The 49ers have had plenty of clunkers. This season ranks among the worst ever
This was another teaser effort.
It played out in the Pacific Northwest chill on Sunday afternoon, a slow torture of the inevitable for 49ers fans who have invested emotions, viewership and cash into their beloved franchise for years only to emerge too often with fool’s gold.
Five Super Bowl seasons reaped championship rewards and bar-room bravado for 49ers fans, the first following the 1981 season with Joe Montana in charge. The last came in January 1995, when Steve Young worked wonders. Since then: teaser takes at every turn. This includes Super Bowl trips to cap the 2012 and 2019 seasons when the 49ers emerged with bruises and merchandise but not the Lombardi Trophy.
San Francisco had a chance in its season finale to win a game in a lost season, and it led late before buckling under the will of the remarkable Russell Wilson. Seattle prevailed 26-23 to cap its regular season at 12-4, stamping the Seahawks as a Super Bowl threat.
The 49ers headed home to California for the first time in too long as the league’s displaced member due to the COVID-19 concerns in Santa Clara. They boarded a flight as a battered and beleaguered unit, a season of dread concluding at 6-10. The only joy is that it’s finally finished.
“I’m excited this year is over and now it’s time to figure out how to improve us,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said.
The coach may be more relieved than excited. This ranks as one of the clunker campaigns in franchise history because it wasn’t supposed to sour like this. The season started with promise and then quickly turned into a whimper: no fans in an opener at Levi’s Stadium and a deflating defeat to Arizona.
Then the wheels started to fall off with myriad ailments, including top defender Nick Bosa going down for the season. The injured list filled up fast, though extra space was always allowed for ice packs and crutches.
San Francisco figures to be an immediate player next season. It is closer to relevancy than it is to the ditch, in part because it has a coach and front office in place. But quarterback concerns hover — Is Jimmy Garoppolo the guy? Solve this, and this could be a Super Bowl outfit again.
There was one moment that defined the 49ers resolve Sunday. In the fourth quarter, Seattle safety Quandre Diggs drilled running back Jeff Wilson Jr. The San Francisco bruiser running back jumped up and flexed his biceps. No quit here. But who flexes for the 49ers next season?
Downer 49ers seasons and turning around in a hurry
A peek at the most clunky 49ers campaigns:
1982: Fresh off their first Super Bowl conquest, the 49ers went 3-6 in the strike-shortened season, including a boo-worthy 0-5 showing at home in Candlestick Park. It was so dire that coach Bill Walsh wondered if he could handle the grind and stress. He settled in, and so did the 49ers, who owned much of the rest of the decade.
1999: Five years after winning their last Super Bowl with follow-up seasons that went 11-5, 12-4, 13-3 and 12-4, this edition went a face-planting 4-12, marking the end of the Steve Young era. He was blasted on a blitz in a season opener against Arizona, his last concussion, and it was downhill for coach Steve Mariucci.
2004: The 49ers had high hopes but went 2-14, with losses to the 1-5 Bears, 1-7 Panthers and 1-9 Dolphins under coach Dennis Erickson while ranking last in the NFL in offense. San Francisco would go six more seasons before producing another winner, going 13-3 under Jim Harbaugh in 2011 and reaching the NFC Championship. The 49ers reached the Super Bowl the following season, the NFC title game in 2013 and then slid again, including 4-12 in 2018.
1979: A year after going 2-14, the 49ers did it again, setting a then-NFL record most losses in a two-year stretch (the NFL expanded to 16 games in 1978, so perfect timing). This was Walsh’s first season as 49ers coach, which was supposed to translate to a better era, but the team started 1-13 and couldn’t stop teams on defense.
What stalled the 49ers for a stretch of seasons were blunder trades, including giving up four total No. 1 draft picks and three No. 2’s for Jim Plunkett and O.J. Simpson in 1976 and ‘78. Neither did a thing in San Francisco, fool’s goal before it became a thing.
The 1978 and ‘79 49ers were so dreary that 49ers general manager Joe Thomas made news for bad trades, for ordering security to yank down fan-held signs that called for his ouster and for cursing his team after losses. There was darkness before blue skies.
None of that sort of chaos exists now with the 49ers. Front-office people don’t mix it up with the media, nor do they recklessly pony up high draft choices for veteran players low on fuel. This group figures to regroup and launch again.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 8:35 AM.