West Coast bias

Walsh's success in San Francisco gave credence to offensive revolution

Bill Walsh, right, utilized the talents of Joe Montana and Steve Young (8) to win 102 games, including the playoffs. Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images Walsh's West Coast offense reigns Everson Walls remembers the beginning of the end with vivid clarity. On Oct. 11, 1981, the Cowboys stepped onto the rain-soaked grass at Candlestick Park expecting to administer their usual whipping to the hometown 49ers. Instead they walked off shell-shocked by an offensive scheme destined to change the game. "They caught us completely off guard," recalls Walls, then a hotshot rookie cornerback on a team that had played in five Super Bowls during the '70s. "We were slipping and sliding around, and their receivers were open by five yards on some passes." With innovative Niners coach Bill Walsh calling the plays and quarterback Joe Montana executing them with uncanny precision, San Francisco ripped apart the Cowboys' secondary like a warm loaf of sourdough and rolled to a 45-14 victory. The game not only marked the first sign of the demise of Dallas's Doomsday Defense but also served as a dramatic coronation of Walsh's system, which came to be known as the West Coast offense. San Francisco used that victory as a springboard to a 13-3 season and an epic 28-27 triumph over the Cowboys in their rematch in the NFC Championship Game at Candlestick. The winning play in that game -- the Catch by Dwight Clark -- was the pivotal NFL moment of the '80s, propelling the 49ers to the first of their four Super Bowl triumphs in that decade and starting Dallas on a steady slide that culminated with a 1-15 season in '89. But before that stunning regular-season rampage over the utterly confused Cowboys, nobody, not even the Niners themselves, took their team seriously. Walsh's scheme centered on two basic principles: Give the quarterback as many specifically timed options on pass plays as possible, and let receivers adjust their routes to exploit weaknesses in the coverage. "If Dwight Clark was facing man coverage," says former Walsh assistant Sam Wyche, "he knew to turn, plant and slide hard to the outside to get instant separation." The system required the quarterback to make instant reads and, if pressured, to dump the ball to his outlet receivers. Montana's poise, field vision and patience elevated the offense to an ethereal level. The Cowboys' flex scheme was particularly vulnerable to the 49ers' quick timing patterns. "It was brutal for defensive backs," Walls says, "because our linemen were trained to play the run first and then react to a pass block. We had [end] Ed Jones sitting a half yard off the ball, and I'd end up trying to tackle Dwight Clark or Freddie Solomon before our [pass rushers] even crossed the line." In the NFC title game Walls was the player covering Clark when the receiver, using a broken-route adjustment taught by Walsh, slid across the back of the end zone and soared to make his famous fingertip grab of Montana's pass. "We had them on the ropes that day," Walls says. "Joe had thrown three interceptions. But on that last drive, Bill outsmarted us." -- SI's Michael Silver, Aug. 30, 1999 Yearly League Leaders Number of seasons that the 49ers led the league in each category during the past 25 years under each head coach: Category Walsh Seifert Mariucci Erickson Total Completions 2 1 0 0 3 Attempts 3 0 0 0 3 Passing Yards 0 2 1 0 3 Pass Yds./Att. 1 4 1 0 6 Passing TDs 1 3 0 0 4 Interceptions 1 1 1 0 3 Rushing Att. 0 0 0 0 0 Rushing Yards 1 0 2 0 3 Rush Yds./Att. 0 2 2 0 4 Rushing TDs 0 2 0 0 2 Total Yards 1 4 1 0 6

The phrase has become part of the NFL lexicon: West Coast offense. Twenty-five years after Bill Walsh became head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, it remains the attack du jour. It's also a misnomer.

Walsh's offensive system is firmly rooted in Cincinnati -- about 2,388 miles east of the Bay Area.

A member of Paul Brown's staff with the Bengals from 1968-75, Walsh honed his philosophy of three-step drops and shallow pass patterns while focusing on precision and being able to consistently reproduce the results no matter who was running the offense.

After Bengals starting quarterback Greg Cook was injured in 1970, Walsh utilized the short- and medium-range passing attack to benefit backup Virgil Carter.

Eventually Ken Anderson would flourish in the system, while Walsh departed for San Diego in 1976 before being named head coach at Stanford in '77.

Walsh had believed he would be Brown's replacement with the Bengals, but Cincinnati instead hired offensive line coach Bill Johnson, who went 18-15 in two-plus seasons before quarterbacks coach Homer Rice took over after five games in 1978.

Meanwhile, after two years in Palo Alto, Walsh became the Niners' head coach in 1979. Joe Montana was San Francisco's third-round draft pick that year and the foundation was laid for what has become the West Coast offense.

Interestingly, the choice of Montana was the impetus for a power shift in the NFC. Dallas, which had ruled the conference through much of the 1970s, had traded that third-round pick in a three-way deal that included Seattle and San Francisco. On Aug. 28, 1978, the Seahawks traded 1979's third- and sixth-round picks to Dallas for Bill Gregory and the Cowboys' third rounder. Then Seattle swapped Bob Jury and that third-round pick to the 49ers.

"Joe Cool was so flawless when it mattered most," USA Today's Jarrett Bell told the The Denver Post last month. "You might say that Montana played in a great system with an outstanding coach and awesome talent surrounding him. But it's also true that Montana brought the West Coast offense to life. He had deft touch, fluid footwork, superb vision and the uncanny knack to stay composed."

Three seasons after drafting Montana, San Francisco -- capped by a Montana-to-Dwight Clark TD -- defeated Dallas 28-27 for the NFC championship en route to winning Super Bowl XVI, a 26-21 victory against Cincinnati.

"The beauty of Bill's system was that there was always a place to go with the ball," Montana told Sports Illustrated in 1998. "I was the mailman, just delivering people's mail, and there were all kinds of houses to go to."

The NFL's Coach of the Decade for the 1980s, Walsh began the 49ers' streak of 16 consecutive 10-win seasons in 1983. He won three Super Bowls with Montana before retiring after the 1988 season as the only head coach in team history with 100 victories.

George Seifert took over the next year and went on to win two championships, one with Montana in '89 and the other with Steve Young in 1994. Mike Holmgren, a Walsh protégé, won the Super Bowl in 1996 behind Brett Favre's execution of the West Coast system, and Mike Shanahan won back-to-back titles with it in Denver in 1997-98.

A list of Walsh's disciples reads like a Who's Who of the NFL fraternity: current head coaches Holmgren, Shanahan, Steve Mariucci, Dennis Green, Jeff Fisher and Brian Billick, as well as former head coaches Seifert, Sam Wyche, Ray Rhodes and Bruce Coslet.

In all 26 players have received 72 Pro Bowl bids for the Niners since 1979, including 12 for Jerry Rice. Walsh's 10-year tenure featured 20 Pro Bowl honors, while Seifert had 33 in eight years, Mariucci had 17 in six seasons and Dennis Erickson had two last year.

Beginning with Montana, each of the 49ers' primary QBs since 1979 -- Montana, Young and Jeff Garcia -- have been Pro Bowlers. Twelve offensive linemen, six running backs, four receivers and a tight end also have been recognized.

Brent Jones told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "[The West Coast offense] has evolved. People talk about it being short passes, but it's much more than that. It has become high-percentage passes and also the opportunity to create big plays down field."

Jones, the only Niners TE in the past 25 years to make the Pro Bowl, isn't alone in redefining the system. Holmgren was Walsh's quarterbacks coach for three seasons and the offensive coordinator for Seifert for three seasons, but the system now employed by Seattle is not the West Coast offense -- no matter how close (or far) the apple fell from the tree.

"What I get tired of hearing is the 'West Coast offense this' and the 'West Coast offense that,' " Holmgren said after taking over the Seahawks in 1999. "I think that's kind of a lazy term, really. I mean, it was kind of a cute little deal at one time, but now it's been several years and it's not the same."

To that end, Andy Reid's offense in Philadelphia is an extension of Holmgren, not Walsh. Ditto Tampa Bay's Jon Gruden and former Lions head coach Marty Morninweg, who also worked under Mariucci.

San Francisco's offense has led the league in 10 of 11 major statistical categories at least once in the past 25 years. The only stat the 49ers haven't topped is rushing attempts, finishing second in 2001 and third in 1987.

While the offense began with Walsh, it was Seifert who made the system click, at least from a statistical standpoint. The Niners led the league in total yards four times in eight years under Seifert; Walsh and Mariucci's offenses each led the league once in 16 years combined. Seifert also posted the highest winning percentage (.755) in NFL history before departing after the 1996 season.

Comparing Walsh's tenure with Seifert's, it seems that the understudy could teach the master a thing or two. Seifert's offenses on average produced more completions in less attempts, more passing yards, a higher average of yards per pass attempt, more rushing attempts and yards, more touchdowns and more total yards.

Seifert also enjoyed the benefit of Walsh's drafting prowess, but just as Walsh did throughout his career and as Holmgren did in Green Bay and Seattle, Seifert tweaked the system to fit his personality and personnel.

The popularly mislabeled West Coast offense -- possibly the most game-changing revolution since the Bears rolled out the T formation more than 60 years ago -- enters its 26th season this year. And just as the league hadn't seen anything like it in 1979, the West Coast / Walsh / Cincinnati offense doesn't look anything like itself in 2004. The system is spread across the NFL landscape in various forms, which is fitting for an offense that was misnamed from the snap.

B. Duane Cross is a senior producer for SI.com.