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The Giants and 49ers won few points for presentation in their 1990 NFC title game, but their 15-13 battle in which the Giants earned their first trip to the Super Bowl on the final play of the game will be remembered as a classic.

The teams had met once in the regular season, on a Monday night in San Francisco, and the 49ers defense dominated in a 7-3 victory over the Giants. The first half of their meeting in the NFC Championship Game was also a defensive struggle, as indicated by the 6-6 halftime score.

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In the third quarter, the 49ers struck gold when Joe Montana threw a strike to John Taylor down the sideline for a 61-yard touchdown and a 13-6 lead. The Giants got a field goal from Matt Bahr before the quarter's end to tighten the score to 13-9.

The 49ers' fortunes took a turn for the worse with 9:41 remaining, when Montana's day ended after a crushing hit by Leonard Marshall forced him to cough up the ball. The 49ers didn't lose possession, but they were forced to punt.

"We don't like to see guys go out," New York linebacker Carl Banks said. "But it was a clean hit. It just picked up the intensity of our defense."

	Matt Bahr attempts a field-goal against the San Francisco 49ers at the park then known as Candlestick.

On the Giants' ensuing drive, New York was stopped at the 46-yard line when Ottis Anderson lost a yard on third-and-1. But on fourth-and-2, ultra-conservative Bill Parcells gambled with a fake punt. Linebacker Gary Reasons took the snap and went 30 yards to save the drive.

"We had looked at it, (and) I told Gary to check it out on the first couple of punts," Parcells said. "He checked it out. He thought it was there, and fortunately, it worked."

The Giants again failed to put the ball in the end zone, and Bahr converted his fourth field goal of the day, cutting San Francisco's lead to one point. With 5:40 left, the 49ers would have the ball, needing only to run out the clock to reach their third consecutive Super Bowl.

Roger Craig coughed up the ball on the first play of the drive, but much to the dismay of the Giants defense, he was ruled down by contact. The 49ers' drive continued with Craig chewing up yardage, and more importantly, time off the clock. But with 2:40 left, fate dealt a cruel blow to San Francisco's hopes for a third consecutive Super Bowl title.

Craig lost the ball for the second time in the drive. This time, it was ruled a fumble and the Giants had a chance.

Giants quarterback Jeff Hostetler went to the air twice on the last drive. First, hitting Mark Bavaro for 19 yards, and later connecting with Steven Baker for 13 yards. With Bahr waiting on the sidelines, the ground game got the ball inside the 25 with four seconds left.

The ball was spotted at the 32-yard line, Bahr converted the 42-yard field goal, and the Giants set sail for Tampa Bay and a Super Bowl date against the Bills.

"When you lose, you lose, whether you lose by 20 or you lose by two," Ronnie Lott said. "The fact is that you work so hard to get to this point, and we lost it here. We can say we had a great season, but by no means did we have a great season because we didn't get to the top."

The Giants would go on to reach the top despite failing to score a single touchdown in the NFC Championship Game. But hard-fought, defensive grudge matches are what postseason football is really about ... at least if you ask Parcells.

"That's what championship football is supposed to be about," Parcells said. "Hey, they got great players. I think we got some great players, and you guys just saw a hell of a game.

"I'll tell you that the score is not as wide open as some of the artistic people would have liked, but I'm sure Woody Hayes and Bear Bryant would have liked that one."