Walsh and the 49ers defeated Cincinnati in the Super Bowl, which was played in Pontiac, Michigan.

The two conference title games led to a hot bidding war between the clubs for players ; the Niners signed cornerback Deion Sanders from the Atlanta Falcons and also signed linebacker Ken Norton, Jr. from the Cowboys ; they defeated the Cowboys 21-14 in the 1994 regular season and then hosted the Cowboys in that year's Conference title game, with the Cowboys now coached by Barry Switzer ; the 49ers raced to a 21-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the first quarter and won 38-28 en route to Super Bowl XXIX.

The Giants defeated the 49ers 49 – 3 in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs and the Redskins 17 – 0 in the NFC championship game, advancing to their first Super Bowl, Super Bowl XXI, against the Denver Broncos at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

They defeated the San Francisco 49ers, who were attempting to win the Super Bowl for an unprecedented third straight year, 15 – 13 at San Francisco and then defeated the Buffalo Bills 20 – 19 in Super Bowl XXV.

Meanwhile, the Redskins crushed the Los Angeles Rams 51 – 7, and then narrowly defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 24 – 21, with Mark Moseley kicking the game winning field goal with just 40 seconds left.

The 49ers defeated the Dolphins by the score of 38 – 16, to win their second Super Bowl.

The 49ers defeated the Broncos by the score of 55 – 10, winning their second consecutive Super Bowl, and tying the Pittsburgh Steelers with four Super Bowl victories.

The 49ers then entered the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams, who had defeated San Francisco in one of their two regular season games against them and were coming off postseason wins against two of the NFC's toughest teams, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles.

One week after losing to the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, 31 – 13, the 10 – 1 Giants were defeated on Monday Night Football in a 7 – 3 defensive battle with the 10 – 1 San Francisco 49ers, who had won the previous two Super Bowls and ultimately finished the regular season with an NFL best 14 – 2 record.

The Redskins defeated the Bills by the score of 37 – 24, becoming the fourth team after the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Oakland Raiders, and the San Francisco 49ers to win three Super Bowls.

Dallas then defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 30 – 20, in the NFC Championship Game.

The Cowboys defeated the Bills by the score of 30 – 13, winning their fourth Super Bowl in team history, tying the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers for most Super Bowl wins.

The 49ers defeated the Chargers by the score of 49 – 26, becoming the first team to win five Super Bowls.

The 49ers first defeated the Chicago Bears, 44-15, in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.

The Dallas Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos, 27-10 in Super Bowl XII, the Oakland Raiders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10 in Super Bowl XV, the Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots, 46-10 in Super Bowl XX and the San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV.

The Buccaneers defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31-6, and the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10, in the playoffs, to make the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

In their first two playoff games, the 49ers defeated the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears by a combined score of 44-10.

The 49ers defeated the Dolphins 38-16 and Montana earned his second Super Bowl MVP award.

The play earned the 49ers a 24 – 21 victory and a bit of revenge on the Vikings, who had defeated them in the 1987 playoffs.

On the strength of a six touchdown performance that surpassed the previous Super Bowl record of five, owned by the man Young replaced, Joe Montana, Steve Young was named the MVP of Super Bowl XXIX, as the 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers, 49-26.

Without the threat of a running game, Young threw three interceptions ( the last one a hail mary pass with under 30 seconds remaining in the game ) and the 49ers were defeated by the Atlanta Falcons 20-18.

The 2001 49ers managed to compile a 12-4 record but were defeated by the Packers led by Brett Favre in a wild-card playoff game.

In the Wild Card round, the Redskins defeated the Minnesota Vikings on the road, by the score of 24 – 7, however they would fall in the Divisional Round to the San Francisco 49ers in a road game by the score of 20 – 13, ending the Redskins ' hopes of retaining their Super Bowl crown.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Bengals were a perennial playoff contender and they won AFC championships in and, but lost Super Bowls XVI and XXIII to the San Francisco 49ers.

The Bengals reached the Super Bowl twice during the 1980s, but lost both times to the San Francisco 49ers.

Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference ( NFC ) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference ( AFC ) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League ( NFL ) champion for the 1981 season.

Although the Bengals gained 356 yards of total offense to the 49ers ' 275, this marked the first time in Super Bowl history that the team which compiled the most yards and touchdowns lost.

The 49ers had handily beaten the Bengals in a December game played in Cincinnati and consequently were installed as a 2-point favorite.

With just 15 seconds left in the half, Ray Wersching's ensuing squib kick was muffed by Bengals running back Archie Griffin, and the 49ers recovered the ball on the Bengals 4-yard line.

The 49ers only gained 8 yards on their ensuing drive, and Bengals got the ball back after receiving Jim Miller's 44 yard punt at their own 47-yard line.

The Bengals tried an onside kick, but Clark recovered the ball for the 49ers, allowing San Francisco to run out the clock to win the game.

Bill Walsh retired as head coach after San Francisco's 20 – 16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the previous year's Super Bowl XXIII but rookie head coach George Seifert did not miss a beat as he guided the 49ers to a league best 14 – 2 regular season record.

The San Francisco 49ers had led the Cincinnati Bengals 20 – 0 at halftime in Super Bowl XVI.

The Dolphins and Redskins met twice ( VII and XVII ), as did the Steelers and Cowboys ( X and XIII ) and 49ers and Bengals ( XVI and XXIII ).

In what many people thought could be McMahon's finest hour, it was his opposite number, Joe Montana who shined, as he led the 49ers to a 28 – 3 victory over the Bears as they went on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 20 – 16 in the twenty-third Super Bowl.

* Super Bowl XXIII – San Francisco 49ers won 20 – 16 over the Cincinnati Bengals

* Super Bowl XVI – San Francisco 49ers won 26-21 over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Among them were Ray Pinney of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, Cedrick Hardman of the 1970s San Francisco 49ers and early 1980s Oakland Raiders, Anthony Carter ( Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions ), Arthur Whittington ( Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills ), Bobby Hebert ( New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons ), Gary Plummer ( San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers ), Raymond Chester ( Oakland Raiders, Baltimore Colts ), Albert Bentley ( Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers ), Dave Browning ( Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Raiders, New England Patriots ), Ray Bentley ( Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals ), Dale Markham ( St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Green Bay Packers ) and Derek Holloway ( Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers ).

* 1981 ( NFL )-Super Bowl XVI-1 / 24 / 82 NFC San Francisco 49ers 26, AFC Cincinnati Bengals 21

* 1988 ( NFL )-Super Bowl XXIII-1 / 22 / 89 NFC San Francisco 49ers 20, AFC Cincinnati Bengals 16

His first touchdown came on October 20 against the Cincinnati Bengals ; in the fourth quarter he caught a 45-yard touchdown throw from Steve Young that tied a game eventually won by the 49ers 28-21.

" Brown stayed on as team president following his retirement, and the Bengals later made two trips to the Super Bowl, losing both games to Walsh and the 49ers.

Heading into week 14 the Bengals ' W-L record was 10-3 as getting ready to play the San Francisco 49ers ; the media asked Bill Walsh about his former quarterback and he said, " Ken Anderson is the greatest quarterback in football today " and he also added that " Cincinnati is the team to beat in the NFL, there's no doubt about it ".

Although the Bengals lost their week 14 matchup against the 49ers be the score of 21-3, Bill Walsh's prediction about Cincinnati being the team to beat would come true as they would face off against each other in the Super Bowl.

The Bengals lost Super Bowl XVI 26-21 against the San Francisco 49ers, but Anderson had a solid performance, especially in the second half, despite his team trailing 20-0 at the end of the first half.