<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> ← XXII </Li> <Li> Super Bowl </Li> <Li> XXIV → </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> ← XXII </Li> <Li> Super Bowl </Li> <Li> XXIV → </Li> </Ul> <P> Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1988 season . The 49ers defeated the Bengals by the score of 20--16, winning their third Super Bowl . The game was played on January 22, 1989 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami (now part of the suburb of Miami Gardens, which became a separate city in 2003). This was the first Super Bowl hosted in the Miami area in 10 years, and the first in Miami not held at the Orange Bowl . </P> <P> This was the second meeting between these two teams in the Super Bowl; their first meeting was seven years earlier . The game was also the third rematch between Super Bowl teams after Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XVII . This was the Bengals' second Super Bowl appearance after finishing the regular season with a 12--4 record . The 49ers were making their third Super Bowl appearance after posting a 10--6 regular season record . </P>

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