The San Francisco 49ers started playing in the All-American Football Conference (AAFC) in 1946 then the league merged with the NFL in 1949.
The name “49ers” pays homage to the Gold Rush of 1849 in Northern California. The team adopted this name to symbolize the region’s rich history and the adventurous spirit of those who participated in the Gold Rush.
They struggled for a while early until that changed in 1979 when the organization hired Bill Walsh as head coach.
He brought the idea to the NFL of the West Coast Offense. He also drafted some guy named Joe Montana that year. The team came together and won the division for the first time in 1981.
That same year we were given a classic moment in the historic Cowboys vs 49ers rivalry where Dwight Clark made “The Catch” to send the Niners to Superbowl 16 where they won their first championship.
The Franchise would return to the big game in 1985 and dominated Dan Marino and the Dolphins 38 – 19.
The following season the team needed some more help on the team, so they took a chance and drafted a wide receiver from Mississippi Valley State University, Jerry Rice. Not only did the 49ers nail the pick, they drafted the greatest receiver of all time.
In 1989 the Dynasty was in full effect. After being labeled a “finesse team” the 49ers go to Chicago and win a tough cold game on their way to play in another Superbowl.
Down late 16-13 with 3 minutes left, Joe Montana and the 49ers drive 76 yards down the field and finish off the drive to capture their third Superbowl win to end of Bill Walsh’s career.
A new coach couldn’t stop this team. Joe Montana looked unstoppable as ever throwing for over 3500 yards with 26 touchdowns to 8 interceptions. Jerry Rice once again made his claim showing why he is the best wide receiver in the game leading the league in yards and adding 17 touchdowns.
The League simply could not compete and the 49ers captured their 4th Superbowl with ease beating the Broncos 55-10
In 1994 the Cowboys traveled to San Francisco for another meeting in the Rivalry. The Cowboys have had the upper hand as of late but an early season victory in the meeting between the two would propel the 49ers past the Cowboys once again. Steve Young Finally got over the hump and made it to a Superbowl.
And he finished the job, Steve Young had his best game of his career throwing 6 touchdowns as the 49ers destroyed the Chargers 49 – 26, becoming the first franchise with 5 Superbowl Wins.
All though the team hasn’t won another Super Bowl yet, they have had plenty of bright spots over the years.
Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens topped the 49ers in receptions on five occasions and currently holds the second position in the team’s record books for receptions (592), yards (8,572), and touchdowns (81). He also made an iconic catch to win the 49ers a playoff game in the Wildcard Round in 1998.
The Controversial Comeback
Down 38-14 against the Giants in the 2002 Wildcard game, the 49ers storm back.
However, the final 2 minutes of the game were filled with penalties and the game ended on a controversial call by the officials ending in a 49ers victory 38 – 39.
Jim Harbough
From 2003 – 2010 the 49ers missed the playoffs and lost 82 games in those 8 years. Alex Smith former number 1 overall pick seemed to look beaten up and his career was running out of time. In January of 2011, the organization hired Jim Harbough who was the hottest name in the head coaching market (just like he is right now). And he quickly changed the culture.
Coach Harbough’s specialty was defense, and as soon as he arrived the defense arrived with him. The 49ers had a top 3 defense led by players like
Patrick Willis*
Navarro Bowman*
Carlos Rogers*
Justin Smith*
Dashon Goldson
* All Pros
In his first year, the team went 13 -3 , Won the NFC West, and sent 9 players to the Pro Bowl.
Harbough took San Francisco to the NFC Conference Championship game where 2 critical special teams errors were made by Kyle Williams a backup return man, cost the 49ers the game as they fell 20-17 to the New York Giants in a disappointing fashion.
On that playoff run, there was an incredible game against the Saints where Alex Smith delivered an amazing strike to Vernon Davis to deliver “The Catch 3”
Colin Kaepernick
The following season the 49ers started 6-2 when Alex Smith was out due to a concussion so the 49ers had to start backup Colin Kaepernick. Immediately when he took the field his dual-threat ability proved to be a problem for opposing defenses and it took their offense to the next level.
Harbough had no choice but to ride the hot hand and Kaepernick led them back to the playoffs.
His record-breaking performance against the Packers had the whole world shocked
He threw for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran for 181 rushing yards and 2 more touchdowns on the ground.
This 56-yard touchdown run is what put them in front.
This playoff run brought them all the way to the Superbowl where the 49ers faced the Baltimore Ravens who were coached by Jim’s brother John Harbough. This stacked Ravens team got out in front in the first half but the 49ers stormed back making it a 5-point game on the final drive. 
It was 4th down the ball was thrown into the endzone tp Michael Crabtree and a missed pass interference call denied them their 6 Superbowl win.
Here is the Controversial No Call
The following season the 49ers went 12 – 4 and once again made a run to the NFC Conference Championship game against the rival Seattle Seahawks and their number 1 defense led by their amazing defensive backs known as the “Legion of Boom”.
On their way there they sent an NFL best 8 players to the pro bowl.
*# LB NaVorro Bowman, # LB Ahmad Brooks, # TE Vernon Davis, # RB Frank Gore, # G Mike Iupati, # DT Justin Smith, # T Joe Staley, # LB Patrick Willis, # S Donte Whitner, S Eric Reid
Their season would again come to an end due to some questioable calls and an amazing play by Seahawks All Pro conerback Richard Sherman.
This is where the collapse would begin. The Harbough era even though it was pretty succesful would be under speculationdue to sides not agreeing on a contract. The management did not want to pay Harbough like a Superbowl winning coach becuase he did not win one. Harbough is definitely known to wear his emotions on his sleeves and ruffle some feathers of those in the orginization, but he has proven to lead a good team.
The 2014 season was difficult, starting off with Navarro Bowman out for the year with an injury from the NFC Championship game at the end of the season. The 49ers lose the home opener in brand new Levi’s stadium to the Bears and it looked bad.
In week 5 the other Superstar linebacker Patrick WIllis had season ending toe surgery. Then a crushing thanksgiving day loss to the Seahawks was so embarrassing the CEO Jed York issued an apology to the fans. This effectively ended their season as they went on to finish 8-8 and the team fired Harbough. Jim Harbough went on to coach at University of Michigan where he won the 2024 National Championship.
The following year they lost legends like Patrick Willis who retired at at age 30, Mike Iupati pro bowl guard signs with rival Arizona Cardinals,Michael Crabtree went to the Raiders, Chris Boreland surprisingly retures at age 24 over fear of consistent head trauma, Justin Smith who retired after 14 seasons, and the franchise’s best running back of all time Frank Gore who signed with the Indianapolis Colts.
Frank Gore accounted for 13,971 yards and 76 touchdowns in his 10 years with the team. Frank continued his iron man like career and played for 4 more franchises and 6 more seasons. He ultimately finished with 16,000 rushing yards good enough for 3rd All – Time on that list.
The team began to unravel and went 5 – 11 in 2015.
After giving up on coach Tomsula, Jed York looked to hire former Eagles coach Chip Kelly. His first order of business is to keep Blaine Gabbert as the starting Quaterback, which is never a good idea. The season started terribly, Navarro Bowman tore his Achilles so the defense was down their leader and the offense wasnt much better.
Mid season they went back to Kaepernick which was a controversy in its own right. Each week before the game during the national anthem Kaepernick took a knee to protest the racial injustice and police brutality across the country. This rubbed many people the wrong way and led to him being blackballed by league owners.
All though he played well the Niners still finished 2 -15 and a franchis record 13 game losing streak.
In 2017 the 49ers fired Chip Kelly and GM Trent Baalke hoping change would be on the horizon.
Change is exactly what happened. In February of 2017 the orginization hired John Lynch as GM and Kyle Shanahan as Head Coach.
Kyle son of legendary coach Mike Shanahan an offensive genius was all around the legue transorming offenses and the 49ers were excited to see what new schemes he was going to bring to the Bay Area.
Building the Team
Top Priority was getting a quaterback. So why not do what the greats do? So they traded for Jimmy Garoppolo backup to Tom Brady from the Patriots.
In 2017 he was signed to a 5 year $137.5 million deal
That made him the highest paid quaterback at the time
Kyle revamped the offensive line bring back Joe Staley to a 2 year deal. But offensive line isn’t the only blockers Shanahan uses in his scheme. The next big move was signing former Ravens fullback Kyle Juszczyk to a 4 year $27 million deal. The most money in NFL history for a full back.
This unconventional move is perfect for Kyle’s offense who uses a run scheme that involves multiple players. He also is able to use Juszczyk’s ability to run, catch, and block in various packages confusing defenses and putting the Niners at an advantage.
The 49ers also have another matchup nightmare in tight end George Kittle. Shanahan gets to see how this second-year tight end can punish defenders after the catch and proves to be an even bigger force blocking in the run game.
Kyle assembled a group of speedy running backs like Matt Breida, Tevin Coleman, Raheem Mostert, and Jerrick McKinnon to carry for the group. It was a collective effort although there were no 1000-yard rushers, instead, it was a committee led by Mostert with 722 yards, Breida with 623, and Coleman with 544.
At the time they also had a very young Deebo Samuel. A receiver who Kyle would hand the ball and throw it to him, just finding ways to get him the ball. The versatile South Carolina product still wasn’t the final piece of Shanahan’s evolving offense.
In the 2018 offseason, the 49ers picked up an old rival. Richard Sherman agreed to sign a 3 year $27 million dollar deal coming over from Seattle.
The team also drafted Fred Warner in the 3rd round of the draft, a linebacker from BYU who would anchor the defense for years to come.
In 2019 the franchise had the 2nd overall pick and this one changed their defense for the future. They selected Nick Bosa pass rusher from Ohio State. He was expected to play and produce early and he did just that.
The team also traded for edge rusher Dee Ford who just led the NFL in sacks and forced fumbles. With another addition Kwon Alexander at linebacker this defense was poised to make a statement.
At the end of the 2019 season the 49ers defense coached by Robert Saleh Ranked :
1st in Pass Def
1st in Yards per Attempt
3rd in Sack Percentage
2nd in 3rd Down Percentage
Nick Bosa earned Defensive Rookie of the Year Honors
The Team also sent
The 49ers marched all the way in the playoffs including demolishing the Packers 37 -20 in the NFC Championship to get to the Superbowl.
The niners were up late in the fourth before mistakes by the niners and timely plays by the Chiefs allow them to dissapoint San Fransico 20-31.
In 2020 the team needed a boost and some extra security. And Joe Staley just retired leaving a void that needed to be filled. So they went and got Trent Williams, arguebly the last viable piece a crumbling Washington Commanders Franchise and is debatably the best Left Tackle to ever play. They signed him and he bacme the highest payed linemen in NFL history.
After the 49ers traded future first round picks up to draft Trey Lance with the 3rd overall pick, injuries riddled the first 2 years of his career. However they drafted a contingency plan with the very last pick in the draft. Brock Purdy from Iowa. In typical iners fashion they were down to their thrird string QB, Purdy got the opportunity and never let it go.
The final Piece of the Puzzle which might be the most effective is All Pro running back Christian McCaffrey. He was stranded in Carolina as injuries kept hom out of playing for a team that wasn’t competing for anything anyway and he needed to be paid. So the front office made a move to trade for him and ever since he joined the 49ers its been a macth made in heaven.
Ever since McCaffrey has joined the team it opened up the offense. This year the team had 4 players over 1000 scrimmage yards
Christian McCaffrey – 2,023 yards
Brandon Aiyuk – 1,342 yards
George Kittle – 1,020 yards
Deebo Samuel – 1,117 yards
Now is the 49ers time, the defense is top ranked and offense has many weapons and Kyle Shanahan has his group that he can edge in history. The 49ers have clinched the number 1 seed in the NFC so a run to the Superbowl has to run through them. Is 2024 the year they get ring number 6? I guess we will find out soon.