Super Bowl XIX

Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1984 season. The 49ers defeated the Dolphins by the score of 38–16, to win their second Super Bowl. The game was played on January 20, 1985, at Stanford Stadium, on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, the first Super Bowl played in the San Francisco Bay Area. This also became the second Super Bowl after Super Bowl XIV where the game was coincidentally played in the home market of one of the participants.

The game was hyped as the battle between two great quarterbacks: Miami's Dan Marino and San Francisco's Joe Montana. The Dolphins entered their fifth Super Bowl in team history after posting a 14–2 regular season record. The 49ers were making their second Super Bowl appearance after becoming the first team to win 15 regular season games since the league expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978.

With Marino and Montana, the game became the first Super Bowl in which the starting quarterbacks of each team both threw for over 300 yards. In addition, the two teams combined for 851 total offensive yards, which at that time was a Super Bowl record. But after trailing 10–7 in the first quarter, the 49ers would end up taking the game in dominating fashion, scoring three touchdowns in the second quarter, and 10 unanswered points in the second half. Montana, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, completed 24 of 35 passes for a Super Bowl-record 331 yards (breaking the mark of 318 yards set by Terry Bradshaw) and three touchdowns. He also broke the Super Bowl record for most rushing yards gained by a quarterback with his five rushes for 59 yards and one rushing touchdown. San Francisco set a Super Bowl record with 537 total yards, breaking the previous record of 429 yards set by the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI.

This was the first Super Bowl to be televised in the United States by ABC, joining the annual broadcasting rotation of the game with CBS and NBC. It was also the first time that the sitting U.S. president participated in the coin toss ceremony; Ronald Reagan appeared live via satellite from the White House and tossed the coin. This Super Bowl was unique in that it fell on the same day that he was inaugurated for a second term; because Inauguration Day (January 20) fell on a Sunday, Reagan was sworn in privately and the public ceremony took place the following day.

This Super Bowl also began the NFC's run of dominance. From 1984 to 1996, the National Football Conference won 13 consecutive Super Bowls and the average score per game in that span was nearly identical to the result of this game, NFC 38, AFC 17. The NFC scored 490 points and committed only 10 turnovers altogether during their run, while the AFC only scored 219 points and committed 44 turnovers.

NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XIX to Stanford Stadium on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California on December 14, 1982, at the owners' mid-season meeting held in Dallas. Near Palo Alto, it was the first Super Bowl to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area. It became the fourth primarily collegiate stadium to host a Super Bowl, following Tulane Stadium, then the home of the Saints (IV, VI, and IX), Rice Stadium (VIII) and the Rose Bowl (XI, XIV, and XVII; it later hosted XXI and XXVII). Owners had tentatively planned to award XIX during the owners' meetings in Detroit on June 3, 1981. Tampa (Tampa Stadium), Miami (Orange Bowl), New Orleans (Superdome), Pasadena (Rose Bowl), Detroit (Silverdome), and Dallas (Cotton Bowl) each made presentations that day, with Detroit and Dallas expressedly bidding on only XIX. Tampa was selected for XVIII, but with no outstanding options, owners decided to postpone the awarding of XIX until their 1982 meeting.

The league eventually reopened the bidding process from scratch. Hosts for both XIX and XX would be selected, and potentially XXI as well. A total of ten cities put in bids: Palo Alto (Stanford Stadium), New Orleans (Superdome), Miami (Orange Bowl), Houston (Rice Stadium), Seattle (Kingdome), Detroit (Silverdome), Pasadena (Rose Bowl), Tampa (Tampa Stadium), Anaheim (Anaheim Stadium), and Jacksonville (Gator Bowl). Stanford Stadium was picked, despite having no lights at the time, no dressing rooms, and a substandard press box. Stadium officials promised much needed renovations, and the league agreed to provide temporary lighting. Representatives from New Orleans stressed that if they were not selected for XX, due to scheduling conflicts, they would not be able to host again until 1990. As such, the Superdome was subsequently selected for XX. Rice Stadium was speculated for XXI, but ultimately no decision was made for that game. Yet again, Miami was rejected, due to the aging condition of the Orange Bowl. A proposed sales tax levy to pay for a new stadium had failed at the ballot box on November 2, further sinking any chances for South Florida.

The Dolphins advanced to the Super Bowl for the fifth time in franchise history, but the year began in tragedy as running back David Overstreet was killed in an automobile accident on June 24 (the team would wear decals on the back of their helmets with the number 20, Overstreet's jersey number). The Dolphins joined the Dallas Cowboys as the only teams to appear in five Super Bowls. Much of the media focus was on Miami's young quarterback, Dan Marino. In just his second year in the league, he broke nearly every NFL single-season passing record. Marino set a record for the most completions in a season (362) and became the first quarterback to throw for over 5,000 yards, reaching a total of 5,084. He set the record for the most games throwing for at least 300 passing yards (9) and the most games with 400 yards (4). Marino's 48 touchdown passes broke the previous record of 36, which was held by both George Blanda for the Houston Oilers in 1961 and Y. A. Tittle for the New York Giants in 1963. And he had the most games (6) and the most consecutive games (4) with at least 4 touchdown passes.