2014 NFL Tournament of Champions Third Round: Joe Montana Bracket

Only sixteen teams remain. Somehow amidst the chaos of work, painting, a little bit of moving, rain in Los Angeles, and some other things, I've been able to keep up with this.

The teams remaining have some names that you would definitely recognize, while there are other teams that are strangely out of the mix (looking at you, '85 Bears and '72 Dolphins). The Joe Montana Bracket has stayed largely intact, the exception being the 41 seeded '88 San Francisco 49ers winning two road games thus far. Can they win a third? And can the top seed survive?

For these two games, I will simulate them as a best-of-three with the "clinching" game being the official result. I'll try to get an official forecast to make weather somewhat accurate. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's open Round Three.


(XVII) '89 San Francisco 49ers @ (I) '91 Washington Redskins
Game 1: '91 WAS 27, '89 SF 20
Game 2: '89 SF 30, '91 WAS 16
Game 3: '91 WAS 33, '89 SF 17
Washington kept scoring, but the Niners had an answer for it until about halfway through the third quarter, at which point they scored 16 unanswered points. Earnest Byer ran for 55 yards and a touchdown, while Mark Rypien completed 11 of 18 passes for 268 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Joe Montana ended up completing 18 of 33 passes for 246 yards, a touchdown to Jerry Rice, and a pick while being sacked three times. Roger Craig ran 19 times for 79 yards and a touchdown for San Francisco.

(XLI) '88 San Francisco 49ers @ (VIII) '04 New England Patriots
Game 1: '04 NE 24, '88 SF 16
Game 2: '88 SF 31, '04 NE 18
Game 3: '04 NE 20, '88 SF 13
Tom Brady had a modest game for the Pats, completing 13 of 18 passes for 196 yards, but it was Corey Dillon who carried the load. He ran 21 times for 142 yards and a touchdown, while adding a 57 yard touchdown catch from Brady as well. Joe Montana completed 16 of 26 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown for San Fran, but despite reaching New England territory on all his second half drives, couldn't manage any points. Give a lot of credit to Roosevelt Colvin, who had three sacks for the Patriots.

To see the updated bracket, click here.

The top seeds hold serve, and in both cases, they're more recent teams. Recency hasn't meant much in this tournament, but home field has had an impact. These two teams will do battle in the quarterfinals next weekend in Landover, Maryland. And unfortunately for Joe Montana, his namesakes in this bracket have all been eliminated. Such is football, however.

Tomorrow, I'll be back at the Larry Csonka Bracket. Will we see more home field advantage used? Games in Tampa and up at the Tundra should be exciting!