SAN FRANCISCO--A huge banner draped across the front of City Hall contains a message the San Francisco 49ers believe is premature.

"Thanks 49ers for the Super Season," the red-lettered sign proclaims.

Indeed, the team's latest NFC championship is nothing to sneer at. But for a franchise that has found it increasingly hard to meet its own high standards of success, the season so far is only semi-super.

Would the consolation prize from the January 22 Super Bowl be cause for an enjoyable offseason?

A clue may lie in the happy but not frenzied mood in the locker room in Chicago after the 49ers' 28-3 victory over the Bears in the NFC title game last Sunday. Coach Bill Walsh and his players wouldn't say so, but they are a win away from historical greatness.

One more win will give them three Super Bowl trophies, one behind the record by the Pittsburgh Steelers and matching the Oakland-Los Angeles Raiders.

One more win will put Joe Montana nearly on a par with Terry Bradshaw as the definitive Super Bowl championship quarterbacks.

One more win and you can count the ballots early for the 49ers as team of the decade. Washington and Miami will have to duel for runner-up honors next season.

Victory in the Air

"We're not just going to the Super Bowl, we're going there to win," said Roger Craig just minutes after the trip to Miami became official.

Montana, one of only six 49ers on the active roster who have played on both Super Bowl champions, summed up the change in attitude from the Cinderella season in 1981 to the current team and its far loftier goals.

"We expect to go to the Super Bowl every year now," he said. "That's what we set our sights on at the start of training camp every summer."

Perhaps more than his players, the 57-year-old Walsh gains extra motivation from the chance at a third Super Bowl title.

A proud, sensitive man who has been deeply wounded by public criticism over the past year, he has hinted of quitting in the event only of a victory.

"There are people here that basically told me a few weeks ago that I was outdated, and the game had passed me by, right in front of me," he told reporters at the team's training facility in Santa Clara, Calif., this week.