Super Bowl XXIII — 1988 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Jerry Rice (WR, San Francisco 49ers)

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Note: Cris Collinsworth recorded 3 receptions for 40 yards in the box score but is NOT listed among Cincinnati's archived starting wide receivers (Eddie Brown and Tim McGee are) - he is widely reported elsewhere as a starter that season, so this is flagged as a possible rotation/injury nuance or a genuine gap in the lineup source, not resolved either way. Cincinnati's defensive front and secondary are reported using the position labels the source gave (DL/DB) rather than force-mapped to specific DE/DT/CB/S slots the source did not distinguish.

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl XXIII was a tense, low-scoring defensive struggle for three quarters before turning into one of the most celebrated finishes in Super Bowl history. San Francisco and Cincinnati traded field goals to a 3-3 halftime tie, the first tied halftime score in Super Bowl history, before the Bengals took a 13-6 lead into the fourth quarter behind a Stanford Jennings kickoff-return touchdown. San Francisco answered, but Cincinnati regained the lead 16-13 on a late field goal, setting up Joe Montana for what became the signature drive of his career: trailing by three points with 3:10 remaining and the ball on his own 8-yard line, Montana calmly led the 49ers 92 yards in eleven plays, famously spotting actor John Candy in the stands and pointing him out to teammates in the huddle to settle their nerves, before hitting John Taylor for the game-winning 10-yard touchdown with just 34 seconds left. Jerry Rice was named MVP for a virtuoso performance that still stands among the greatest in Super Bowl history: 11 catches for 215 yards, a Super Bowl record at the time, and a touchdown, as he repeatedly beat Cincinnati's secondary on crossing routes and deep patterns throughout the game. Montana finished 23 of 36 for 357 yards and two touchdowns, adding to his growing postseason legend, while running back Roger Craig contributed 71 rushing yards and eight catches for 101 receiving yards, becoming the first running back in Super Bowl history to surpass 100 receiving yards in a game. Cincinnati's Boomer Esiason was limited to 144 yards passing, and the Bengals, who had built their offense around a hurry-up "sugar huddle" attack all season, could not sustain enough possessions against San Francisco's defense and the eventual game-winning drive. Cincinnati entered the game shorthanded after running back Stanley Wilson was suspended following a cocaine relapse discovered the night before the game, removing the team's third-leading rusher from the roster on the eve of the biggest game of the season, a significant disruption to the Bengals' preparation and rotation. Even so, Cincinnati's defense, built around stars like Tim Krumrie and Reggie Williams, kept the game close throughout and very nearly delivered the franchise's first championship. The victory gave San Francisco its third Super Bowl title of the decade and cemented Bill Walsh's legacy as one of football's great offensive innovators; it also proved to be Walsh's final game as 49ers head coach, as he retired shortly afterward and handed the reins to defensive coordinator George Seifert, who would lead the team to a fourth title the following season. Montana's game-winning drive, still routinely cited among the greatest clutch performances in NFL history, and Rice's record-setting receiving day gave Super Bowl XXIII a lasting reputation as one of the most dramatic and well-played championship games of its era, a fitting capstone to the 49ers' Walsh-era dynasty.

Sources

• Pro-Football-Reference: Super Bowl Index
• Wikipedia: Super Bowl XXIII