A look at how the 49ers responded (or not) from previous NFC Championship losses
The 49ers have been here before, and so has their fan base: brought to their collective knees by a crushing NFC Championship loss. And stuck with the sinking feeling of what could have been, what should have been, and doused by distress.
But the 49ers have recovered. They aim to do so again after Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the conference finals, snapping a six-game winning streak against their NFC West rivals. The measure of sports is how teams and players respond.
Here’s a peek at how the 49ers bounced back (or didn’t) after previous NFC title bout losses:
1971, Playoff drought ends and then Dallas dred: A week after the club’s first playoff contest since 1957, the 49ers reached their first NFC title tilt to cap the 1970 season, a 17-10 setback to Dallas at Kezar Stadium 17-10. San Francisco roared back the next season to earn a rematch with the Cowboys for a shot to reach Super Bowl V. Dallas won that one as well, 14-3.
1972, Big D misery and the decline: After their second straight conference championship setback to the Cowboys, the 49ers slipped to 8-5-1 but muscled into the playoffs behind quarterback Steve Spurrier, who took over for the aging John Brodie. But San Francisco had its soul crushed by Dallas again in the playoffs, this time 30-28, as Roger Staubach engineered one of football’s great comebacks. The 49ers would not reach the playoffs for another nine seasons, in coach Bill Walsh’s second season.
1984, Bouncing back in historic fashion: The 49ers felt cheated in the 24-21 conference-title loss to the defending champion Washington Redskins the previous season, calls that didn’t go their way late, and they vowed to storm back. They did, going 18-1 and rolling the Miami Dolphins 38-16 in the Super Bowl as Joe Montana won his second big-game MVP. 49ers star Ronnie Lott still calls this San Francisco’s greatest team.
1991, Enter Young, but no playoffs: Following a 15-13 title-game loss to the New York Giants, the 49ers went 10-6, kicking off the campaign with a 16-14 loss to those dreaded Giants. The 49ers started the season 2-4, struggled to find their footing as Steve Young started all season in place of an injured Montana, and the team missed the playoffs for first time in nine seasons.
1993, Cowboys angst again: Falling 30-20 to the upstart Cowboys in the conference finals the previous season fired up the 49ers for a rematch, but a 9-3 start to the season led to a 10-6 regular season amid injuries and spotty play, and, eventually, a 38-21 loss to Dallas in the NFC Championship as the Cowboys stormed to another Super Bowl conquest.
1994, Deliciously defeating Dallas: The 49ers started the season 3-2 and finished it 16-3 after beating Dallas in the conference title game 38-28, then rolling San Diego 49-26 in the Super Bowl. League MVP Steve Young tossed a record six Super Bowl touchdown passes before pleading teammates amid laughter to remove the proverbial monkey off his back for so many playoff frustrations. This remains San Francisco’s last Super Bowl championship.
1998, Green Bay be gone: Coach Steve Mariucci’s first 49ers team lost to Green Bay 23-10 in the 1997 NFC finals, the third such setback to the Packers in as many seasons, and then the 49ers went 12-4 in his second campaign behind Steve Young and Garrison Hearst. The 49ers exacted a measure of revenge in bouncing Green Bay in a wild card playoff 30-27 before falling to eventual conference champion Atlanta 20-18 in the divisional round. The 49ers fell to 4-12 in 1999 as the Young quarterback era faded to retirement.
2012, A Giant headache becomes a Super Bowl berth: The gut-punch 20-17 title-game loss to the Giants in overtime soured a 13-3 regular-season under rookie coach Jim Harbaugh in 2012. The 49ers continued to grow and reached the Super Bowl to cap this season, their first since the 1994 season, though the heartache remained: a 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
2014, Harbaugh’s last stand and the swift decline: A 23-17 NFC title setback to the Seahawks sent the Seahawks on their way to their first Lombardi Trophy to cap the 2013 season, and the hangover lingered in the Bay Area. Harbaugh’s final San Francisco team dipped to 8-8, then the 49ers dipped some more at 5-11 in 2015 before bottoming out at 2-14 in 2016.
This story was originally published January 30, 2022 at 8:22 PM.