
Los Angeles Chargers 33, San Francisco 22
In a tie game at 19 with 8:06 left to play in regulation, Charger defensive end Justin Jones leapt into an unmanned flat pass zone to intercept 49er quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and returned the interception 35-yards for the decisive score at Los Angeles’ home stadium in USFFL’s Super Bowl XXII. The call was GR to the quarterback card, roll of 5 on a 2-5, 11-12 GR interception split. The empty zone = wrong rule would have prevented the interception, but with two LBs blitzing and fewer than two double teams called, the play remained GR by rule and therefore went to the quarterback’s guessed right column. That obscure rule turned out to be the key difference in the Super Bowl.
Garoppolo was intercepted on the previous possession as well, also with the game tied at 19, and also on a flat pass (GR, LP dump-off on another 5-split roll on the offensive card, 11). On that occasion the 49ers held the Chargers scoreless via a successful double team of Charger WR Mike Williams on L.A.’s 4th down conversion attempt from the San Francisco 34.
The 49ers managed a field goal on the drive following the Chargers interception return score with 5:42 left in the 4th to cut the Charger lead to 26-22, and were desperate to re-gain possession. But the Chargers came right back with a 7-play 55-yard touchdown drive. LA reached the end zone with 2:06 left to play to close out the scoring for both teams and seal the Charger championship. The drive featured a 30-yard long pass to Jalen Guyton who was double-teamed correctly by the free safety, leaving the zone with 0-men. Given the correct double-team, the 1-man LP zone showed up on the roll and the Chargers hit a 30 yard gain on the 3-roll to setup the score. The 3-roll would have resulted in similar yards double-teamed if it had gone to Justin Herbert’s card instead. This key completion to Guyton was the one and only third down conversion for the Chargers in the Super Bowl.
The 49ers were on the verge of taking control of the game as halftime approached. After the 49er halfbacks ran at will throughout the first half it was Jimmy Garoppolo who scored from 2-yards out with 22-seconds left in the half to give the 49ers a 16-6 lead. The 49ers went to some extremes to leave the Chargers with as little time on the clock as possible, including taking a knee on 1st and goal from the 1-yard line with just over a minute left. However a strong return of a squib kickoff by Charger Andre Roberts left LA with 15 seconds to get into field goal range. With no timeouts, a short pass from Justin Herbert to Jared Cook setup an unlikely 54-yard field goal (2-4 split, rolled a 4) to make the score 16-9 at halftime.
The Chargers went on to score a field goal and a touchdown on their first two second half possessions and held their first lead of the game at 19-16 with 2:42 left in the third quarter. The Niners countered with a 9-play 55-yard drive that ended with a Robbie Gould field goal to tie the game at 19 as the third quarter was winding down. The Chargers went 5 and out on the ensuing drive before punting to the Niners, where they went on to throw the aforementioned interceptions on two consecutive drives.
Both offenses struggled to gain significant momentum throughout the game. Though the 49ers ran for 264 yards, they converted only 3 of 10 third downs and punted 3 times. The Chargers had uncharacteristic struggles on first down, which led to very poor third down conversion effectiveness; finishing 1 of 8. With 49er All-Pro Nick Bosa out injured, the Chargers came in looking for dump-off opportunities, and though they couldn’t find the D-die through most of the contest, the Chargers did find it on their final scoring drive that ended in a 10-yard dump-off TD catch by Mike Williams. Despite the first and third down troubles, Justin Herbert managed to put together a solid, if unspectacular performance; with his four hits on long passes allowing the Chargers to maintain pace with the contrasting, steady drum-beat of the Niners running game.
The Niners offense was also held down in the second half partially due to some key penalties, including an intentional grounding call on Jimmy Garoppolo that led to a missed 3rd and long and then a punt. The Chargers were penalized 7 times to San Francisco’s 1 in the first half, but the Chargers eliminated all penalties in the second half and the game finished with just a 7-6 Charger penalty deficit. When doing the math the Chargers were slated to commit 52% of the penalties and that’s how it ended up after the lopsided second half dice in favor of LA.
The game fell into a tale of two halves. The Chargers had some difficult rolls and penalties throughout the first half up until the half’s final 15 seconds, and the 49ers had very difficult luck in all phases of the game in the second half. Ultimately, the bad luck second half for the Niners was worse for them than it was for the Chargers in the first.
Coach Rich did a stellar job at double-teaming and generally keeping the powerful Chargers offense at bay, but the dice simply would not cooperate in the second half. This was the 49ers first USFFL Super Bowl appearance, and Coach Rich will have every opportunity to return next season as he balances the pass attempts of Brock Purdy and Jimmy Garoppolo and adds the powerful card of Christian McCaffrey.
The Chargers have earned their second USFFL Super Bowl Championship and the first for this staff as they will look to contend again next year with an L.A. team that improved slightly IRL from 2021 to 2022.
The Super Bowl Replay is available on Youtube: