The History of the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game

Dallas Cowboys 17 at San Francisco 49ers 10

Sunday, January 3, 1971

The 49ers lost the first ever NFC Championship Game. How long ago was January, 1971? This game was our last in Kezar and now we’re commemorating the end of the dinosaur of a football stadium that would replace it.

How old am I? I’ve watched every single Niner NFC Championship game, although I was only a couple of months on the planet for this one and can’t claim any of the disappointment that marked the season endings of those early 70s John Brodie teams. I don’t remember Jim Plunkett as a Niner at all; so my first 49er team was ’78, 8 years after this group.

The 1970 49ers were first in the NFL in offense and the best of the 70s 49er teams; at 35, Brodie had his career year; two years before, he led the league in picks with 21, the next year, he threw for 24 – but in 1970, Brodie led the league in fewest interceptions per pass attempts with only ten picks. He led the league in quarterback rating, yards per game, and TD passes with 24; Gene Washington had 20 yards a catch.

Despite that, beating the Vikings in Minnesota in the opening playoff game was a significant upset; I can’t say this enough, those Vikings teams of the Purple People Eaters era were among the very, very best in NFL history – their defense was significantly better than ours, but in 10 degree weather we forced four turnovers and won 17-14.

This was a Craig Morton Cowboy team; they were maybe a little better than we were, but given home field advantage and the win the week prior, it would have been reasonable to think the Niners were headed to the Super Bowl. We were, in fact, 4 point favorites. Favorites! Favorites to win the first ever NFC Championship Game! What a different life I would have had – like Padma Lakshmi’s kid having that billion dollar trust fund.

We did not win the first ever NFC Championship Game. Brodie was 19-40 with two picks, both of which led to Cowboy touchdowns; Dallas put the ball on the ground 4 times but only lost one of them. We went into the 4th quarter down 17-10, after a late third quarter score got us close. Dallas missed a FG with 11 minutes to go; two minutes later, we missed one.

With a little less than 5 minutes left, we forced a punt and took over at our 23. We converted one 4th down, but a sack left us 4th and 6 at our 39 and they stopped us. We got it back with just a few seconds left, and died in the middle of the field.

San Francisco 49ers 3 at Dallas Cowboys 14
Sunday, January 2, 1972

The core of the club was exactly the same the year following, and the defense, with some of the all time best Niners ever (Jimmy Johnson, Charlie Krueger, Tommy Hart) was the better of our two sides of the ball, with Brodie throwing more picks than scores. We won our playoff opener, again at home, beating the Redskins 24-20; we broke the game open in the 4th after they botched a punt at their goal line. The rematched title game was in Dallas this time (we were 7 and a half point dogs) Roger Staubach was the Cowboy quarterback and his game (9-18 103 yds) was as bad as Morton’s the year before – but Brodie was worse, he threw 3 picks and we lost 14-3. Cedrick Hardman dominated the line of scrimmage; sacking Staubach 3 and a half times (what’s the record for most sacks in an NFC Championship game? It can’t be higher than that.) We were down 7-3 going to the 4th quarter, but a 14 play drive that ended in a Duane Thomas score put us down 11 with 10 to play and we only got one more first down the rest of the game.

Dallas Cowboys 27 at San Francisco 49ers 28
Sunday, January 10, 1982

Ten years later, we made it back.

I don’t recall the specific point during our game winning drive that our power went off, but I didn’t watch Dwight’s catch (the signed photo of which I have hanging right now in the room in which I’m writing these very words); instead, my parents and I listened to the radio call. I was 11 years old in January of ’82; huddled around the radio with my parents as we beat the Dallas Cowboys remains my favorite sports memory.

The ’81 team, despite the rhapsody, was only our 21st best regular season team ever, and the weaker element was the offense as the defense finished second in points allowed. But we won games, 12 of our last 13, including kicking the hell out of the Cowboys in what was literally the first time of my life that it ever struck me that the 49ers were a good football team.

We beat the Giants 38-24 in the first round of the playoffs; Joe (last name unnecessary) threw for 2 scores and Ronnie (also unneeded) had two picks, one for a 4th quarter touchdown that effectively ended the game.

Then – Dallas. John Brodie might as well have been Frankie Albert in my mind; games played before my memory were all in a box marked history that I enjoyed opening but had no real ability to appreciate the lineal progression of. But I recognized that we didn’t like the Cowboys, that they had snuffed out our previous attempts to go to the Super Bowl, and that despite our having beaten them earlier in the year, they were still the team through which we had to go. We were 3 point dogs which was clear error; the teams were essentially evenly matched, and given our home field advantage and having beaten them earlier in the year, the number should have been exactly the opposite – but it demonstrates the way the public (and, in my mind’s eye, the football media) viewed our relative positions.

I won money on this game. Yes I did. Money won when you are 11 is twice as sweet as money given to you by your dad.

The Catch.

our 6 turnovers
shoeless punter
tommy from san mateo
get
dan
white
eddie d’s cigarette. tony d’s left eye
amos lawrence, #20 on the muff
halftime death threat
3rd and 5-donley-Incomplete
4:54 and far away
lenvil elliott draw…lenvil elliott sweep..lenvil elliott sweep..esrever
dwight to the 25
freddie to the 13
brown left slot sprint right option.
wright had him by the shirt or he’s gone
pillers/stuckey the game ended at the right time for them
Respect. That. Motherfucker.

San Francisco 49ers 21 at Washington Redskins 24
Sunday, January 8, 1984

To that date, the 1983 49ers were the second best regular season Niner team of all time (1953); ’82 had been a disaster, we missed the playoffs coming off our SB win. The Rams, of all teams, helped us out in the offseason with the Wendell Tyler trade – we added Roger Craig in the draft, and suddenly we had our first real backfield in years.

We again opened the playoffs with a home win, this time over Detroit – who had a fourth quarter lead after two Billy Sims touchdowns, but Joe hit Freddie Solomon late to get us to our 4th NFC Championship.

We were 10 and a half point underdogs in DC against the Redskins; our biggest ever NFC Championship spread, either for good or ill. That was a little heavy maybe, but they were the better club.

The Niners were down 21-0 going to the 4th quarter. Joe hit Mike Wilson (Dwight was hurt) for a five yard score at the top of the quarter. After Mark Moseley’s fourth missed FG of the day, Joe hit Freddie for a 76 yard score and with 7 left, Joe hit Wilson again for 12 yard score – we had 21 points in 7 minutes to tie the game.

We never really got the ball back – they got two terrible penalties to keep a long drive alive, a pass interference against Eric Wright and a holding against Lott; they got the winning FG almost at the gun and we went home 24-21 losers.

Chicago Bears 0 at San Francisco 49ers 23
Sunday, January 6, 1985

The ’84 Niners are not the best regular season team in San Francisco history (that’s the ’87 team) but, when you consider the postseason as well, this is the best 49er team of all time.

After our week 7 loss to Pittsburgh, our only loss in the first 18 win season in NFL history, here was the rest of the regular season:

at Houston 34-21
at LA Rams 33-0
Cincinnati 23-17
at Cleveland 41-7 (I was there; so was Jed York, it was his first ever game)
Tampa 21-17
at New Orleans 35-3
at Atlanta 35-17
Minnesota 51-7
LA Rams 19-16

We had over 400 yards of offense against the Giants in the playoff opener; their only touchdown in our 21-10 win an interception returned for a score (Joe threw three picks). We were at home, 9 point favorites against the Bears the following week and the defense just throttled them; we had 9 sacks, they had 37 yards passing, a slow offensive start limited us to a 23-0 win.

San Francisco 49ers 28 at Chicago Bears 3
Sunday, January 8, 1989

We were 1 point dogs (fairly so) in 20 degree Soldier Field four years later when we met the Bears again in the NFC Championship. This was the worst of our 5 Super Bowl winners; the ’88 Niners were only the 26th best regular season team in San Francisco history, 6-5 and with a raging quarterback controversy before ripping off 4 straight to get into the playoffs.

The first to fall was the Vikings team that had come into San Francisco and shocked the best regular season team in 49er history in round one of the playoffs the year before – Joe threw 3 first half scores to Jerry and we ate them alive 34-9.

30 mile an hour winds were supposed to doom our passing game in the NFC Championship – but this was Joe’s best NFC Championship game to that date, 17 for 28, 288 yards, 3 scores and no picks. Jerry caught five balls for 133 and two first half scores and Chicago went down without much fight. This was the first NFC Championship game I watched by myself; I was off at college by this point – I came home for the Super Bowls, but I watched this and the next year’s title game by myself at school.

Los Angeles Rams 3 at San Francisco 49ers 30
Sunday, January 14, 1990

The ’89 team was the 7th best regular season team in 49er history – but had the most dominant playoff run, maybe in the history of professional sports.

Divisional Round: Niners 41 Vikings 13
NFC Championship: Niners 30 Rams 3
Super Bowl 24: Niners 55 Broncos 10

And as silly as it sounds, none of the games were as close as the scores would suggest.

The Joe Montana we saw in the Super Bowls, but who was a little less than that in the playoffs until ’88, returned in ’89; Joe hit the Vikings for four first half touchdown passes and we went up 27-3 at the half, easing through to the 41-13 divisional round win.

We were 7 point favorites in the NFC Championship against the Rams; it wasn’t nearly enough – Joe went 26 of 30 for 262 and 2 scores… let’s consider Joe Montana’s 1989 postseason:

65 of 83 for 800 yards, 11 touchdowns and no picks.

We took a 21-3 lead into the half and cruised to a 30-6 win.

How about the combined scores at halftime of the three games: 75-9.

75-9!

New York Giants 15 at San Francisco 49ers 13

Sunday, January 20, 1991

When did the 1980s end? Not when the Berlin Wall fell. The 80s ended January 20, 1991, when Leonard Marshall killed Joe Montana.

The Not Quite Threepeat 1990 Niners are the 24th best regular season team in San Francisco history, not as good, frankly as the Giants team who beats us in the NFC Championship game (despite our being a wildly outsized 8 point favorite). The difference was the lack of running game; Roger went down early in the year with a knee and never was the same player again; we relied on Dexter Carter to be our leading rusher

Second quarter TD passes to Rice and Mike Sherrard put us up 21-10 in the division playoff game against the Skins; we picked Mark Rypien three times, including Michael Carter’s 61 yard touchdown return in the 4th to get the final 28-10 score.

It felt like we were still the same invincible team; we were 14-2 and the amount of confidence you had at that point as a 49er fan was unreasonably high. We had beaten the Giants earlier in the year in that 7-3 Monday Night game; this was that again, New York won despite not scoring a touchdown, 15-13.

We took a 13-6 lead in the third on the only TD of the game; Joe hitting JT for a 61 yard score; a quarter later he was getting crushed by Leonard Marshall, ending his tenure as our starting quarterback in what was also the last game as a Niner for Ronnie and Roger. We had the ball though, with SteveYoung in the game, and less than 6 minutes to go after New York cut it to 13-12 on Bahr’s 4th FG. Matt, I think. May have been Chris. They were the same dude.

Then Roger fumbled. And that was that. I was home for this game; I’ve forgotten the circumstance as to why I came back for this game as opposed to the two previous years when I waited for the Super Bowl…it could be that I didn’t get CBS in my apartment; this was my first year out of the dorms, and I didn’t have cable – the only station I had was the NBC affiliate, so that’s what it was – that means this would be the last NFC Championship game that I watched with my entire family.

Dallas Cowboys 30 at San Francisco 49ers 20
Sunday, January 17, 1993

The 80s version of the Niners dynasty died at Candlestick two years previous, but the best stretch of uninterrupted great football was still to come – the Steve Young Niners teams of the early 90s were 3 of the 10 best regular season squads in franchise history.

The best was the first group; the ’92 Niners were the third best regular season 49er team ever. We hit the playoffs having won 8 straight and 13 of 14; Joe had missed the entire ’91 season and all of this one as well, until coming back for the last week to beat the Lions. It was with a healthy Joe Montana on the bench that we beat the Redskins 20-13 to open the postseason. We lost 3 fumbles that day; minimizing our 400+ yards of offense but not enough to keep us from hosting the NFC Championship game the next week.

We were four point favorites against the Cowboys and that was the right number; we were the best team in football and at home. As I would for each of these next 3 years, I watched this game by myself in what was now a law school apartment; the turnovers the week before were bad foreshadowing; we gave it up 4 times and got beat.

Only two players total were active for this game and didn’t play. One was Garin Veris. The other was Joe Montana.

San Francisco 49ers 21 at Dallas Cowboys 38
Sunday, January 23, 1994

Joe was in Kansas City in ’93, and when the Niners lost to Dallas again in Week 6, dropping to 3-3, the decision to send him away seemed hard to support. But the 10th best regular season team in 49er history won the next 6 straight and then whipped the Giants 44-3 to open the playoffs. Young went 17 for 22 and Ricky Watters scored 5 touchdowns. Phil Simms didn’t finish his last NFL game.

The Chiefs were in the AFC Title game – the Niners in the NFC Title game. Each a step away from one of the biggest games in NFL history. That’s how you would have booked it in a wrestling promotion.

But the NFL is on the square, both of us lost. Dallas scored 21 in the 2nd quarter and we got run out of the building.

Dallas Cowboys 28 at San Francisco 49ers 38
Sunday, January 15, 1995

The 5th best regular season team in 49er history won what is, to this date, our last Super Bowl.

There was a win or bust sense to the ’94 season, longtime Niners Romanowski, Rathman, Griffin, Washington, and McIntyre were let go; replaced with Ricky Jackson, Gary Plummer, Derrick Deese, Bart Oates, Ken Norton, and finally, during the season, Deion Sanders.

In Week 2, on 9-11, the Niners went to Kansas City, in the only game I’ve ever actively rooted against one of my teams. Young threw two picks and lost to Joe and all remained right with the world.

It should be insightful that the choice I made was player over team, not so much into my personality, but into demonstrating the relationship Joe Montana had with 49er fans. There’s probably a series of blog posts at some point about the hyperintense nature of this period in San Francisco sports history – the Giants had a crushing NLCS loss in ’87, just a couple of months before the best regular season team in Niner history had a crushing playoff loss. The Niners won back to back Super Bowls while the Giants were losing the Earthquake World Series. A multi-season wrenching quarterback controversy occurred as the Giants were being sold and moving to Tampa. The Giants were saved, Barry Bonds was signed, we won a hundred three games and didn’t make the playoffs, Will Clark left town – while the Niners were losing consecutive NFC Championship games and Joe was traded to Kansas City.

A blowout home loss to the Eagles in which Young got pulled was the turning point of the season – we didn’t lose again until a meaningless week 16, including a home win over the Cowboys, and were the heavy favorites going into the playoffs. The Bears were first – we were up 37-3 through three and cruised to a 44-15 win.

Then home for Dallas. We were 7 and a half point favorites, but like the previous two seasons, the distance between the best and the second best team in football was virtually nonexistent.

Two plays into the game Eric Davis took an Aikman pass 44 yards the other way for a quick pick 6; and two plays later he forced an Emmitt Smith fumble. 90 more seconds passed and it was 14-0. Dallas fumbled the kick – and a half dozen plays later William Floyd was in the end zone; it was 21-0 with only 7 minutes gone by and the game was over. We won 38-28 and went on to our fifth Super Bowl.

Green Bay Packers 23 at San Francisco 49ers 10
Sunday, January 11, 1998

Three years later we were back, Steve Mariucci was the new head coach – Jerry had blown out his knee in the opening week, and Eddie D was forced out of the ownership chair. We were just the 25th best regular season team in Niner history, but won 11 straight at one point and rolled through the Vikings in the first round of the playoffs, 38-14.

We were field goal favorites headed to the NFC Championship game, but couldn’t move the ball at home against the Packers. We were down 23-3 before Chuck Levy returned a kick for our only touchdown; Young got sacked four times and threw a pick – and our leading rusher was Terry Kirby with 21 yards. After appearing in the NFC Championship Game a dozen times in 27 seasons, the Niners would be absent for the next 14 years.

New York Giants 20 at San Francisco 49ers 17
Sunday, January 22, 2012

By the advanced metrics, of the ten worst seasons in 49er history, 4 were in the first decade of the 2000s; the franchise churned through multiple head coaches and front office personnel; ownership passed down to a younger generation of DeBartolo, and there was even talk of the club moving south…way south, to Los Angeles.

I’m a “history from the bottom up” guy, meaning that I don’t see change as driven by “great men”, and that impacts (or drives, hard to locate) my view that coaching is of the more overrated elements of sports analysis. However, there are outliers, and in 2011 the 49ers moved from a clearly outmatched Mike Singletary to Jim Harbaugh, who I (as a Pete Carroll loving USC Trojan fan) had watched dramatically turn around the Stanford football program over a few years previous, including kicking our ass at a time when USC bullied the collegiate football landscape.

And sure enough – it happened at the next level. The 49ers weren’t quite as good as their 13-3 regular season record would indicate; this team was the 14th best in Niner regular season history, and the best since ’98 – but they managed a stadium rattling comeback to win the divisional round against the Saints, and in the conference championship hosted a Giants team they had beaten during the regular season.

The Niners were sizably, sizably advantaged heading to the title game, Vernon Davis caught two touchdown passes from much maligned (and rightly so) former number one overall pick Alex Smith, but Kyle Williams fumbled away two kicks, the first in the 4th quarter that flipped the game, turning a 49er lead into, within 3 minutes, a Giant lead; and the second in overtime – and New York converting that drive into a game winning field goal.

It wouldn’t take 12 years for the 49ers to return to the NFC Title game – they’d be back in 2013.

San Francisco 49ers 28 at Atlanta Falcons 24
Sunday, January 20, 2013

The 49ers prior NFC Championship was in January of ’95; Joe Montana’s last NFC Title was 5 years before that – for 49er fans under the age of 30; Montana’s their John Brodie (except instead of having a Big Brother Champion son-in-law, Montana’s got Lombardi Trophies). But you get my point; my memories are their history books. For me, nothing’s ever going to match the seasons where I sat with my family to watch the 49er dynasty win NFC Championships – I was 42 years old for this game; my dad now gone for a couple of years, and I’m married myself. An easy trap to fall into, whether talking about sports or music or whatever element of cultural passion hit you when most impressionable is thinking things just aren’t as special as the good old days. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check your facebook feed.

The 49ers still matter to me, but not as much as trying to navigate the labor market. I’m a college professor, or a facsimile thereof, and while that’s not yet like saying you write for a newspaper or run a music store – you can see it from here. The wolf is always at the door for old Gil; even during game time.

Jim Harbaugh used a mid-season injury to Alex Smith to go with tough, athletic, young Colin Kaepernick as the new, permanent Niner signal caller. He went 5-2 down the stretch; tore threw the Packers in the divisional playoff round, running for 2 scores, passing for 2 scores, and accounting for almost 450 yards of total offense.

Here, the Niners spotted the Falcons the first 17 points, trailed by ten at the half, and then shut out the Falcons the rest of the way, scoring two Frank Gore touchdowns and holding on with an end of game defensive stop at the 10 yard line.

Kaepernick played very efficiently; 16 of 21, and, just as did John Brodie 42 years before, threw for one touchdown pass.

San Francisco 49ers 17 Seattle Seahawks 23

January 19, 2014

The 1990 loss to the Giants was the breaking point for the Team of the 80s; the Montana Era replaced by the Young Era.  This loss was the beginning of the end of this Harbaugh run. Niners/Seahawks was a legitimate blood feud in the middle of the decade; Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh had been not remotely friendly rivals in the Pac 10 and that carried over to the NFC West. We beat them twice in 2011; split in 2012, and then split this year headed to Seattle for the NFC Championship. Aldon Smith's life took nothing but bad turns subsequent, but he forced a Russell Wilson fumble on the first play of the game and that would lead to a Phil Dawson field goal. Before Colin Kaepernick was Tommie Smith and John Carlos in shoulder pads he was a weapon - early second quarter he hit this Seahawk defense (probably one of the 15 greatest of all time) for a 58 yard run; that turned into a short Anthony Dixon score and the Niners led 10-0. 

That became 10-3 before the half and early in the third Marshawn Lynch rumbled for a 40 yard score to tie it up.  Kaepernick got it right back - a 22 yard run, a 22 yard ball to Michael Crabtree - and a 26 yard strike over the middle to Anquan Boldin.  Seattle was two weeks away from absolutely dominating Peyton Manning and the Broncos, but in the middle of the third quarter they were down to the Niners 17-10. 

Seattle got a FG prior to quarter's end and then early in the 4th Wilson hit Jermaine Kearse for a 35 yarder and Seattle had their first lead.  The teams swapped turnovers and then what looked like the knockout; Kam Chancellor picked up Kaepernick at the Niner 40. It led to another FG and with 3:43 to play Seattle had a 23-17 lead.

Just before the two minute warning we had a 4th and two; Kaepernick hit Frank Gore (still playing 5 years later, now with the Bills) for 17 yards to get us near midfield. A minute later it was third and two and Kaepernick again had a big conversion, 16 yards to Kaepernick to get to the Seattle 29. The next play was an 11 yard throw over the middle to Vernon Davis. 

Getting us 1st and ten and the Seahawk 18; still with two timeouts, 30 seconds to play.

The year prior our season ended with 4 shots from the Raven 5 yard line in the Super Bowl.

Here - we just got the one - Kaepernick to Crabtree in the right corner of the end zone was deflected by Richard Sherman and intercepted by Malcolm Smith.  

A year later we were 8-8. And then Harbaugh was gone. In the years subsequent, both Smith and a real Niner enemy Sherman would join the 49ers, and we'd run through multiple head coaches before turning to Kyle Shanahan; son of Mike, who prior to winning back to back Super Bowls with the Broncos was the Niner offensive coordinator in the early 90s. 

And 6 years later - we're back.  NFC Championship game #16. Other than Joe Staley, starter at tackle since his rookie season in 2007; the club has turned over entirely since the last time we were seen in this game.  This Sunday the Niners will be favored as they host Aaron Rodgers as the Packers. 

Hold on tight everyone.

January 19, 2020

San Francisco 49ers 37 Green Bay Packers 20

Are we still doing this?  4 years ago I updated/consolidated this history of the Niners in the NFC Championship - and now I'm 3 games behind and a 4th is coming Sunday.  In the six years that passed since the last 49ers NFC Championship, both Harbaugh and Kaepernick were out of the league, Mike Shanahan's son Kyle was now the head coach; Jimmie Ward remaining from the Harbaugh years.

As of the date of this publication, the last time the 49ers won the NFC Title was in this game, Raheem Mostert rushed for 220 yards and scored 4 TDs.  At the time, that was the second highest rushing total in playoff history. The 49ers became the third team in history to make the Super Bowl a year after winning four games or fewer.  Jimmy Garoppolo was the 49er QB - he threw 8 passes all day.  

Between here and two weeks from here, when the 49ers lost the Super Bowl to Kansas City. Kobe Bryant died, NFL Hall of Famer Chris Doleman, who had a couple of very productive years with the Niners, died. 

Historically, this 49ers team probably will best be remembered as Patrick Mahomes first Super Bowl victim; the Niners had a 4th Qtr double digit lead and lost the game by 11 points.

January 30, 2022

San Francisco 49ers 17 Los Angeles Rams 20

Two years later essentially that same team was back in the NFC Title game, playing a Ram team that they had beaten 6 consecutive times.  As was the case with the Super Bowl 2 seasons prior San Francisco had a 4th qtr double digit lead - but couldn't hold on, allowing 100+ yard receiving games to both Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham. The Rams went on to win the Super Bowl. 

January 29, 2023

San Francisco 49ers 7 Philadelphia Eagles 31

A year later, the 49ers QB position had turned over multiple times, Garoppolo yielding to the third overall draft pick from the prior season, Trey Lance, whose injury returned Garoppolo to the starting spot - and then when Garoppolo also suffered a season ending injury, the 49ers turned to the last pick in the draft, Brock Purdy.  Purdy led the club on a late season run that took them to Philadelphia for the NFC Championship game - but when both he and the only other QB on the active roster, Josh Johnson, were both knocked from the contest, San Francisco was non competitive in falling to the Eagles.  Two weeks later - the Eagles would lose the Super Bowl to Mahomes and the Chiefs.

January 28, 2024

And here we are again.  The top seeds in the NFC, the 49ers play host to the Detroit Lions on Sunday; the Niners are 7 point favorites; that's a lot - 4 years prior, the Niners went off as 8 point favorites in hosting the Packers (covered); nearly 30 years ago the 49ers were touchdown favorites in defeating the Cowboys in the '94 NFC Title game (covered). The failed attempt to threepeat 1990 Niners were 8 point favorites in the game they lost to the Giants. The year prior, the Niners were 7 pt favorites when they beat the Rams -- it looks like the largest line was 1984, when the Niners gave 10 points to the Bears (covered).

Either I'll update this Monday or perhaps 4 years from now.