Who's the Best? No Doubt in Bradshaw's Mind

By MIKE DOWNEY

Jan. 24, 1990 12 AM PT

NEW ORLEANS — Terry Bradshaw, who talks in exclamation points, had a lot to say Tuesday about Super Bowl XXIV--not the least of which was that he expects Sunday’s game between San Francisco and Denver to be “a total mismatch, no contest!” in favor of the 49ers, which could end up with such a lopsided final score: “This sucker could be as bad as 55-3, believe me!”

The four-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers also welcomed comparisons to 49er quarterback Joe Montana, who is seeking his fourth NFL title, but said “get serious” to anybody attempting to describe Denver quarterback John Elway as a “great” quarterback on a par with Montana or himself.

“What’s John Elway ever won?” Bradshaw asked. “Look at this year. John didn’t have a great season. He had a great game (against Cleveland). One game doesn’t cut it with me. I mean, John Elway’s very good, but he’s not great. He’s inconsistent.

“And if he wins this Super Bowl? So what? Good for him! That’s one Super Bowl. Jim McMahon won a Super Bowl. Is he great? Would you call him great?

“I think things bother John a lot more than they bother Joe. You hear all these things that Elway was upset about, the fans suffocatin’ him, the press suffocatin’ him--hey, you make $2 million a year, you’d better expect some attention, boy! Wait’ll you have to go out there and get a real job!

“You know what John’s problem is? He’s been babied all his life. He was babied by his city until this year, and he’s been babied by his coaches at least a little bit. I think John Elway needs to get tougher emotionally.”

Bradshaw, a commentator for CBS-TV, will participate in Sunday’s ceremonial coin toss. In town Tuesday for a beer-company promotion, he is returning to his home just outside Dallas until game day, when Bronco fans in the Louisiana Superdome might have a cool reception waiting for him.

“The game, as I see it, is a total mismatch, no contest, no mas !” Bradshaw said. “I don’t see any way in the world the 49ers won’t win this football game.

“Now, I know everybody, includin’ the people I work for, would like me to use all sorts of ‘ifs, ands and buts’ when I say things like this, but why should a man not say what he really thinks? And I think anybody who thinks Denver has a chance is probably not being very realistic.

“But, let me say this: The secret weapon the Broncos have is that we’re sayin’ things like this. The 49ers are not invincible. Joe Montana, believe it or not, does feel pressure. He just handles it better than most people.

“I can see the 49ers strugglin’ in the first half. The key for Denver is if--and damn, I hate this word if --if Elway’s playin’ well. Because I know Montana’s gonna play well! Elway’s got to play the greatest game of his life! Because you know what happens if he doesn’t? The Broncos gotta board their butts on an airplane and go back to Denver 0-4 in the Super Bowl, that’s what!

“Believe me, the only elements the Broncos have going for them are the emotion and stress the 49ers are feeling about being favored. Hey, they’re human beings. They might be a little tight. But, if they play the way I think they’ll play, this sucker could be as bad as 55-3, believe me!”

Bradshaw said he empathizes with Montana in knowing what it’s like to go after a fourth Super Bowl ring, to go where only one quarterback has ever been before.

“My last one, the pressure was horrible! Horrible!” Bradshaw said, laughing, voice steadily rising in volume as always. “We played the Rams. What was the spread in that one--13? As bad as this year’s. Anyway, all we heard all week long was, ‘No contest, no contest, no contest.’ And what am I doin’? I’m tossin’ and turnin’ and havin’ nightmares all night!

“I remember the movie they were showin’ in the hotel rooms all week: somethin’ called ‘Heaven Can Wait.’ Remember that movie? It was about a football game where, in the end, the Rams beat the Steelers. And I gotta watch this damn thing all week long! I kept sayin’ to myself: ‘It’s an omen! It’s an omen!’ I kept seein’ us gettin’ beat, even if nobody else did. “At the game, the fans weren’t even serious. They figured no way we could lose. But, all I’m thinkin’ is, ‘Ohhhh, man. You better not mess this up.’ Because your stock goes down real quick, the minute you lose one of these damn things. I know that’s what Joe Montana will be feelin’. Because let me tell you, a football player’s greatest fear isn’t gettin’ hurt. His greatest fear is failure.”

Asked what he thought of comments that Montana might be the best quarterback ever, Bradshaw, with a smile ear to ear, said 10 years from now somebody will be asking Montana about somebody else, and then 10 years later the same, and so on.

“I don’t think Joe needs my advice, but if I could step into his shoes for a second, I’d tell him to relax, enjoy this thing and don’t listen to what anybody out there is saying, including Bradshaw,” Bradshaw said, good-naturedly. “I’m behind Joe all the way. But if he don’t win, I’ll be braggin’ on being the only guy who’s got four Super Bowl rings, so Joe, don’t let me do that to you!

“Even if he does win, I’ll probably say: ‘But we won four in six years! Ha, ha!’ ”

What does winning four mean?

“It means any negative things they ever thought about you are vanished!” said Bradshaw, who at various times during his career was criticized for his play or his intelligence. At one Super Bowl, Hollywood Henderson of the Dallas Cowboys said Bradshaw couldn’t spell cat if you spotted him the C and the A.

“With four Super Bowls, you got it made,” Bradshaw said, laughing. “It means, once you retire, you can get a job! You can go up to the TV people and say: ‘I want to be a broadcaster.’

“And they say: ‘OK, what are your qualifications?’

“And you say: ‘Well, I won four Super Bowls.’

“And they say: ‘Oh, good. Here, have a job!’ ”

Since his football days, Bradshaw has done bit parts in a couple of Burt Reynolds movies, divorced figure skater JoJo Starbuck and remarried, donned and later doffed both his cowboy hat and toupee while working for CBS, co-wrote his autobiography (“Looking Deep”) and in 1989 was inducted into pro football’s Hall of Fame, which is why he will handle Sunday’s coin toss along with Art Shell, Willie Wood and former teammate Mel Blount.

Pittsburgh’s famed Steel Curtain defense had as much to do with the Steelers’ Super Bowl success as the quarterback did, as Bradshaw is the first to acknowledge. Asked how San Francisco’s overall squad stacks up against the dynasty of the ‘70s, Bradshaw said defense was the big difference between them.

“They don’t have a Mean Joe Greene. . . . They don’t have a Jack Lambert. . . . Where’s their defense’s identity? Their defense doesn’t inspire any fear. The only one who stands out is Ronnie Lott. You look at that defense and they don’t scare you.

“Yet, you ask (Ram quarterback) Jim Everett what he thinks of their defense. He’s the one who hit the deck six or eight times or whatever it was. (Under pressure most of the day, Everett was sacked once.)

“Does San Francisco play good defense? You bet it does. Could San Francisco beat our Pittsburgh teams? No way! How can I say somethin’ like that? Because it ain’t never gonna happen, that’s how come! Come on, you gotta let me be protective of my boys! Naw, we’d beat San Francisco.

“But, can Denver beat San Francisco? I doubt it. Boy, I seriously, seriously doubt it.”