NFC Championship, 1990: New York Giants 15 San Francisco 13

Game information
The Giants were seeking their first trip to the Super Bowl since they won Super Bowl XXI, while the 49ers were looking to join the Miami Dolphins as the only other team to advance to three consecutive Super Bowls. Exactly six years after winning his second ring in four years, 49ers quarterback Joe Montana was aiming to play for (and, the 49ers hoped, to win) his fifth ring in ten years.

Following their win over Chicago, Giants coach Bill Parcells mentioned travel arrangements in a team meeting during the week. Since the customary week off before the Super Bowl for this season was not on the schedule, Parcells told the team prior to leaving for Newark Airport that they had two packing options: either pack just for the trip to San Francisco, or pack for that trip and a second trip to Tampa. He then showed the team he was packing for both trips as a motivational tactic.

In a mostly defensive battle, 49ers running back Roger Craig's (playing in what would be his final game in a 49er uniform) fumble with 2:36 left in the game led to Giants kicker Matt Bahr's 42-yard game-winning field goal as time ran out. Bahr was New York's only scorer, as he made five out of six field goals. Although the Giants outrushed the 49ers, 152 yards to 49, the game was tied 6–6 at halftime.

San Francisco opened the game with a 10-play, 44-yard drive, the longest play a 14-yard reception by John Taylor. Replays showed the ball coming out of his hands as he went to the ground, but the play was ruled a catch and NFL rules at the time did not allow a replay challenge. A few plays later, Mike Cofer kicked a 47-yard field goal to make the score 3–0. New York struck back by driving 69 yards in 15 plays, including a 21-yard completion from Jeff Hostetler to Mark Ingram Sr. on 3rd and 14 (Hostetler's longest completion of the game). Near the end of the drive, Dave Meggett took the ball on a halfback option, rolled out and delivered a strike to fullback Maurice Carthon. Carthon dropped the ball in the back of the end zone. It was the closest the Giants would get to scoring a touchdown. Bahr finished the drive with a 35-yard field goal that tied the game with 2:41 left in the first quarter.

The second quarter was mostly uneventful, but following a few punts, New York drove 56 yards in 14 plays to take a 6–3 lead on Bahr's 42-yard field goal with one minute left in the half. However, the 49ers offense which had been dominated the entire quarter suddenly sprung to life. First, Dexter Carter returned the kickoff 27 yards to the 49ers 34-yard line. Then Joe Montana went to work, completing a 19-yard pass to Jerry Rice and rushing for a 7-yard gain, and then completing a 5-yard pass to Craig over the next three plays. A personal foul penalty on Giants lineman Eric Dorsey added 15 yards to Craig's catch and gave the 49ers a first down on the New York 21. On the next play, Montana was sacked for an 8-yard loss by Leonard Marshall, but he followed this up with two completions to Craig that advanced the ball to the 17, where Cofer kicked a 35-yard field goal that tied the score at 6 going into halftime.

New York had to punt on the first possession of the second half, and Taylor returned the ball 31 yards to the 49ers 39-yard line. On the next play, Taylor took in a pass from Montana while in single coverage by Everson Walls. Walls stepped in front of Taylor, but completely missed the ball, enabling Taylor to catch the pass with no one between him and the end zone, where he proceeded to take off for a 61-yard touchdown catch that gave San Francisco a 13–6 lead. New York responded by driving 50 yards and scoring with a 46-yard field goal by Bahr that made the score 13–9 with 6:06 left in the third quarter. The Giants soon had a chance to score again when Dave Meggett returned a 49ers punt 18 yards to the New York 45-yard line. Two carries by Ottis Anderson gained 36 yards and moved the ball into the red zone, but they could go no further and Bahr missed a 37-yard field goal attempt.

In the fourth quarter, Giants quarterback Jeff Hostetler was hit at the knees by 49ers defensive tackle Jim Burt. Hostetler was injured on the play, but walked off the field without assistance. Giants linebacker Carl Banks later recalled that the defense was infuriated by the play and looked to strike back. "It was unspoken...that if you hurt one of our guys, we knew who to go after," Banks said.

On the 49ers' next drive, Montana called a pass play on third down. With the New York defense covering all of his receivers, Montana was forced to move outside the pocket towards his right to make a play. Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor was the first Giant to try to bring Montana down, with defensive end Leonard Marshall trailing the play, getting up from a crawl after going to the ground from a Tom Rathman block earlier in the sequence. Montana stepped back out of the path of Taylor's rush, only to move into Marshall's oncoming charge from the blind side. Marshall drilled Montana hard in the back, driving him into the turf and forcing a fumble. The 49ers managed to recover the fumble as the ball skipped past Giants cornerback Mark Collins and lineman Steve Wallace corralled the football, enabling the 49ers to punt. Marshall hit Montana so hard that he suffered a bruised sternum, bruised stomach, cracked ribs, and a broken hand. Montana would not play in another regular-season game until December 1992.

Hostetler returned for the next drive but the Giants went three-and-out. On the next play, the Giants executed the most important special-teams play of the contest. New York called a fake punt with the ball snapped directly to linebacker Gary Reasons, the upback in the punt formation, and he ran 30 yards for a first down through an undermanned 49ers defense that had only sent 10 men on to the field. Only a tackle by Taylor, the 49ers punt returner, prevented him from taking it all the way. Hostetler then drove the Giants to the opposing 21-yard line, but could get no further and nearly threw an interception on a third-down pass toward the end zone. Bahr kicked his fourth field goal of the game with 5:47 left to bring the score to 13–12.

Steve Young came in to replace Montana on the next drive, and the 49ers tried to run as much time as they could off the clock. On the second play of the drive Brent Jones got behind the Giants defense; on his only pass attempt of the afternoon, Young hit Jones for a 25-yard gain. Two plays later, Craig recorded a six-yard gain for the 49ers' first rushing first down of the day. It would also be their last offensive first down of the game.

The 49ers called another run on their next play, with Craig called on to run up the middle through a hole created by guard Guy McIntyre and center Jesse Sapolu with a double team block on defensive tackle Erik Howard. However, McIntyre was forced to move off of the block to defend against linebacker Pepper Johnson, and the hole closed. Sapolu was able to push Howard down to the ground, but did so just as Craig was reaching him. While all this was going on, Taylor was converging on the play from the other side having gotten past tight end Brent Jones. Howard made contact with the football on his way down, knocking it free from Craig's hands, and Taylor was able to grab it out of the air before it hit the turf.

With 2:36 left and with all three timeouts, Hostetler and the Giants began driving again. He hit Mark Bavaro for 19 yards on the first play and later hit Stephen Baker for 13 more on a second down to set up a short run by Ottis Anderson for two yards and a first down. The Giants called two running plays to get the ball to the middle of the field, and with four seconds left Bahr was called on to try to win the game. His kick went through the uprights as time ran out and the Giants won 15–13.

As mentioned earlier, the Giants outrushed the 49ers 152 yards to 49. Anderson led all rushers with 67 yards on 20 carries. Hostetler completed 15 of 27 passes for 176 yards, threw no touchdowns, was not intercepted, and had a quarterback rating of 75 for the game. Montana, meanwhile, completed 18 of 26 passes for 190 yards and 1 touchdown for a quarterback rating of 103. Sixty-one of those yards, though, came on said touchdown pass to Taylor. Montana's quarterback rating, minus the touchdown, was 80.3 (17 of 25 for 129 yards). Craig, despite losing a costly fumble, still led the 49ers in rushing: 8 carries for 26 yards. Montana (2 carries for 9 yards) and Tom Rathman (1 carry for 4 yards) rounded out the 49ers' rushing statistics.

After the game, it was speculated that, even if the 49ers had won, Young would have started the Super Bowl because of the severity and scope of the injuries Montana incurred from the hit by Leonard Marshall (see above).

The game was featured in the NFL's Greatest Games as the End of a Dynasty.

This was the fifth postseason meeting between the Giants and 49ers. Both teams split the previous four meetings.

Wikipedia

New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor runs after recovering a 49ers fumble in the fourth quarter. 49ers in photo are quarterback Steve Young (8), Jesse Sapolu (61) and Guy McIntyre (62).

Roger Craig looks for room to run.