"1989 Super Bowl" redirects here. For the Super Bowl that was played at the completion of the 1989 season, see Super Bowl XXIV.
Super Bowl XXIII
Cincinnati Bengals (1) (AFC) (12–4)
San Francisco 49ers (2) (NFC) (10–6)
16
20
Head coach: Sam Wyche
Head coach: Bill Walsh
1
2
3
4
Total
CIN
0
3
10
3
16
SF
3
0
3
14
20
Date
January 22, 1989 (1989-01-22)
Stadium
Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, Florida
MVP
Jerry Rice, wide receiver
Favorite
49ers by 7[1][2]
Referee
Jerry Seeman
Attendance
75,129[3]
Hall of Famers
Bengals: Paul Brown (owner/gm), Anthony Muñoz 49ers: Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. (owner), Bill Walsh (head coach), Charles Haley, Ronnie Lott, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Steve Young
Ceremonies
National anthem
Billy Joel
Coin toss
Nick Buoniconti, Bob Griese, and Larry Little
Halftime show
"Be Bop Bamboozled" – South Florida-area dancers and performers including Elvis Presto, and 3-D effects
TV in the United States
Network
NBC
Announcers
Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen
Nielsen ratings
43.5 (est. 81.6 million viewers)[4]
Market share
68
Cost of 30-second commercial
$675,000
Radio in the United States
Network
CBS Radio
Announcers
Jack Buck and Hank Stram
← XXII
Super Bowl
XXIV →
Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1988 season. The 49ers defeated the Bengals 20–16, winning their third Super Bowl. The game was played on January 22, 1989, at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami (now part of the suburb of Miami Gardens, which became a separate city in 2003). This was the first Super Bowl hosted in the Miami area in 10 years, and the first in Miami not held at the Orange Bowl.
This was the second meeting between these two teams in the Super Bowl; their first meeting was seven years earlier. The game was also the third rematch between Super Bowl teams after Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XVII. This was the Bengals' second Super Bowl appearance after finishing the regular season with a 12–4 record. The 49ers were making their third Super Bowl appearance after posting a 10–6 regular season record.
The game is best remembered for the 49ers' fourth-quarter game-winning drive. Down 16–13, San Francisco got the ball on their own 8-yard line with 3:10 on the clock and marched 92 yards down the field in under three minutes. They then scored the winning touchdown on a Joe Montana pass to John Taylor with just 34 seconds left in the game. The game was tight throughout. The teams combined for five field goals, and battled to a 3–3 score by the end of the second quarter, the first halftime tie in Super Bowl history. Cincinnati's only touchdown, a 93-yard kickoff return by Stanford Jennings in the third quarter, was quickly answered by a four-play, 85-yard drive that ended with San Francisco wide receiver Jerry Rice's 14-yard touchdown reception. The touchdown came one play after Cincinnati cornerback Lewis Billups dropped what would have been a drive-ending interception in the end zone. Rice, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, caught 11 passes for a Super Bowl record 215 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing once for five yards.
^DiNitto, Marcus (January 25, 2015). "Super Bowl Betting History – Underdogs on Recent Roll". The Linemakers. Sporting News. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
^"Super Bowl History". Vegas Insider. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
^"Super Bowl Winners". NFL.com. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
^"Historical Super Bowl Nielsen TV Ratings, 1967–2009 – Ratings". TVbytheNumbers. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
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