We continue looking at the 49ers previous visits to Wembley ahead of their international series game against the Jaguars in the same venue on October 27th.
In August 1992, the 49ers returned to Wembley to play the Washington Redskins who were the reigning Super Bowl champions.
This time 61,772 crowded into the London venue to witness the latest chapter of the American Bowl.
George Seifert had taken over coaching duties from Bill Walsh since their last visit. One of the main issues he had to deal with at that time was the starting quarterback question of Young or the injury prone Montana.
On this occasion, Young started but it was the Redskins who dominated the scoreboard in the first half.
A Chip Lohmiller field goal set things in motion and things got worse for the Niners when Young was sacked in the end zone for a safety leaving the score 5-0.
Then with seconds left in the half, Washington’s Ricky Ervins crossed the goal line to leave the score 12-0 at the break.
A different 49er’s came out in the second half and two touchdowns saw them hit the front 14-12.
However, the World champion Redskins hit back with 3.32 left in the game as Lohmiller kicked his second field goal to leave the Niners trailing 15-14.
By this stage, Steve Bono had replaced Young as quaterback.
On the final drive, Bono managed to move the ball up the field to the Redskins 30 yard line with only seconds left on the clock.
Mike Cofer had earlier missed two field goal attempts but this time as the clock ran out he held his nerve and kicked the 48-yard winning score.
The final score was San Francisco 17 Washington 15.
The 49ers had experienced their first success in Wembley at the start of a season that would end in defeat to the Cowboys in the NFC championship game despite having accounted for the same Redskins in the previous round.
Next…No more exhibitions, 49ers bring regular season game to Wembley.
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