Niner History

1940's

The San Francisco 49ers began play in 1946. Trucking tycoon Tony Morabito along with two business partners are the first owners. They played in the All American Football Conference. Buck Shaw would be the first coach of the team named after the pioneers that went west in 1849 in search of gold.

1946--On August 24th 1946 the Forty-Niners would play their first ever game. It was an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dons in San Diego. San Francisco won 17-7. Kezar Stadium would be host to the first home game one week later against the Chicago Rockets. An estimated crowed of near 40,000 watched on as Morabito's team won it's first home game, 34-14. Chronicle sports writer Bill Leiser would write "Their team, we think, is as good as any professional team we ever saw, including the best of the Chicago Bear teams. It is much better than the present National League Champion Los Angeles Rams team." The Forty-Niners did not make the playoffs in their first season, though they did finish in second place behind the Cleveland Browns with a 9-5 record. Frankie Albert was the first ever Quarterback and finished the season with 14 touchdown passes.

1947--The first BIG GAME in Niner history would take place on the eighth week of 1947 at Kezar Stadium. The Niners came into the game with a 5-1-1 record. They needed a win over the Browns to have a chance at the playoffs, since only the top team in the division advanced. Otto Graham passed the Browns past San Francisco that day and then again only three weeks later. The two losses would keep the Niners out of the playoffs again as they would finish 8-4-2. Once again secon to the Browns. Albert had another good year passing for 18 touchdowns, and rushing for 5.

1948--After two "close but no cigar" seasons the Forty-Niners were determined not to finish second to the Browns Again. Coach Shaw kept seventeen rookies in what was a modern day makeover. The changes were well worth it. Along with scoring a record 495 points and averaging 261 rushing yards a game, Albert would lead the league with 29 touchdown passes. They also won their first ten games of the season. The Browns also opened the season with ten straight wins. Turnovers would be the difference in Cleveland's 14-7 victory that day. Two weeks later San Francisco would host the Browns with a chance to force a playoff game to determine the Western Division Champion. The Forty-Niners would have a 21-10 lead in the 3rd Quarter. But The Browns would score three touchdowns to win 31-28. Once again they would finish second place to the Browns. And once again would be home for the post-season. They would finish the year 12-2 in what would be their best record for more than 30 years.

1949--Yes, San Farancisco did finally beat the Cleveland Browns. It happened in the sixth game of the season. The Niners handed the Browns their worst loss in franchise history, 56-28. The Browns would win the second matchup with the Niners and finish ahead of San Francisco in the standings. The Forty-Niners would make their first playoff appearance, thanks to an expanded playoff schedule. The 49ers beat the New York Yankees 17-7, to advance to the league Championship against, Yes, The Cleveland Browns. The game was only minor compared to the news from a week earlier that the AAFC would merge with the NFL. Clevland, San Francisco, and the Baltimore Colts would join the NFL. Oh, Cleveland won the Championship 21-7.

1950's

1950--Some predicted that the Forty-Niners would contend for the NFL Championship in their first season. They finished the season with a 3-9 record, last in the league. The Browns, on the other hand, captured their first NFL Championship. Albert had a bad season, throwing 23 interceptions and only 14 touchdowns. When the Baltimore Colts folded following the season, the Niners picked up their Quarterback, Y.A. Tittle.

1951--Forty-Niner fans were split by the controversy over who would be the starting Quarterback. Albert began the season as the starter, but soon the twon would begin to alternate during the game. Neither one stood out as the man for the job. Albert finished the season with only 5 touchdown passes, while Tittle had eight. Tittle was the starter for the final three games, and San Francisco went 3-0 and finished second behind the Los Angeles Rams.

1952--Forty-Niner fans hoped that what they saw would be a sign of things to come for the season of 1952. First Round draft pick Hugh McElhenny took his first handoff as a pro and went 42 yards for a touchdown on the opening play of the Preseason. Then the team jumped out to a 5-0 record. Living proof that a Quarterback controversy can ruin a good team, the Niners continued to split time between QB's. When they lost the sixth game to the Chicago Bears, many blamed Albert. It seems as though he faked a punt on his own and failed to get the first down. Chicago won on a last second field goal and San Francisco plummeted to 7-5 record. This would be Albert's last season as a player for the Niners.

1953--Once again the Forty-Niners found themselves settling for second place. Injuries to Tittle along with hard luck losses to Detroit and Cleveland, they finished 9-3, and out of the playoffs.

1954-- Injuries once again plaged San Francisco in'54. Tittle and McElhenny would miss time and the team finished 7-4-1. Morabito fired Shaw in hopes of shaking the second place bug. Shaw's record with the Forty-Niners was all but marvelous. 72-40-4, but no Championships. (Shaw would finally win a Championship as coach of the 1960 Philadelphia Eagles.)

1955--Norm "Red" Strader took over as Coach in 1955. Bringing back Frankie Albert as one of his assistants. The team struggled to a 4-8 record, once again the injuries hurt San Francisco. It would also cost Strader his job. Frankie Albert was named coach of the team for the 1956 season.

1956-1959--Nineteen-fifty-seven would be Albert finest year as coach.They would tie Detroit for the Division crown. This forced a playoff game to see who would face the Cleveland Browns for the NFL Championship. San Francisco would lead that game 27-7, before 3 interceptions and two fumbles, gave the game back to Detroit. The Lions won 31-27, in what some call the worst loss in Niner history. Future coach George Seifert was an usher that day and says that loss "still hurts me to this day." It would be 12 seasons before they would see the playoffs again. During the 5th game of the 1957 season owner Tony Morobito would suffer a heart attack in the stands and later die. He would never see his team win a Championship, but boy would he be proud today.

1960's

Year	Wins	Losses	Ties	Place	Coach
1960	7	5	0	3rd	Howard "Red" Hickey
1961	7	6	1	5th	Howard "Red" Hickey
1962	6	8	0	5th	Howard "Red" Hickey
1963	2	12	0	7th	Howard "Red" Hickey- Jack Christiansen
1964	4	10	0	7th	Jack Christiansen
1965	7	6	1	4th	Jack Christiansen
1966	6	6	2	4th	Jack Christiansen
1967	7	7	0	3rd	Jack Christiansen
1968	7	6	1	3rd	Dick Nolan
1969	4	8	2	4th	Dick Nolan
Total	57	74	7
To Date	158	141	12

1960's--The decade of the sixties was one that Forty-Niner fans would like to forget. I guess you could say that they would pay their due for future success. A 57-74-7 record during these years, the team would go through three coaches in search of a playoff berth. None of them could find it. John Brodie would take over at Quarterback in 1961, as Tittle is traded to the New York Giants. Some fans did not like Brodie, because of the teams lack of success. Yet Brodie set a team record in 1965 with 30 touchdown passes. The Niners also averaged 30 points a game that season.

During the 1964 season the teams owner, Victor Morobito, would die of a heart attack, just as older brother, and former owner, Tony Morabito did seven years earlier. The two wives of the Morobito brothers kept contol of the team and hired their own version of Carmen Policy to run the team. His name was Lou Spadia.

1970's

Year	Wins	Losses	Ties	Place	Coach
1970	10	3	1	1st	Dick Nolan
1971	9	5	0	1st	Dick Nolan
1972	8	5	1	1st	Dick Nolan
1973	5	9	0	4th	Dick Nolan
1974	6	8	0	2nd	Dick Nolan
1975	5	9	0	2nd	Dick Nolan
1976	8	6	0	2nd	Monte Clark
1977	5	9	0	3rd	Ken Meyer
1978	2	14	0	4th	Pete McCulley Fred O'Conner
1979	2	14	0	4th	Bill Walsh
Total	60	82	2
To Date	218	223	14

1970--John Brodie passed for 24 touchdowns, and second-year player Gene Washington had 1,110 yards and 12 touchdown receptions, and the Niners seemed to win all the close games, as they would win the NFC Western Division Championship for the first time in team history. It came down to the final game of the season. They would face the Oakland Raiders and neede a win or a tie to clinch the division. The Niners would win the game 38-7 at Oakland and would travel to Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs. With weather and playoff experience on the Vikings side, The Niners would be underdogs. John Brodie passed San Francisco to a 17-14 upset of the Vikes, and advance to the NFC Championship. How appropriate that the Forty-Niners first NFC Championship game would be against the Dallas Cowboys at Kezar Stadium. After a 3-3 halftime score, Dallas would return two interceptions for touchdowns and beat the Niners 17-10, and earn the right to play in their first Super Bowl.

1971--The Forty-Niners left Kezar Stadium to move into their new home, Candlestick Park. Just like they did a year earlier, they would need a victory on the last day of the season to win the division. John Brodie's 10 yard touchdown run proved to be the game winner as the Niners beat the Detroit Lions 31-27. In the first round of the playoffs, San Francisco beat the Washington Redskins 24-20 at Candlestick. Once again, it would be the Cowboys in the NFC Championship. This time Dallas would hold the Niners without a touchdown and win 14-3. The Cowboys would go on to win their first Super Bowl that year.

1972--To stay in the pattern of the 70's, San Francisco would need to beat the Minnesota Vikings in the final game to win the West. Down 17-6 in the fourth quarter, John Brodie, despite an injured ankle, took over for an inexperienced Steve Spurrier to lead San Francisco to a 20-17 win. This time they would face the Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs. With 2 minutes remaning in the game and the Niners ahead 28-16, it seemed as though all the frustration of years of being second to the Browns, and Cowboys would finally be over. But, Roger Staubach would get the Cowboys in the endzone, and the Cowboys would recover an onside kick. With less than a minute to go the Cowboys scored again and won the game 30-28. It seemed as though we would never get any closer than second place.

1973-1979--Over the next seven years the team would not return to the playoffs. They went through four more coaches and five quarterbacks. Ed DeBartolo bought the team in 1977. After finishing 2-14 in 1978, DeBartolo hired Bill Walsh, an offensive guru, from Stanford University. Walsh would pick up Joe Montana and Dwight Clark in the draft. Neither would play much their rookie year, and San Francisco would finish 2-14 again in '79.

1980's

1980--Despite a 6-10 record, the 1980 version of the San Francisco 49ers set the tone for the eighties. Joe Montana began alternating with Steve DeBerg at Quarterback, and Dwight Clark became the go to reciever. They picked up defensive backs Ronnie Lott and Eric Wright in the draft. Both would emerge as starters.

1981--The sixth week of 1981, the Niners faced the Dallas Cowboys at Candlestick. Most coaches, players, and fans knew that this game would tell just how far the team had come and was going. The 45-14 rout of the Cowboys was indeed a barometer for things to come. They finished the season with 5 straight wins and finished 13-3. This included home field advantage throughout the playoffs. A 38-24 win over the New York Giants in the first round set up the clash in the NFC Championship with the Dallas Cowboys. Freddie Solomon hauled in an 8-yard pass from Joe Montana for the first score of the game. It gave San Francisco a 7-0 lead. The lead would change hands six times that day, and with about five minutes left in the game the Niners got the ball on their own 10-yard line. Montana then led the team with passes to Dwight Clark and Freddie Solomon, along with runs by Earl Cooper, all the way to the Dallas 6-yard line with about 1 minute to play. Then perhaps the greatest moment in San Francisco 49er history took place.( Montana once said that he thought it was a very easy catch made by Clark in the end zone. When, in fact, it was all he could do to reach the ball and manage to get both feet down in-bounds.) On the play, Montana was flushed from the pocket, under a heavy rush he threw the ball to the back of the end zone where Clark would be running a "drag" pattern. Clark then, as the pictures document, stretched to the very ends of his bodies ability to make "The Catch" that would send the Forty-Niners to their first ever Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl, though an exiting experience for Niner fans, proved to be less of a matchup. San Francisco scored early and often to hand the Cincinnatti Bengals a 26-21 defeat. The Niners would be Champions of the Football World.

1982--San Francisco dropped their first two games of the season. Then the League went on strike. Even with a 3-5 record, The Niners still had a chance to make the playoffs. A blocked field goal by the Rams with less than two minutes remaining left the defending champions thinking only of next season.

1983--The Forty-Niners returned to the top of the NFC West with a 10-6 record. A 42-17 rout of the Cowboys on Monday Night Football clinched the division for San Francisco. Despite being without an injured Dwight Clark, San Francisco beat Detroit 24-23 in the first round of the playoffs. The next week, in the NFC Championship game in Washington, the Niners found themselves trailing 21-0. Joe Montana then led the team to 21 unanswered points to tie the game. On Washington's final drive, the Niners were whistled for two questionable interference calls, and Mark Mosely nailed the game winner from 25 yards to put Washington in the Super Bowl.

1984--Quite possibly the Forty-Niners finest season. They led the NFL with a sparkling 15-1 regular season mark. Then they defeated the Giants and Bears in the playoffs. Then they handed Dan Marino and the Dolphins defeat in the Super Bowl. Joe Montana was again named MVP of the game as he set records for passing and rushing by a quarterback.