Bengals 50: Dan Bunz, the man who changed Super Bowl XVI

Jim Owczarski | Cincinnati Enquirer

This season marks the 50th of football for the Cincinnati Bengals, five decades filled with highs, lows, dynamic personalities and innovations that changed the face of the National Football League. The Enquirer brings you the 50 most influential people in Bengals history through various forms of media, bringing you the names and untold stories that shaped this franchise over its first half century -- good, bad and ugly.

First and goal from the 3.

League Most Valuable Player Ken Anderson under center. Pete Johnson, a 250-pound Pro Bowler with over 1,000 yards rushing behind him. Charles Alexander, all 225 pounds of him, led the way for some of those yards. So did a future Hall of Famer in Anthony Muñoz and a tough, athletic offensive line.

The Cincinnati Bengals trailed the San Francisco 49ers 20-7 with 3 minutes, 9 seconds left in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVI in Detroit and were on the doorstep of truly making it a game. First and goal, from the 3-yard line.

"Nobody was stopping Pete Johnson at that time," said Bruce Coslet, the Bengals special teams coordinator. "He was a power. I mean, he was a powerful back."

On the other side was an angry, 26-year-old linebacker in Dan Bunz. Benched by 49ers head coach Bill Walsh, he asked to be traded after the season.

"My linebacker coach said you need to get traded, you could start for any other team in the league and you’re not going to be a consistent starter because you and Bill are like oil and water," Bunz said. "Bill and I had, I hate to say it, a few ‘F-you’ conversations."

Why did that matter that night in the Pontiac Silverdome?

Because Bunz didn't practice as much as the starters. He didn't play as much. So he did the only thing he could do in the run-up to the Super Bowl.

“Honestly, I was so mad at Bill and I studied," Bunz said. "I was bitter. So I watched so much film and I didn’t get a lot of practice time on stuff. And it was almost like they were just oh yeah, he’s going to be gone after this year. And I’m like, are you kidding me? So my deal was, I doubled my effort. I said you know what, I’m going to show ‘em I’m the player."

In the biggest four plays of Super Bowl XVI, Bunz helped stop Johnson for a gain of two yards.

On second down from the one, another run, Bunz once again found himself in assisting on stopping Johnson for no gain.

Third down. The study paid off.

Bunz: "I knew when the flat pass was coming. I even saw Charlie glancing out there. I said 'all right this is it.'"

Alexander: “Obviously Dan had watched; I mean if you watch a play over and over again and it’s on film, I guess he kind of knew that I had cheated up a little bit in my stance in the backfield. And once he saw me release he knew what the play was and he was right on it. He had great timing. I can’t take anything from him."

Alexander didn't take his route into the end zone, sensing pressure on Anderson. He just wanted to catch the ball and take his chances one-on-one in the open field. But Anderson, known for his pinpoint accuracy, was a hair off as well.

Joe Montana: "The sad thing is; you hear that saying it’s a game of inches, right?

"And unfortunately for Kenny, he throws the ball just right behind the back which stops his momentum and then our guy has a chance to make the tackle."

Alexander: "That was a tough thing for me. I just wish I could have…I don’t know."

But the Bengals had one more play. Fourth down. And it was going to Johnson again, with Alexander leading the way.

And once again, he met Bunz.

"I mean the dude rocked me," Bunz said of Alexander. "But I knew if I got across the line, even if I got knocked back a little bit, my job was to plug the hole. And he hit. Honestly, my helmet chinstrap broke, it came down and split my nose, I had blood coming down. I actually saw blinking lights you know what I mean? Like whoa. Dude, Charles rocked me. And he got me moved back a little bit. But when I hit the ground and I looked down and I saw the goal line was down past down by my thighs. And I’m thinking OK, if I’m here, and everybody else does their job, he didn’t jump over, he didn’t bounce outside if everybody closed like they’re supposed to. I wasn’t sure."

Bunz knew Johnson was stopped when he saw his teammates begin leaping in the air in celebration.

"When somebody had to step up and get it done, he did. He made the biggest plays at a crucial time in the football game," said Bengals guard Dave Lapham.

He looked down and rubbed his hands together, the pain still stinging over three decades later.

“That was crushing," Lapham continued. "That goal line stand was a crushing part of the game. And he was the best player in that sequence.

"I can see that whole goal line sequence in my mind. When I have nightmares about that game, which I’ve had, that’s the first part of my nightmare.”

Bunz admits he didn't know where he was until about four minutes later, but one lasting image after the last play is still crystal clear.

“When you watch the film and you look at Forrest Gregg and you look at some of the faces when the last play stopped him and they weren’t in, they were like stunned, they were like shell-shocked, they were like no way, that doesn’t happen to us," Bunz said. "That takes the wind out of your sails. That’s hard.”

The Bengals would eventually close the gap to 20-14, but at the 10:35 mark of the fourth quarter. The 49ers would add two field goals, sandwiched around a Bengals turnover before the Bengals scored late to make it 26-21.

A lot of factors went into the Bengals falling short of winning their first Super Bowl, but for many involved Dan Bunz's series on the goal line was the biggest reason why.

Montana perhaps puts it most succinctly: "That was the difference in the game, I think."