How Shanahan motivated 49ers with '94 NFC Championship Game

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Kyle Shanahan did his best to stay in the moment. The past is the past, all that mattered was Sunday at Jerry World. The 49ers' wild comeback win against the Los Angeles Rams from the week prior didn't matter anymore, nor did a game 27 years ago. 

But there he found himself on Thursday night unable to sleep and with only one solution: Watch the 49ers' win over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game back in the 1994 season. He put on the game, and even tried to find a 15-year-old version of himself, but came up empty.

"I tapped into it a little bit with our team just to kind of show them and also to pump them up," Shanahan said Sunday when asked if he used the rivalry as motivation before the NFC Wild Card Game. "I really enjoyed Friday just showing them.

"I remember Thursday night I was at my house and wasn't sleeping, so I just went and watched the '94 game. It was real cool to just watch that and watch the 1-on-1s by Michael Irvin and Deion [Sanders]. I remember being on the sidelines there. I was trying to find myself, but the HD wasn't good enough to find me."

Whatever Shanahan got out of watching a game nearly three decades old cleary worked. His 49ers survived a wild 23-17 win against the Cowboys in Dallas, advancing to the NFC Divisional Playoffs next week against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. 

Shanahan admits that he got some personal joy from watching that old game, one of the last where his father Mike was the 49ers' offensive coordinator before taking over as the Denver Broncos' head coach. He doesn't believe his players truly needed extra motivation, though it did send a message. 

Legacies are built in the playoffs, not the regular season. 

"I ended up showing some of the guys Friday. It was just kind of cool because you think back to those days and those are my heroes," Shanahan said. "They became my heroes from watching those games, like I think most people from my generation. I just try to remind those guys that Deion and Michael, they were 25 then. They're just like you guys. ... These guys become everyone's heroes because of what you guys do in the playoffs, not what you do in the season.

"I don't think the guys totally know the rivalry -- they have an idea now -- but they knew moment. They were ready for it."

The win improved the 49ers' all-time record against the Cowboys to 18-19-1 overall, and 3-5 in the playoffs., It was the first time these two faced each other in the playoffs since the exact game that Shanahan watched Thursday night, and the head coach himself improved to 3-1 overall in the postseason. 

Alex Mack, one of the 49ers' elder statesmen, called the rivalry "special" after the win, though he maintained the week's focus was on Sunday instead of the past. 

George Kittle acknowledged the win meant "a lot" to Shanahan, but made it clear the head coach wasn't alone there. The star tight end also shared how much the history of the 49ers means to Shanahan and the rest of the organization. 

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"When I was a rookie, I think John [Lynch] and Kyle did a fantastic job of our whole OTAs they put us in these rookie meetings, but we got to go to the Niners Museum, we got to watch a bunch of tape on old Niners players because they were trying to rebuild the Niners to how it was, how it used to be and use that kind of how we want to build our foundation, how we want to build our team," Kittle said.

"It just makes you really respect -- it makes you want to play at a high level. We stand on the shoulders of legends, we really do. One thing I learned in college is you want to leave your jersey in a better place. There's so many 49ers players who left their jerseys in a better place and that's what we're trying to do too. Just play at a high level and win games that matter." 

The 49ers' rivalry with the Cowboys is full of legends. As is their long history with the Packers. Next Saturday will be another legacy game, one that gets either team that much closer to the final goal.

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