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Against a revamped, yet still powerful, 49ers offense, the Giants would have to do battle without many of the stars from their vaunted 1990 defense. Pepper Johnson was gone, having left that off-season to join Bill Belichick in Cleveland; Carl Banks, who signed with Washington for the 1993 season, would join them both the next year. Everson Walls, Gary Reasons, and Leonard Marshall, the great pass rushing defensive end, weren’t there either.

Within seconds of the opening kickoff, it became clear that this Giants team would not produce another thrilling upset by the Bay. Four and a half minutes into the game, San Francisco completed an eighty-yard touchdown drive.

By the first snap of the second period, the 49ers scored again, and when Ricky Watters added his third rushing touchdown of the half, late in the second period, the Giants trailed 23-0. The field goal New York kicked just before halftime proved to be meaningless. The Giants were manhandled in the second half, as three more rushing touchdowns (including Watters’ fourth and fifth of the day) gave the 49ers a dominating 44-3 victory.

“Some of the guys were saying, ‘Man these guys are good,’” safety Greg Jackson said. “I was so mad. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to slap some of those guys. I think a lot of the young guys weren’t used to that kind of competition. They were shellshocked, scared. Some of them probably thought we were beat right from the start.”

As bad as the Giants defense played—six touchdowns, 413 yards allowed, 79 percent pass-completion percentage—the offense was worse. The running game—which helped the Giants control the clock for more than thirty-five minutes in their playoff victory against Minnesota—managed just forty-one yards on nineteen carries. With their Pro Bowl running back, Rodney Hampton, gaining just twelve yards on seven carries, the Giants offense sustained only one drive of any length. New York converted just two of twelve third-down situations.

“Maybe the key to the game was the coin toss,” Dan Reeves said. “They got the ball and it was 7-0. We were never able to play ball control. We were never able to get our running game going. We had to play catch-up all day. We didn’t execute and they kicked our butts physically.”

Phil Simms had a rough afternoon too. Without the team’s clutch receiving duo of Mark Ingram (free agency) and Stephen Baker (released during preseason), Simms completed less than half of his passes and tossed two interceptions. It wouldn’t become official for more than a year, but the crushing loss to San Francisco turned out to be his last NFL game.

“They were just way too good for us,” Simms said. “If we could have kept some drives alive, we might have been able to hang in there. We tried but we just weren’t good enough.”

Another Giants Super Bowl hero joined Simms in ending his career on this sourest of notes. Within minutes of leaving the field after the worst defensive performance in team history, Lawrence Taylor addressed a group of reporters.

“I think it’s time for me to retire,” he said. “I’ve done everything I can do. I’ve been to Super Bowls. I’ve been to playoffs. I’ve done things that other people haven’t been able to do in this game before. After 13 years, it’s time for me to go,” Taylor said that day.

After playing the entire season on a surgically repaired Achilles tendon, the Giants re-signed him for the 1993 season. They didn’t want him to join Bill Parcells and the New England Patriots.

“I’m fortunate the Giants allowed me to come back and be on the ground floor of something big. In the years to come, I can always say I was there when this team started to make its rise to the top.”

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Seven hours before Lawrence Taylor, Phil Simms, and the Giants dynasty of the 1980s bid farewell to the National Football League, the Buffalo Bills sprinted out of the tunnel at Rich Stadium. They too had a rematch with an old foe from January 1991’s conference championship Sunday. The Los Angeles Raiders came to town for the AFC divisional playoff round.

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