”

On his role with CBS: “I make sure John Madden has hot coffee.”

A segment on today’s pregame show, produced by Jim Gray, chronicles some of the biggest upsets in history, such as the U.S. hockey team beating the Soviet Union, Joe Namath and the Jets beating the Baltimore Colts, and Jimmy Carter being elected president.

Bronco Coach Dan Reeves showed a tape of the piece to his team Saturday night.

CBS prepared a tape of the parts of the pregame show that are ready to go.

One of the best pieces is a diary by Bronco receiver Mark Jackson.

Jackson shot various scenes with his own video camera. There’s some funny stuff, and Jackson’s narration is great.

If the rest of the two-hour show is as good as what CBS showed to a few writers Saturday, this may be one Super Bowl pregame show worth watching.

Nose tackle Michael Carter, out most of the second half of the season with a badly sprained right foot, will start for the 49ers.

San Francisco changed backup running backs Saturday, activating Harry Sydney and deactivating Keith Henderson.

Roger Craig, who had a bout with the flu, is apparently fully recovered. Coach George Siefert was particularly encouraged when he saw Craig eating a large breakfast Friday.

Bob Martin, the Broncos’ longtime radio announcer, was in jeopardy of missing the game after being hospitalized last Sunday.

Martin, who has had bone marrow cancer since 1987, had a reaction to chemotherapy treatment.

But doctors gave him clearance Thursday to work the game.

John Elway, who lost 10 pounds because of a virus the week after the AFC championship game, has gained five of them back.

On the day Paul Tagliabue was appointed commissioner of the NFL, he returned home and was there only about 15 minutes when his daughter told him President Reagan was on the phone.

“I thought, yeah, sure,” the commissioner said, telling the story to a few writers here.

But it was indeed the former president. He had called to congratulate Tagliabue on his new job.

The face value of tickets for today’s game is $125.

Tickets for the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles were priced at $12, $10 and $8.

CBS will use 15 cameras to cover today’s game, which is far from a record.

More than 20 cameras were used several times.

A home video of the game will be on the market in 11 days.

How popular are the Broncos in Denver?

Consider this: When they played the New York Giants in a regular-season home game, the TV rating was a 49.5.

One reason the Broncos went from an 8-8 season to a Super Bowl season is because of the success they have had signing Plan B players.

A Plan B player is one left unprotected by his team, freeing him to sign with another team. Each team can protect 37 players.

Lide Huggins, the Broncos’ director of football operations, signed 11 Plan B players before the season.

Defensive end Alphonso Carreker, from Green Bay, and cornerback Wymon Henderson, from Minnesota, are starters.

Linebacker Scott Curtis, from Philadelphia, blocked four kicks and had a club-high 16 special teams tackles during the regular season.

The other significant Plan B player for Denver is wide receiver Michael Young, who was left unprotected by the Rams.

“These guys have not only made our roster but they’ve also helped us win some games, and that’s the important thing,” Huggins said.

Plan B players on San Francisco’s roster are wide receiver Mike Sherrard, from Dallas; tight end Jamie Williams, from Houston; running back Spencer Tillman, from Houston, and guard Terry Tausch, from Minnesota.

The same computer system NFL Films used to determine that the 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers were the winners of the “Dream Season” series carried by ESPN last year has predicted the 49ers will win today, 31-24.

Miami Coach Don Shula ran across NFL Films’ Steve Sabol here the other day and questioned the validity of any computer system that would say any team is better than his undefeated Dolphin team in 1972.

The ’78 Steelers beat the ’72 Dolphins in the “Dream Season” title game.

“How can a computer say a team that lost two games is better than a team that didn’t lose any?” Shula asked Sabol.

Terry Bradshaw, Mel Blount, Art Shell and Willie Wood, last year’s Hall of Fame inductees, will conduct the ceremonial coin toss for the kickoff.

Aaron Neville of the New Orleans Neville Brothers, will sing the national anthem.

The halftime show will be a musical salute to New Orleans and a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charles Schultz’s “Peanuts” characters.

After the Broncos qualified for the Super Bowl, the Rocky Mountain News ran a story with this headline: “Denverites Fear Shame--Again Dread of Loss Dilutes Hopes of Fame, Glory.”

Reeves said: “I’ve never had a person in Denver come up to me and say, ‘Boy, we don’t want you to go.’ That’s really stupid.”

But a Denver television station, KUSA, followed up with a phone poll, and of 2,800 callers, 1,500 voted against the Broncos going to New Orleans.