Editing Super Bowl XXIII (section)

===Third quarter===

On their opening possession in the second half, the Bengals managed to get a sustained drive going, moving the ball 61 yards in 12 plays and taking 9:15 off the clock. Esiason, who completed only 4 of 12 passes for 48 yards in the first half, completed 3 of 4 passes for 54 yards on the drive, including a 20-yard completion to [[James Brooks (running back)|James Brooks]] and 23-yard and 11-yard completions to [[Cris Collinsworth]] (who was playing in his final game), setting up a 43-yard field goal from Breech to give the Bengals their first lead of the game, 6–3. Cincinnati then forced San Francisco to punt, but on the first play of their next drive, 49ers rookie linebacker [[Bill Romanowski]] intercepted a pass from Esiason at the Bengals 23. However, after a dropped pass by Rice, the 49ers' offense could not get a first down, and they had to settle for Cofer's 32-yard field goal to tie the game, 6–6.

With less than a minute left in the third quarter, it appeared that this would become the first Super Bowl ever to go three quarters without either team scoring a touchdown. But on the ensuing kickoff, [[Stanford Jennings]] received the ball at the 7, ran straight up the middle behind a wedge of blockers, and burst out of the pack into the open field. 49ers receiver [[Terry Greer]] managed to chase him down and trip him up at the 1, but he still fell into the end zone for a 93-yard touchdown return, giving the Bengals a 13–6 lead. Jennings joined [[Fulton Walker]] as the only other player at that time to return a kickoff for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. In the next three Super Bowls played in what is now [[Hard Rock Stadium]], players duplicated Jennings' feat: [[Andre Coleman]] returned a kickoff against the 49ers in [[Super Bowl XXIX]] for the [[San Diego Chargers]], [[Tim Dwight]] did so for the [[Atlanta Falcons]] against the [[Denver Broncos]] in [[Super Bowl XXXIII]], and [[Devin Hester]] did so for the [[Chicago Bears]] against the [[Indianapolis Colts]] in [[Super Bowl XLI]].

But the 49ers immediately responded with a touchdown of their own on an 85-yard, 4-play drive. First, Montana threw a short pass to Rice, who turned it into a 31-yard gain.