Banner Graphic, Volume 15, Number 106, Greencastle, Putnam County, 7 January 1985 — Page 7

Bears played too much defense against 49ers

C.1985N.Y. Times SAN FRANCISCO The San Francisco 49ers, who had more trouble with themselves than they had with the Chicago Bears in the first half, scored 17 points in the second half to win the National Conference championship Sunday, 23-0, and advance to the Super Bowl game for the second time in four seasons. In so doing, the 49ers will be only the second team to play in a Super Bowl in its home territory. Super Bowl XIX the 49ers against the Miami Dolphins will be played at Stanford Stadium, 30 miles south of here. The Los Angeles Rams lost in Super Bowl XIV, played in Pasadena. The 49ers and Dolphins have played four times; the Dolphins have won each time. The 49ers, who had won 16 of their previous 17 games this season, including a 21-10 victory over the Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs, played

Bears didn't play their best game

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Defeat came hard to the Chicago Bears, a team convinced it would go to the Super Bowl. Walter Payton, who thought his time had come after 10 years, wore a dazed, wounded expression, just a blink away from tears after Sunday’s 23-0 mugging by the San Francisco 49ers. “I’m not hurt,” he said, ‘‘not on the outside.” Coach Mike Ditka stopped roaring and meekly apologized to his players and Chicago fans, taking blame for not calling better plays. Safety Gary Fencik wiped a large splotch of blood from between his eyes and described the mood in the quiet locker room as “a feeling that we really didn’t play our best.” Quarterback Steve Fuller, victim of eight of San Francisco’s nine sacks in the National Football Conference title game, talked about the Bears’ first-down inefficency as if that were the key to the game.

Marino may yet become best of Shula's great quarterbacks

By DAVE ANDERSON c. 1985 N.Y. Times News Service MIAMI During his 22 seasons as a coach, Don Shula inherited two of pro football’s best quarterbacks Bob Griese with the Miami Dolphins and before that Johnny Unitas with the Baltimore Colts. But in Dan Marino, the Miami Dolphins’ coach has drafted and developed the quarterback who might be the best yet. Marino is his quarterback, nobody else’s. And perhaps that is why Shula’s jutting jaw melts into a soft smile when he talks about his 23-year-old passer. “You can’t ever predict that a guy is going to be better than anybody else has ever been,” the coach was saying after a 45-28 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers put the Dolphins into Super Bowl XIX against the San Francisco 49ers in two weeks. “But this guy rises to every occasion.” Better than anybody else has ever been. Even looking to the future, that’s quite a mouthful for any coach to use about any player, much less a quarterback who has been in the National Football League for only two seasons. But whenever Shula discusses Marino, he sounds as if he is as amazed as anybody else by what this quarterback has accomplished. “We’ve never had to tell him he’s too young to do this,” the coach said, “or that he’s not ready to do that.” Marino knew he wasn’t too young to take the Dolphins to the Super Bowl with a victory Sunday in the American Conference championship game against the Steelers, the team he grew up rooting for in Pittsburgh as a youngster. Asked later if he had been concerned about the Steeler mystique, he smiled. “It’s not something I was worried about,” he said. Marino doesn’t seem to worry about anything. One small scene showed that.

U D p Hhh The 111#U... msurancenter the simpler way to insure. ONE POLICY protects YOU ... your HOME ... your CAR ... and much, much more 101 E. WASHINGTON ST. 653-4176 You can do better with us.

perhaps their best defensive game of the season Sunday. After the Bears missed a 41-yard fieldgoal attempt in the first quarter, they reached midfield only once in the first half. In the second half, they were in the 49ers’ territory three times but only as far as the 34. They got there once, on the final drive of the game. The 49ers’ defense limited the Bears to 186 total yards, 86 of them by Walter Payton, who rushed 21 times for 75 yards and caught 3 passes for 11. Steve Fuller, the Bears’ quarterback, was sacked 9 times for losses of 50 yards. The Bears’ highly acclaimed defense, ranked No. 1 during the regular season, looked much like any other defense in the second half. The 49ers scored touchdowns on a 9-yard run by Wendell Tyler in the third quarter and a 10-yard pass from Joe Montana to

Their first, and best, drive ended in a missed 41-yard field goal. The second possession died with an interception. Two sacks stopped the third drive. Of the next three series, two started with losses, but the offense simply sputtered the rest of the game, gaining a total of just 186 net yards. The Bears were beaten on both sides of the ball. They were outcoached and, to their chagrin, outmuscled, pushed around by a more physical team. “There was nothing ‘finesse’ about the 49ers,” said defensive tackle Dan Hampton. “They’re as big and hit as hard as anyone. They just controlled the game.” Payton, who became the NFL’s all-time leading rusher this season, seemed to suffer the loss more deeply than the rest of the Bears. He ran the ball 22 times for 92 yards, but except for a 20-yard sprint on the game’s first series, he was under wraps most of the day.

With the Dolphins leading, 31-21, in the third quarter, he suddenly was blitzed by Jack Lambert, one of the symbols of the Steeler teams that earned a record four Super Bowl rings. Lambert was activated just for this game after having been out virtually all season with a dislocated toe. But just as Lambert hit him, Marino fired a pass to Tony Nathan for a 20-yard gain. While still on the ground, Marino patted Lambert on the bottom, then Lambert patted him back. In that small moment, the torch had been passed from the old Steeler linebacker to the young Dolphin quarterback. Blitz a young quarterback and eventually he will collapse in confusion. That’s a familiar philosophy of National Football League coaches. But when the Steelers blitzed Marino Sunday, the Steelers collapsed in confusion. “We like blitzing teams,” Marino said. “It gives the offense a chance to make the big plays.” It gives the quarterback a chance to make the big plays, but Marino talked of “the offense,” not of himself. But he was the Dolphin who made the big plays. In completing 21 of 32 passes, Marino set 2 AFC championship-game passing records those Steeler blitzes ever sacked him; he was sacked only 13 times during the regular season, and not once in the playoffs thus far. “Marino is the best quarterback we’ve seen no question,” said Chuck Noll, the Steeler coach. “Marino is something, I’d say he’s sensational,” said Mike Webster, the Steelers’ long-time all-pro center. “Twice we had him on his back and he threw it on a string. “They have a helluva passing game, well designed,” said Donnie Shell, the Steelers’ safety. “But it’s not the design,

Freddie Solomon in the fourth, before Ray Wersching completed the scoring with his third field goal, from 34 yards out. By winning, each 49er was guaranteed $46,000, with a chance to win another SIB,OOO with a victory in the Super Bowl. Each member of the Bears won $28,000 for postseason play. As they had in 11 of their previous 17 games, the 49ers held the lead after one quarter, 3-0, on a 21-yard field goal by Ray Wersching. The 49ers’ next two drives ended with an interception and a second Wersching field goal, from 22 yards out, and that was the extent of the scoring. After the Bears squandered an opportunity to score on the opening drive Bob Thomas missed a 41-yard field-goal attempt the 49ers drove 73 yards for the opening score. After the second field goal, the 49ers’ defense, which had played steadily throughout the half, forced the Bears to punt again, giving the 49ers the first of three more possessions they would have before the end of the half. But the first ended in a punt, the second when Fencik intercepted a Montana pass to Clark and the third when time expired. Offensively, the Bears accomplished almost nothing. Except for ther first drive, when they made three first downs, one when Fuller kept the ball on a fourth-and-1, they made only one other first down in the two periods and got as far as midfield once. The Bears gained only 73 yards over all, and Payton, who rushed 13 times, had 57 of them on 52 yards of rushing and one catch for 5 yards. The 49ers made it a 13-0 early in the third quarter when Tyler scored on a 9-yard touchdown run. The drive consisted of all running plays; the 49ers ran Tyler over the right side for the score, coming after 6:33 of the quarter.

it’s No. 13.” “Marino can look you off,” said Tony Dungy, the Steelers’ defensive coordinator. “He looks one way, but his release is so quick, he can come back to the other side. When we were in a zone, he dumped the ball off to his backs When we were in man-to-man, he found the guy with single coverage. When we blitzed, he always had a receiver with the whole field to work with. He was throwing the ball in the only spot where it can be completed.” In his second year, Marino has thrown 55 touchdown passes a record 48 during the regular season, 3 against the Seattle Seahawks in a divisional playoff and 4 against the Steelers. “Marino’s got the receivers, he’s got a great coach with a great scheme,” Tony Dungy added. “Plus he’s got a great offensive line to protect him. But he’s great. You’d have to put him at the top of the league. Even if he were with another team, maybe he wouldn’t be as good, but he’d definitely be outstanding.” While the Dolphins and the Steelers talked about Marino in their locker rooms, Terry Bradshaw waited out near the 40yard line to do a CBS interview with the Dolphin quarterback.

At Stoplight W JF* Hours: Next Door To Laundromat InpN Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Cloverdale, Ind. I Fri.-Sat. 9 a.m.-7 p.m. 795-3277 Closed Sundays Cloverdale's Newest and Fastest Growing Video Store Home Town Video “Supplying You With Family Fun" JANUARY SPECIAL Scotch T-120 Blank Tapes *7.99 (less *1 factory rebate) TDK T-120 Blank Tapes *7.49 (reg.*7.99> 2 FREE Movie Rentals Given Away By Drawing Every Monday. One Chance With Each Movie Rental. [very Tuesday & Thursday All Movie Rentals are V 2 Price LASTEST RELEASES The Natural Start The Revolution Without Me The Champions The Exterminator Police Academy Cold Sweat The Thing Never Ending Story NEW RELEASES COMING IN REGULARLY! WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING SERVICES: RENTALS FOR SALE Movies Movies VCR Players and Recorders VCR Players and Recorders Blank Tapes Accessories PROPRIETORS: Kerman Goss, Norman Sims

ilisF ******* . JeSV ' .'A t||

San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana (16) and wide receiver Dwight Clark (87) congratulate Freddie Solomon for sliding to the outside and getting open for a

Dolphins tack on more records

c. 1985 N.Y. Times MIAMI Dan Marino fired when he saw the whites of their eyes. Largely because Marino was so steady in the face of charging Steelers, throwing for four touchdowns, two under pressure of the blitz, the Dolphins defeated Pittsburgh, 45-28, Sunday. The victory advanced them to Super Bowl XIX on Jan. 20 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif/, where they will face the San Francisco 49ers. Marino’s four scoring tosses, along with his 421 yards passing, were both records for an American Conference championship game. And the 45 points were the most for the Dolphins since September 1982. The Steelers’ game plan was to play with an old-fashioned churning style, stressing possession, so Marino would have less time to inflict damage. They succeeded for much of the first half. But eventually the game plan collapsed. Marino’s passes can find their way to receivers anywhere on the field in double-coverage, deep alone or crossing over the middle. The receivers always seem to be free, and they rarely ever drop a pass. And whenever the Steelers broke through, it seemed, the Dolphins came back quickly, too quickly for the Steelers even to savor what they had accomplished Even their all-out blitz, with nine defenders on the line ready to roar toward the quarterback at the snap, failed them. “They did blitz more than we expected,” said Marino, peering out from under a hat with the words “Super Bowl XIX” stitched on. “But that gives you a chance to make the big play.” That happened on the opening score. The Steelers opened the game by holding on to the ball for more than 5 minutes. But then they suffered the first of their four turnovers when Mark Malone’s pass, intended for John Stallworth in the end zone, was picked off by William Judson and returned 33 yards. Four plays later, with the ball on the Steelers’ 40, Pittsburgh blitzed Marino. He saw it coming and spotted Mark Clayton on the right side, alone, for a 40-yard score. Late in the first quarter, Rich Erenberg tied the game at 7-7 with a 7-yard run that capped a crushing Steeler drive on the ground.

fourth quarter touchdown against the Chicago Bears during Sunday's NFC championship game. (AP wirephoto).

But early in the second period, Uwe von Schamann put the Dolphins ahead with a 26-yard field goal. Later in the half, Stallworth snared a 65-yard pass from Malone to put the underdog Steelers ahead by 14-10. Then, 82 seconds later, with 1 minute 30 seconds left in the half, Mark Duper snared a 41-yard pass from Marino and the Dolphins took a 17-14 edge. And within 30 seconds, the Dolphins got the ball back when Lyle Blackwood intercepted a pass. Just 36 seconds before halftime, the Dolphins scored again on Tony Nathan’s 2yard run. If the Steelers were winning the battle for possession, they were losing on the

S' I Special of the Month I JANUARY t

Belknap Toolßox Sug Retail Si 3 99 19 x7' x6 3 4 Square corners for big capacity Welded all-steel construction. Full length - 1 hinge Tote tray inside (217-307) SKELTON 1221 s KINNER Bloomington St. 653-9705

EPDCcr No lead Pigments^ THE ULTIMATE IN WATERPROOF COATING

CLEAR • WHITE • COLORS Here's the Coating you can depend on to preserve and protect all your property in any type of weather. Rain, wind, dirt, heat and light rays have no effect on a EPOCS surface. As you protect you beautify, with a whole range of colors all in the purest shades. HOUSE FACTORY p am pi ■ TEST SILO EDCC| IT barn I HLk« YOURSELF POOL ASK YOUR DEALER B °" r FOR A FREE SAMPLE FOUNDATION CENTURY CONCRETE, INC. U.S. 36 W. of 231, R. 1 Bali bridge, 739-6210

January 7,1985, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

scoreboard. They had controlled the ball almost 4 minutes longer in the half, but trailed by 24-14 going into the locker room. Then Stallworth, who set a record Sunday for most career touchdowns (12) and most 100-yard games (5) in postseason play, came through again with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Malone that kept the Steelers in the game. He completed 8 passes to Nathan for 114 yards. The Dolphin running back also gained 64 yards rushing on 19 carries. Duper snared 5 others for 148 yards and Clayton had 4 for 95 before injuring a shoulder that, he said, would not prevent him from playing in the Super Bowl.

A7