How Jerry Rice yelling at Deion Sanders helped shape the 2019 49ers

Matt Cassel and Victor Cruz recall the impact that former NFL players and other motivational speakers had on them when they were brought in to talk to their teams. (2:08)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers‘ path to Super Bowl XXIX was paved in blowouts, record-setting numbers and unrelenting swagger. But five days before the biggest game of the year, it was clogged by traffic, and Deion Sanders was late.

It’s almost 25 years later, and Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, standing before the current Niners the night before a late-season game against the Rams, passionately relays the story.

Having Young or some other prominent 49er address the team before a game has become common practice since coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch took over in 2017. That’s just one of the many ways these Niners have seized their past and connected it to the present in hopes of a better future.

“We’re back at it now,” Young said. “Kyle and John have reembraced the history. It’s an embracing of the past. I think they can use it as a tool and sometimes a weapon. I feel completely affiliated with these 49ers. For many years, I didn’t. … This is certainly recognizing that we’re gonna build off of our history, which is smart. We should.”

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What’s new on this night is the message behind Young’s story, another sign of just how far the franchise has come since Young and Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice first spoke to this team early in the first Camp Shanahan.

As the story goes, coach George Seifert’s players were supposed to be in their Miami hotel rooms by an 11:15 p.m. curfew the Wednesday before the game. The road to the hotel was two lanes, and with 20 minutes to spare, Sanders could see the hotel; he just couldn’t get to it. He didn’t make it back until closer to 11:40. He wasn’t the only one to miss it, but he was the biggest name.

For a Niners team that had steamrollered its way to a 13-3 regular season, won its first two playoff games by an average of nearly 20 points and was a whopping 18.5-point favorite against the Chargers in the Super Bowl, the busted curfew was simultaneously unacceptable and perfectly timed.

The next day, after a meeting, the coaching staff walked out of the room, leaving the floor for a players-only session. Young took the lead, but it was Rice, not known for being vocal in such settings, who stood up and let Sanders know his tardiness wasn’t going to fly.

Because Rice had long since established himself as a team leader, he believed he could speak his mind and that his teammates, no matter how bright their star, would listen.

Tensions rose as Sanders pushed back briefly. Jesse Sapolu, a four-time Super Bowl-champion offensive lineman, remembers Rice’s emotions rising quickly. Rice let Sanders know that there’d be plenty of time for partying after the biggest game of the season.

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