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and the Giants went on to get Bill Parcells his second ring...

But a bit more long-term damage was done in that game, as Montana went down with both a concussion and a broken hand. Steve Young came into the game and lead them to a seeming game-winning drive... until the fumble.

Steve Young started the next year with Montana on the shelf and put up good numbers, but the Niners were under .500 when Young went down and third-string quarterback Steve Bono came in to save the season. Bono lead San Francisco to a 5-1 record before Young returned for the final game, but the Niners and Seifert missed the playoffs despite a 10-6 record. The larger picture was that Seifert had found his quarterback, and with Montana still hurt Young and Seifert were both trying to replace legends.

Steve Young won the MVP the next year while Montana was still hurt. After the loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs, the Niners moved to clear up any quarterback controversy and traded Joe Cool to Kansas City. The team finally had moved on from Montana and Walsh and was now Seifert and Young.

The Niners repeated as the number one offense in the NFL for the second straight year but Seifert's defense dropped from third to sixteenth in points allowed. San Francisco was beaten by Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys for a second straight year in the playoffs. DeBartolo had had enough of losing in the playoffs and brought in some big free agents, including Deion Sanders, and that was enough to bring Seifert and the Forty-Niners their second post-Walsh Super Bowl title run. This ring was ALL Seifert as only seven members of the team remained that were there during Walsh's final year.

The next year was an injury-plagued and was compounded when Mike Shanahan, who Seifert had given control over the offense, left to become coach of the Denver Broncos. Ricky Watters also left in free agency for Philadelphia, which hurt the running game. Backfield duties fell to William Floyd, who also went down with injuries. The following year was even more of the same, as the salary cap prevented San Francisco from having the depth they used to have and some bad draft picks failed to pan out. Seifert ended his Niners' reign at the end of the 1996 season with a 108-35 record, turning the reigns over to offensive coordinator Steve Mariucci. Seifert was not looking to rebuild again and unsure of the future of Steve Young and himself in the Bay Area...

Fast forward to January 1999. The Carolina Panthers

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