The Bengals got the ball back moments later as the 49er offense began to stall, and a 41-yard bomb from Anderson to Collinsworth put Cincinnati in business on the 14. But Pete Johnson, after picking up a first down at the three, failed to get the ball into the end zone on first and second downs.

Dave Bunz of the 49ers stopped Bengal running back Charles Alexander just inches away from a touchdown on the next play, and Johnson was denied once more on fourth down when middle linebacker Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds met him over the right guard hole.

The Bengals did come back to score on their next possession, with Anderson throwing to tight end Dan Ross for a four-yard touchdown with five minutes gone in the final period.

But San Francisco's offense, after playing the entire third quarter without a first down, regrouped and set up two more field goals by Wersching, from 40 and 23 yards.

A touchdown pass, again from Anderson to Ross, cut the margin to 26-21 with just 16 seconds left, but Clark sealed the Bengals' defeat by recovering an attempted onside kick.

Montana, a hero for Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl just three years ago, completed 14 of 22 passes for 156 yards.

Montana was voted the game's Most Valuable Player by writers covering the event.

The 49ers' win in Super Bowl XVI completed a remarkable season in which they compiled the National Football League's best record, winning 16 of their 19 games. Last year, San Francisco struggled to a 6-10 won-lost record and a third-place finish in the National Conference Western Division.

Ross, one of Cincinnati's few heros, blamed nervousness for his team's poor first-half performance. "The big difference is that they played loose and we didn't. It was just like stage first for us," he said to reporters after the game.

Bengal punter Pat McInally '75, only the second Harvard player to appear in a Super Bowl, averaged 43 yards on three kicks for the Bengals. McInally led the NFL in punting this season and will play in the Pro Bowl in Honolulu next week.