DALLAS — There was no physical torch on the sidelines at Candlestick Park on that late January afternoon 41 years ago, but America could sense something was shifting when Joe Montana found Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone that day. The Cowboys, who had lived in the Super Bowl, going five times in the ‘70s, would not make a trip in the ‘80s. The 49ers would win four Lombardi Trophies in the decade.
Likewise, for those of us in the press box 11 years later — we just passed the 30th anniversary of this game Tuesday — it was unofficial and yet it was there. If San Francisco, which always looked like the best team in the regular season, was going to fail a third straight year to reach the Super Bowl, maybe the young Troy Aikman-led Cowboys were about to do something more than win one game.
Indeed, they did.
