The 49ers’ Super Bowl history is amazing, and this could be the year they finally add another win

In September 1995, Dana Carvey took to the stage at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to film a new comedy special for HBO, and after just two minutes of riffing on standing ovations and other meta stand-up commentary, she left her set. It has started. Seriously with the declaration of a bygone era:

“Well, all I can tell you is, ‘Fuckin’ 49ers!'”

This may seem strange in 2024, but in 1995, the Niners were the defending champions and winners of five of the past 14 titles. With their victory in Super Bowl XXIX eight months ago, they became the first franchise to win five Super Bowls. They have only missed the playoffs twice in the last 20 years, including one in the nine-game strike season of 1982. The other was in 1991, when they went 10-6 and defeated the playoff-bound Bears 52-14 in the final game of the season, and my confidence in the postseason was deeply and understandably dented.

From 1981 to 1998, the 49ers won at least 10 games in every season they had at least 10 games. They went undefeated in the Super Bowl, advanced to five more NFC Championships, had back-to-back Hall of Fame quarterbacks who are the best wide receivers of all time, rewrote the rules of modern NFL offenses, and made an astonishing number of players were sent to Canton on defense. than their more famous side of the ball. They had three of the top-eight disasters in Super Bowl history up to that point, including a 55-10 blowout win over the Broncos, which remains No. 1. include.

In Super Bowl XXIX, the Niners set records for both the fastest score in a Super Bowl and the fastest two points in a Super Bowl. Steve Young threw a Super Bowl record six touchdowns, Jerry Rice and Ricky Watters both tied the Super Bowl record for touchdowns in a single game, and Deion Sanders played in the World Series and Super Bowl. He became the first player to do so. Niners fans, including Dana Carvey, had reason to believe that one or perhaps two more championships would be held in the Bay before the end of the century.

Nearly a quarter of the way into the next century, the bay remains barren.

One of the things they were able to regenerate was the greatness of their QB. When I think of 49ers history, I think of quarterbacks. The Niners were inaugurated as the AAFC’s charter franchise in 1946, and rookie QB Frankie Albert was named his team’s second All-Pro, replacing future HOFer Otto Graham. The two led the team to the 1949 AAFC Championship, the first playoff game in 49ers history, which the Browns won. Albert held that position until 1951. He is the last quarterback to start for the 49ers for more than three seasons and not win league MVP until Jeff Garcia.

Albert followed with a YA title, winning UPI MVP in 1957 and taking the Niners to their second playoff game. The 31-27 loss to the Lions was familiar to many during the NFC Championship Game. The title gave birth to John Brodie, who took over as a starter in 1960 and held the position for more than a decade, leading the Niners to their next playoff appearance in 1970 and their first playoff victory.

three in a row until 1981, when third-year pro Joe Montana defeated the ’70s Cowboys and ushered in what Kirvey’s audience rightly considered the greatest dynasty of the Super Bowl era. ‘s playoff appearance continued eight consecutive times without an appearance. Under the leadership of Bill Walsh, the Montana 49ers, and later Steve Young, completely changed best practices in the NFL’s passing game, thanks in large part to passer evaluation statistics, which the NFL formalized in 1973.

Tony Tomsic-USA TODAY Sports

In the 1980s, a season passer rating of over 100 was an anomaly, not a goal, and before 2020, it was like an NBA player scoring 70 points in a game. Ken Stabler and Bert Jones did it in 1976, and it didn’t happen again until 1984 with Dan Marino and Joe Montana. Then the 49ers QB started bringing them back like the Tick-Tax. Montana in 1987 and 1989, and Steve Young in 1991. His 112.8 mark in 1992, 1993, and 1994 is the only QB to rank in the top 100 in any of those four seasons, and Steve Young in 1991. This is the first time in league history that a team has been in the top 100 consecutively, let alone four years in a row.

Montana and Young were the beneficiary and navigators of an offense that Bill Walsh built while an assistant with the Bengals to cater to the humble ability of emergency starter Virgil Carter. The late Chris Wesseling described what became known as the West Coast Attack. It is a “horizontal ball-control passing scheme designed to cover up for Carter’s physical deficiencies while masking an offensive line like an expansion team.”

Walsh took his offense to San Francisco, where his offensive and coaching tree blossomed. After Walsh retired, George Seifert kept the offense going strong and won two more championships. Mike Holmgren famously climbed the ranks as an assistant with the 49ers before taking the head coaching job in Green Bay in 1992, bringing second-year pro Brett Favre to the West Coast. No one hired Sherman Lewis, Holmgren’s brilliant offensive coordinator, but Holmgren’s offensive assistants became head coaches with the Raiders (Jon Gruden), Lions (Marty Morhinweg), and again the 49ers (Steve Morhinweg). Mariucci) brought a West Coast offense to the game.

As Holmgren built a powerhouse in Green Bay, his replacement as 49ers offensive coordinator was Mike Shanahan, father of Kyle Shanahan, who helped the Niners return to the NFL’s No. 1 offense in points and yards. Ta.Even though Shanahan was young. Revealed in 2019 If you say, “I don’t run the West Coast offense (out loud),” it’s understandable that fans today would focus on Shanahan turning into the “Mr. Offense” he once was. “Unrelated” Brock Purdy becomes an MVP finalist, especially going back to Walsh in the same franchise. Purdy may have led the NFL in many dynamic passing stats this year, but he also led the NFL in passer rating, another proven Walsh statistic.

Like Walsh and Holmgren, Kyle Shanahan has his own way of being a quarterback. He led Matt Ryan to MVP, helped Jimmy Garoppolo get to the Super Bowl, and unlocked the laser-armed Purdy. That makes Shanahan a perfect fit for the 49ers, who always seem to be a step ahead of the NFL in quarterback trends. After all, in San Francisco’s other Super Bowl appearance, the Niners were at the forefront of rebuilding the position, as second-year pro Colin Kaepernick was the leader of a new wave of two-way quarterbacks sweeping the league.

Jack Gruber – USA TODAY

Bringing this round is Andy Reid, another former Holmgren Packers assistant who left the club for his first head coaching job in 1999 and accompanied the West Coast offense. As Reid and Shanahan face off in the Super Bowl for the first time in five years, this historian’s eyes are looking back at the 1980s and 1990s.

And this history has many positives for modern Niners fans.

The 49ers fan, who is now 30 years old, was born in 1993 and left behind a late dynasty, whether he likes it or not. We were promised a lifetime of championship parades, but instead we received the same annual invitation that most of us get to someone else’s Super Bowl party. Before this hypothetical Niners fan’s offspring was 10 years old, the first Niners team since Montana’s rookie year had the misfortune of missing the postseason in consecutive years. They reached the playoffs twice, but lost to the future champion Bucks, after which they sparked arguably one of the strangest records in sports history. Every season since 2003, the 49ers have either made it to the NFC Championship Game or missed the playoffs. absolutely. They lost badly in 2011, 2012, and 2013, lost badly in the Super Bowl in 2019, lost badly in the NFC title game in 2021, and were dismantled by the Eagles last year.

Now they’re here in Las Vegas. If they’re still recovering from the Cup and Jimmy G heartbreak in the Super Bowl, you’ll forgive them. If they don’t want to be exposed to the rays, you’ll let them. Montana and Young. I can see if you don’t like John Brody’s writing, or if you just want to wait a month or two for YA titles and of course Frankie Albert stories.

The year is 2024, and Niners fans are ready for some history to call their own.

Fucking 49ers?

Fucking A.

Jack M. Silverstein is a Chicago sports historian, Windy City Gridiron Bears historian, Hall of Fame induction committee member, Pro Football Hall of Fame analyst, and PFHOF voter. He is also a contributor to One Clark Judge’s Talk of Fame.Follow his research on his 1990s Bulls book at readjack.substack.com. Kudos to Brian Fry.