Candlestick Park

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Lore & Background

The 49ers hosted eight NFC Championship games during their time at Candlestick Park. The first was in January 1982 when Dwight Clark caught a game-winning touchdown pass from Joe Montana to lead the 49ers to Super Bowl XVI by defeating the Dallas Cowboys. Clark's play went down as one of the more famous in football history, and was dubbed 'The Catch'. The last of these came in January 2012, when Lawrence Tynes kicked a field goal in overtime to defeat the 49ers and send the New York Giants to Super Bowl XLVI. The final postseason game hosted by the 49ers at Candlestick Park was the 2012 NFC Divisional Playoff matchup between the 49ers and the Green Bay Packers, won by the 49ers by a score of 45–31 (January 2013). The 49ers' record in NFC Championship games at Candlestick Park was 4-4; they defeated the Cowboys twice, in 1981 and 1994, the Chicago Bears in 1988, and the Los Angeles Rams in 1989. Their losses came against the Cowboys in 1992, the Giants in 1990 and 2011, and the Packers in 1997. In addition to Clark's famous touchdown catch, two more plays referred to as 'The Catch' took place during games at Candlestick Park. The play dubbed 'The Catch II' came in the 1998 NFC Wild Card round, as Steve Young found Terrell Owens for a touchdown with eight seconds left to defeat the two-time defending NFC Champion Packers. The play called 'The Catch III' came in the 2011 NFC Divisional Playoffs, when Alex Smith threw a touchdown pass to Vernon Davis with nine seconds remaining to provide the winning margin against the New Orleans Saints.

In Their Own Story

The wind hit the sideline like a physical wall, snapping the play-calling sheets from the coach's hands. Inside the tunnel, Joe Montana adjusted his helmet, feeling the familiar chill seep through his jersey before he even stepped onto the field. The crowd roared, a sound that seemed to fight against the gale outside. As he broke the huddle, the quarterback looked up at the bleachers, where thousands of fans stood wrapped in wool and plastic, their breath visible in the freezing air. They weren't just watching a game; they were enduring it with him. One snap later, the ball spiraled through the swirling mist, finding its target perfectly despite the chaos of the elements.

Reader's Guide

For its last several years as home to just the 49ers, Candlestick Park was the only remaining NFL stadium to have begun as a baseball-only facility which later underwent an extensive redesign to accommodate football. That was evidenced by the stadium's curiously oblong and irregular shape, whereby views from a sizable section of lower-deck seating in the baseball configuration's right-field corner were so badly obstructed by the eastern grandstand of the football seating configuration that they were unusable for football games and would consequently sit empty. Since a football gridiron, including its end zones and benches along the sidelines, is much smaller than a baseball playing field and foul territory, this large grandstand, which provided thousands of prime seats along one whole sideline of the football field, was designed to be retractable. It would slide backwards for baseball games, under the upper deck, and provide a smaller section of baseball seating beyond the outfield wall in right. After the Giants played their 1999 season and moved away from Candlestick, this grandstand was left permanently in its football position, and the unusable seats were eventually removed.

Did You Know?

• The 49ers hosted eight NFC Championship games at Candlestick Park, with a record of 4-4.
• Dwight Clark's game-winning touchdown catch from Joe Montana in the 1981 NFC Championship game is known as 'The Catch'.
• The final postseason game hosted by the 49ers at Candlestick Park was the 2012 NFC Divisional Playoff, a 45–31 win over the Green Bay Packers.
• On October 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck minutes before Game 3 of the World Series was to begin at Candlestick Park; no one within the stadium was injured.
• The last event held at Candlestick was a concert by Paul McCartney in August 2014.