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Maybe it was. However, the 1990 NFC Championship Game arguably had a greater impact on the game of football, in terms of its reverberations -- than any contest since the '58 NFL Championship in Yankee Stadium. All great games, in truth, must be hard-fought with a scant margin at the gun -- but when you have a storyline like the 1990 NFC Championship, well, then you are truly entering rarified air.

Ready?

You had a two-time defending champion, in the midst of a NFL record road winning-streak, possessing in its arsenal the game's greatest receiver, who had torpedoed Atlanta earlier in the year, and the quarterback that all others would be measured by, both of these players made the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team. Jerry Rice and Joe Montana were not the only first-class players in sport's first-class organization, for the fabulous drafts of Bill Walsh had also yielded excellent returns, whether it was first round picks like Rice and Ronnie Lott, or outright thefts in the mid-to-late rounds producing gems such as Charles Haley ...

On the other side, you had a fractured, once-juggernaut (circa 1986) "Neanderthal" NFC East power that rolled to a 10-0 start ... and then lost to Philadelphia and to San Francisco in a mutual 10-1 Monday Night battle at Candlestick, that was among the roughest, toughest NFL games ever played. In what was a harbinger of things to come, Giants kicker Matt Bahr kicked a field goal and the 49ers receiver (and my personal favorite) John Taylor scored a touchdown. 7-3, 49ers.

Actually, the Giants' and the 49ers' meeting in the playoffs was nothing new. In 1981 and 1986, each team used (and in the NYG's case, abused) the other -- triumphing in the divisional round on their way to a Super Bowl title. Incidentally, both teams missed the playoffs the following year, and yes, both were strike seasons. Whereas the 49ers were the unquestioned team of the decade, the Giants passed Chicago in the quest to derail them -- and may very well have in 1989, but an upset divisional loss to the Rams ended the Giants' dreams, after all, in their '89 Monday Nighter, SF prevailed, but only in an exciting overtime battle.

1990 was a watershed year for the NFL, as four dominant teams emerged. All four easily dispatched their opponents in the divisional, and the Giants' 31-3, remember with a backup QB, ousting of Mike Ditka's Bears was most impressive. As for the 49ers, they dropped only two games at home (for the second straight year to the Rams) and had the MVP in Montana; nevertheless, the great champs were leaking oil ...

Part of that had to do with the fact that their leading rusher was not perennial Pro Bowler Roger Craig, but a rookie from Florida State who would not carry the ball once in the NFC Championship Game, and Craig (sigh) would. But I am getting ahead of the story ... Still, spoiled rotten SF fanatics, (13-2, 10-6, 14-2, 14-2 over the 1987-1990 regular seasons and two Lombardi Trophies) came to expect victory. Sure, the '87 campaign had disintegrated thanks in large part to Anthony Carter, when the team had the No. 1 seed, but the Giants did not have a Carter. No, they had Ottis Anderson ...

Bill Parcells, in association with George Young, had rebuilt the Giants -- keeping the fearsome Lawrence Taylor-led defense, while adding a Miami Hurricane and Phoenix Cardinal that had never had a chance to play in the big games. In 1989, he got his opportunity, and the future Super Bowl XXV MVP won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award -- as the G-Men surged to a division championship. And they still had Leonard Marshall, Gary Reasons, Mark Bavaro, and a plethora of other standouts, and of course, Matt Bahr.

I remember watching the K-Gun Bills (in the '90 AFC Championship) annihilate a Bo Jackson-less Raiders team at Rich Stadium (51-3), and pondering how the 49ers could have any chance to curtail the phenomenal Thurman Thomas or the speed Coach Marv Levy's team brought to the table. Goodness, this AFC team could win the Super Bowl! As it turned out, I would not have much to worry about ...

In order to understand this game, and analyze it beyond a 15-13 slugfest that featured one offensive touchdown and a myriad of field goals, it is crucial to understand the finality of it all. Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, and Roger Craig -- played their last meaningful game for the San Francisco 49ers, oh, and once cornerback stalwart Eric Wright, linebacker Keena Turner, and a few other 1980s cogs were out the door, as well. Wow. Their exodus is attributed in no small way to what CBS Sports' and Super Bowl XI winning coach John Madden said could not be done, a backup QB engineering a trip to the Super Bowl.

Back before the days of NFL socialism, the great teams could be readily ascertained heading into the current NFL season. The '83 49ers, the '84 Bears, the '86 Redskins, all lost the NFC Championship -- and won the Super Bowl the following year. The NFC clearly held the prestige, but people were beginning to keep an eye on Buffalo, '90 being their third straight division title and all. However, the '90 NFC Championship held the full and complete attention of the football world, in a game that had been two years in the making ...

The Giants, feeling cheated out of an '89 title game with SF by questionable officiating in their divisional, could only watch the Niners bombard Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Denver in a 17-2 march to immortality. They just did not get any respect, they felt -- because, after all, they weren't as devastating as the '86 crew that won the organization's first championship since the Eisenhower administration. In a side note, I can remember playing one of Madden's recent video games, and hearing the comment of an acquaintance that, "this team (the '90 NYG) cannot do -- --". They did enough, my friend; they did enough ...

The number one story was simple: could the San Francisco 49ers do what Miami and Pittsburgh (twice) could not? Note: I do not include the Packers of the mid-to-late 1960s, because I've yet to find a compelling argument for the '65 Bills against the '65 Packers ... three straight Super Bowls. Never had it been done before, the '74 Dolphins were vanquished in Oakland, ditto the '76 Steelers. Everyone knew that New York had a handle on the 'Frisco O, holding them to below their season average, but could they score enough -- against a tough SF (No. 2 in points-allowed) defense?

In truth, 49er fans remember the game somewhat analogous to how Muslims analyze the Qu'ran: it is not necessarily a story told in sequential order. Rather visions and flashes: flashes of Everson Walls, yes that Everson Walls, a Giant imported from Dallas -- getting burned by John Taylor, scoring yet another touchdown in a key game. Ah, perhaps Montana would finally exploit the Bill Belichek labyrinth -- or not ... Once again, San Francisco could not achieve red-zone inner peace, and, similar to an '89 home loss to the Rams, they did not quite score enough points.

Still, the Giants could, a near-miss from TE Mark Bavaro notwithstanding, do little more than remain close, relying on clutch kicker Matt Bahr, you know Adam Vinatieri before Adam Vinatieri, and his piercing field goals. This war of attrition, absent the occasional Parcells gimmick, like the dastardly Reasons-led fake punt that set up another three points -- was, per usual, going to come down to the final half and the final quarter. This is where the bubble burst, in the form of an utter inability to reward the defense, by laying the ball on the dirt.

The game was 6-6 at halftime -- remember, this is not told in the customary manner, but Taylor's third quarter score was nearly eradicated by a hellish 46-yard FG by Bahr, and suddenly it was 13-9 -- and the 49ers would not score another point. In the fourth quarter, NFL photographers captured an epochal moment in NFL lore: the sight of #70 (Marshall) for the blue helmets coming around the corner, just as Montana stepped up in the pocket, LM flattened him, and a fumble was caused.

Later, after the aforementioned Reasons fake that kept the Giants' dream alive, Bahr whacked the ball over the uprights again, and now, it was only a one point. The cold and dreary march to the guillotine seemingly had commenced. How could the 49ers survive without their greatest benefactor, could a team that had failed to produce a respectable running threat all season kill the clock?

At the time of Bahr's kickoff, 5:47 remained -- and despite Steve Young's exploits in the '88 campaign, he had been relatively unused in the Seifert Era -- no, this would be Roger Craig's duty, his mission to quash the Tuna's bid for a second title. In a related story, the '86 Browns led the Broncos in the AFC Championship, with 5:43 left ...

Roger Craig, a product of Tom Osborne's Huskers, was Walsh's ultraback, and he became the first NFL running back to go over the 1,000-yard mark in both receiving and rushing (1985) -- indeed, in 1988 he was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year -- as the trademark high kick led to many a 49er victory. Craig, who would ultimately travel to Los Angeles after this game, returned to the 49ers in the mid-1990s, in order to retire in the place where he shined. Unfortunately, the enduring memory of the '90 title game had yet to cease from SF loyalists.

Craig had already coughed it up once, and nearly did so again on the first play of the final 49er drive. For a brief moment, it seemed as if the top-flight back could rally the disheartened troops, until Erik Howard caused and LT recovered a fumble that forever stained Craig's legacy as a 49er. With less than three minutes remaining, the 49er defense was called upon to hamper QB Jeff Hostetler enough to keep the would-be assassin (Bahr) out of range. Perhaps, it simply wasn't meant to be ...

After all, how could a neutral observer not marvel at the ironies that enveloped the Bay Area on that grim Sunday afternoon? The aforementioned Everson Walls -- posterized by Dwight Clark on the game-winning touchdown pass from Montana, together with Eric Wright's crucial tackle of Drew Pearson, catapulted SF to their first Super Bowl, with a 28-27 win over Dallas ('81 NFC Championship). The rookie corner had actually picked Montana twice and recovered a fumble, but hardly any of that mattered afterwards. And yet ...

The same son of a gun, who had been present at the dawn of the Montana Reign, just happened to be there to help conclude it, nine long years later. Remember: there's a palpable reason why Walls was so willing to discuss the '81 NFC Championship on NFL's Greatest Games -- he got his revenge, and eventually, a Super Bowl ring.

Bavaro, who had missed on an earlier scoring attempt, made a gigantic catch that, coupled with another reception from Stephen Baker, put the ball on the SF 35 -- with time for one play. To be perfectly honest, I never saw the kick live. I did not have to. I knew that only a botched snap or a fortuitous block was going to keep my favorite team from 1990 extinction ...

When Matt Bahr hammered home the final nail in the coffin, Bill Romanowski knew what is was like to lose for the first time as any NFL player -- indeed, Romo would fall two more times as a 49er ('92 and '93), before a successful transfer to Denver. Ronnie Lott, still an All-Pro, would not be protected by the 49ers -- and he would make his exodus to Los Angeles, Craig would follow suit. Montana sat out the entirety of the '91 season, returning only for a MNF cameo against Detroit in 1992 -- before jettisoning off to KC, in a blockbuster trade.

The '90 Giants outfought two great football teams in the latter days of January, all under the ominous cloud of the Gulf War -- and were among the most courageous and clutch champions in league history. They vanquished the King, but their reign was to be most short-lived. First Parcells, then Taylor, and Phil Simms would take their final bow in Jersey -- New York has yet to prevail in another Super Bowl ...

The 49ers retained the services of Rice and enjoyed the blossoming of Young -- and continued to draft well and spend Eddie DeBartolo's financial resources quite wisely -- but just one more Super Bowl was to come. NFC West titles were still mostly a foregone conclusion, but a Cowboy menace soon arose -- puncturing a few more dream seasons. The enormous commitment to excellence was beginning to take its toll ...

The 1990 NFC Championship was the final stage for many a great 49er -- and for its fans a debacle, if not an outright catastrophe. Montana's glorious run as #16 was all but over, and the jerseys of #33, #42, #21, #58, while to be worn again, by Deion Sanders no less, were unofficially retired in 49er lore.

For the non-partisans, the game represented a clash between the undisputed rulers of all things NFC -- the final chapter in a rivalry born in 1981, that reemerged in the late 1980s -- that climaxed in a championship game for the ages. A jubilant Coach Parcells remarked that this game was what all great football games were supposed to be without, two teams scratching and clawing in a bitter struggle for gridiron supremacy.

In the end, there can be just one champion -- and the Giants simply prevailed that day. The definitiveness of three straight Super Bowl titles as a story would be resurrected in 1994 -- when, yes, the 49ers ended the Dallas Cowboys' march to immortality. Charles Haley, defeated in 1990 (January of 1991, 20th to be precise) would be resigned to the same fate in 1994 (January 1995) -- on the same field, for the same prize. Yet, it must be said that the superb defensive James Madison star did win five rings -- a feat unsurpassed.

Even in a relatively lengthy piece, it is still difficult to cover all the angles of game that had so many of them, it was a phenomenal tussle to be sure, with plot lines that even Hollywood could not script -- and an epochal game in the history of the league. In terms of toughness, in terms of significance, in terms of great uncertainty during the Montana 49ers Last Quarter -- this was one of the most enduring clashes of recent memory.

It lacks the entertainment value of the '92 East Regional Final, or the high drama of any Ali/Frazier war -- but, nonetheless, it deserves its place among the signature sporting contests of the 20th century, even if it took an ex-49er fan an entire Clinton administration to admit such.

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