Super Bowl XXIV coaches; rookie head coach George Seifert took over after Bill Walsh retired following the previous season's Super Bowl. The 49ers finished the 1989 regular season with a league best 14–2 record. The Broncos, who posted an 11–5 regular season record, entered the Super Bowl looking to avoid tying the Minnesota Vikings with four Super Bowl losses as well as the Vikings record of losing three Super Bowls in four years. This game remains the most lopsided game in Super Bowl history. San Francisco's 55 points were the most ever scored by one team, and their 45-point margin of victory was
Super Bowl XVII future Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson, along with Pro Bowlers Bob Kuechenberg (a starter on Miami's Super Bowl teams in the early 1970s) and Ed Newman. Super Bowl XVII was the Redskins' first Super Bowl victory (third NFL championship overall), and their second Super Bowl appearance, since they were defeated by the Dolphins, 14–7 in Super Bowl VII. This was the second rematch in Super Bowl history (the first being the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowls X and XIII). Washington finished the strike-shortened regular season with an 8–1 record, the best in the NFC, and