SUPER BOWL XXIX / SAN DIEGO CHARGERS vs. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS : They’ve Already Sent In the Crowns : Pro football: Everything appears to be on 49ers’ side, but Chargers will play the game, just in case.
It’s not a football game, it’s a coronation.
Trumpets blaring, sycophants bowing, a deep green carpet prepared for a four-hour march by the new royalty, it will be a celebration of the greatest franchise in the NFL’s 75-year history.
The best wide receiver ever will be there. One of the best quarterbacks ever will also be there.
They will be joined by a coach for the ages, the defensive back of the ‘90s, the offense of the century.
Today at 3:18 p.m. PST, it is Super Bowl XXIX at Joe Robbie Stadium, featuring the future five-time world champion San Francisco 49ers.
Oh, uh, yes. Sharing the field will be the sandiegochargers.
Treated more like a typographical error than a worthy opponent, the Chargers are being portrayed as no different from any of the other 75,000 who will witness the spectacle. The only difference is that they do not have to pay $200 for a ticket.
“It’s like if we win this game, they are going to send us all straight to the Hall of Fame because nobody will believe it,” said Charger defensive tackle Reuben Davis.
And why should they? His team has seemingly nothing on its side.
Not the past.
The AFC, where the Chargers spend their regular season, has lost 10 consecutive Super Bowls to the NFC.
The 49ers have not lost in four Super Bowl appearances.
The 49ers are 15-3 this season, the Chargers are 13-5.
The 49ers whipped the Chargers by 23 points only seven weeks ago.
Not the present.
On offense, the 49ers employ the man voted the league’s most valuable player, quarterback Steve Young.
On the other side of the ball they have the league’s defensive player of the year, cornerback Deion Sanders.
Their coach, George Seifert, is 1-0 in these games.
Their star linebacker, Ken Norton Jr., has been on the winning Super Bowl team the last two seasons.
The Chargers? Their player with the most Super Bowl experience is backup quarterback Gale Gilbert. He has been on the losing team for four consecutive seasons.
Not the immediate future .
Experts have figured the 49ers as 18-20-point favorites, the largest predicted mismatch in Super Bowl history.
Young is expected to pick apart a young Charger secondary that watched him complete 25 of 32 passes for 304 yards in their first meeting.
The rebuilt 49er defense, which forced seven turnovers in two playoff games, is expected to repeat a first-meeting performance in which it held the Chargers to 75 total yards with one minute remaining in the first half.
A month ago, when the playoffs began, the world wanted this game to be the 49ers against the hometown Miami Dolphins. Young against Dan Marino.
Second choice was the 49ers against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Young against the “Blitzburgh” defense.
Today’s matchup wasn’t even on the menu. Young against Stan Humphries?
The best team in football against a team that lost this year to the Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons . . . and the Raiders?
So prepare the throne. Make way for the next. . . .
Wait a minute, the Chargers plead. Could you please wait four hours?
That rumbling you hear is Charger Coach Bobby Ross preparing his pregame speech. Expect the Chargers to take the field insulted and angry and looking for somebody to hit.
What is expected to be the most lopsided Super Bowl in history could be one of the best, simply because the Chargers are weary of hearing how rotten it will be.
“At some point, we’re going to talk about it,” Ross said. “We resent some of the snide little remarks that are degrading. It somewhat cheapens what we accomplished and all the work the players have put into it.”
Charger cornerback Darrien Gordon came closest to openly challenging the 49ers to live up to their hype.
“Hopefully,” he said, “they know what they’re up against.”
Thanks to quarterback-lawyer Young, the 49ers know exactly what they are up against.
They feel their major opponent today is not dressed in blue and gold, but in the darker shades of overconfidence, cockiness and greed.
Young recognized this enemy in the first game against the Chargers.
After their 38-15 victory, which came after the 49ers had taken a 21-0 lead, he heated up a closed locker room at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium with a team scolding.
This was even though the 49ers’ offense so dominated the Chargers that the services of punter Klaus Wilmsmeyer were required only once.
Young was saying the same things this week.
“I think you can be overconfident,” he said. “You think you can just throw your jock out there and play and everything will be all right.
“We’re not fools and we’re not going to be trapped by this stuff.”
Well, maybe not all of them.
William Floyd, the 49ers’ rookie running back, entertained the media with a rap song during an interview session. Later he threw out his chest when asked what would happen if the 49ers lost.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “I’m not going to guarantee a win, but I’m just saying that it’s not going to happen and I think you get enough out of that.”
The Chargers hope that more 49ers feel the same way.
The Chargers are convinced they are a different team than in the first meeting because of the healing of injuries to running back Natrone Means, linebacker Junior Seau and virtually the entire offensive line.
They are also convinced that they are a better-coached team than the 49ers and will commit fewer turnovers and pull off more surprise plays.
While some feel that giving the ball two dozen times to Means will be enough to stun the 49ers, the Chargers publicly aren’t convinced.
“We don’t intend to play a conservative game,” said Ross, whose team already has scored once this year on a 99-yard pass play.
The 49ers believe that the league’s best secondary, led by all-world cornerback Sanders and supported by Pro Bowl safeties Tim McDonald and Merton Hanks, will be ready for any tricks.
Said Hanks: “Me, Deion, Eric (Davis) and Tim McDonald, we’re betting on who’s going to get to that ball first.”
The 49ers say they don’t need to do anything but be themselves.
“The 49ers’ offense puts continuous 100-degree pressure on your defense,” 49er cornerback Toi Cook said. “You take away Jerry (Rice), you’ve got John (Taylor). You take away those two, then you’ve got to deal with Brent (Jones), Ricky Watters and William Floyd.
“Then you have Steve Young and . . . “
Well, you get the picture. So do the Chargers. It already has been framed. At about 7 p.m. PST, it will be hung from the heights of NFL history for all to worship.
Or will it?
* MIKE DOWNEY: C3
* FACTS AND FIGURES: C12
* DAILY REPORT: C13
