The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The team plays its home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, located 38 miles (61 km) southeast of San Francisco. The team is named after the prospectors who arrived in Northern California in the 1849 Gold Rush.
Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1988 season. The 49ers defeated the Bengals 20–16, winning their third Super Bowl. The game was played on January 22, 1989, at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami. This was the first Super Bowl hosted in the Miami area in 10 years, and the first in Miami not held at the Orange Bowl.
Super Bowl XXIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1989 season. The game was played on January 28, 1990, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 49ers defeated the Broncos by the score of 55–10, winning their second consecutive Super Bowl, and their fourth overall, tying the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins at that time. San Francisco also became the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls with two different head coaches; rookie head coach George Seifert took over after Bill Walsh retired following the previous season's Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XXIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion San Diego Chargers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1994 season. The 49ers defeated the Chargers by the score of 49–26, becoming the first team to win five Super Bowl championships. The game was played on January 29, 1995, at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", Montana is widely regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. After winning a national championship with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Montana began his NFL career in 1979 at San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons. With the 49ers, Montana started and won four Super Bowls and was the first player to be named the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times. He also holds Super Bowl career records for most passes without an interception and the all-time highest passer rating of 127.8. In 1993, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played for his last two seasons and led the franchise to its first AFC Championship Game. Montana was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Jerry Lee Rice is an American former professional football wide receiver who played for 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He won three Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers before two shorter stints at the end of his career with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks. For his accomplishments and numerous records, Rice is widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver of all time and one of the greatest players in NFL history. His biography on the official Pro Football Hall of Fame website names him "the most prolific wide receiver in NFL history with staggering career totals". In 1999, The Sporting News listed Rice second behind Jim Brown on its list of "Football's 100 Greatest Players". In 2010, he was chosen by NFL Network's NFL Films production The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players as the greatest player in NFL history.
The National Football League playoffs for the 1984 season began on December 22, 1984. The postseason tournament concluded with the San Francisco 49ers defeating the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX, 38–16, on January 20, 1985, at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California.
The 1989 Los Angeles Rams season was the franchise's 52nd season in the National Football League, their 53rd overall, and their 44th in the Greater Los Angeles Area. It constituted their last postseason appearance in Los Angeles before owner Georgia Frontiere, who would eventually move the team to St. Louis six seasons later, sold many top players, and in the playoffs, they were defeated by the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers 30–3 in the NFC Championship Game
The 1992 Dallas Cowboys season was the franchise's 33rd season in the National Football League (NFL) and was the fourth year of the franchise under head coach Jimmy Johnson. The Cowboys made the first of three Super Bowl appearances between 1992 and 1995.
The 1981 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 32nd season in the National Football League (NFL), their 36th overall and their third under head coach Bill Walsh.
The 1994 season was the San Francisco 49ers' 45th in the National Football League (NFL), their 49th overall, and their sixth under head coach George Seifert. This season was highlighted by a victory in Super Bowl XXIX. The championship made San Francisco the first team to win five Super Bowls. After losing to the Dallas Cowboys in the previous two conference championship games, the 49ers made significant acquisitions in the 1994 free agent market. This included the signing of two-sport star Deion Sanders and Cowboys linebacker Ken Norton, Jr. Sanders had a major impact on the team's success, winning the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award and recording six interceptions. The 49ers won their division, the NFC West, for the eighth time in nine seasons.
The 1989 season was the San Francisco 49ers' 40th in the National Football League (NFL), their 44th overall and their 1st season under head coach George Seifert. After going 14–2 in the regular season, the 49ers completed the season with one of the most dominant playoff runs of all time, outscoring opponents 126–26, earning their fourth Super Bowl victory and their second consecutive, where they defeated the Broncos, 55–10. They finished with the best record in the NFL for the first time since 1987. Their two losses were by a combined 5 points. The 49ers became the 2nd team in NFL history to win 4 Super Bowls, the first being the Steelers.
The 1988 season was the San Francisco 49ers' 39th in the National Football League (NFL), their 43rd overall, and their tenth and final season under head coach Bill Walsh. The season was highlighted by their third Super Bowl victory. They failed to improve on their 13–2 record from 1987, and the 49ers struggled to a 6–5 record at the midway point and were in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1982, but rose to defeat the Washington Redskins on a Monday night, eventually finishing the season at 10–6. They gained a measure of revenge by thrashing the Minnesota Vikings 34–9 in the first round of the playoffs; the Vikings had upset the #1-seeded 49ers the previous season in the divisional round. The 49ers then traveled to Chicago's Soldier Field, where the wind-chill factor at game time was 26 degrees below zero. They defeated the Chicago Bears 28–3 in the NFC Championship game.
The 1984 San Francisco 49ers season was their 35th season in the National Football League (NFL) and 39th overall. The season was highlighted by their second Super Bowl victory. The franchise had its best season ever, with a record of 15 wins and only 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Quarterback Joe Montana was awarded the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player Award for the second time in his career, joining Bart Starr and Terry Bradshaw as the only two-time Super Bowl MVPs.
The 1995 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 46th season in the National Football League (NFL) and their 50th overall.
The 1987 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 38th season in the National Football League and their 42nd overall. The 49ers won the division for the second consecutive season, ended the season as the top seed in the NFC and were heavily favored to represent the conference in the Super Bowl. The season ended with an upset loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the divisional round of the playoffs.
The 1983 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 34th season in the National Football League and their 38th overall. The team attempted to improve on its 3–6 record from 1982. The 49ers started the season with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, 22–17. However, the 49ers throttled the Vikings the next week 48–17 and then the Cardinals the following week 42–27. They ended the first half of the season 6–2 before splitting their last eight games to finish the season 10–6 and clinching the NFC West and the #2 seed in the playoffs. In the divisional round of the playoffs, the 49ers came back to beat the Lions 24–23 after Joe Montana found Freddie Solomon in the end zone with 1:23 remaining, and Lions kicker Eddie Murray missed a 41-yard field goal as time expired. However, in the NFC Championship game, the 49ers were not able to outlast the top-seeded Redskins, as after coming back to tie a game in which they trailed 21–0 at the start of the 4th quarter, they lost 24–21 after Washington took the lead on a field goal with 40 seconds left in the game.
The 2011 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 66th season overall, and 62nd in the National Football League (NFL). It was the first season under head coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Trent Baalke. The 49ers rebounded from their disappointing 2010 season to end their streak of eight consecutive non-winning seasons. After defeating the St. Louis Rams in week 13 and attaining a 10–2 record, the team clinched the NFC West and made their first playoff appearance since 2002. The 49ers ended the regular season with a 13–3 record, their best since 1997, and earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs. In the Divisional Playoffs they defeated the New Orleans Saints 36–32 and were in the NFC Championship for the first time since 1997, where they lost to the eventual eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants in overtime by a score of 20–17, coming just short of returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1994.
The 2013 season was the San Francisco 49ers' 64th in the National Football League (NFL), 68th overall and third under the head coach/general manager tandem of Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke. This marked the first season since 2004 that quarterback Alex Smith was not on the roster as he joined the Kansas City Chiefs. This was the 49ers' final season playing their home games at Candlestick Park before moving into Levi's Stadium for the 2014 season.
The 49ers–Giants rivalry is an American football rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants. It is one of the great inter-division rivalry games in the National Football League (NFL). The two teams do not play each other every year; instead, they play at least once every three years and at least once every six seasons at each team's home stadium, sometimes more often if the two teams finish in the same place in their respective divisions or meet in the playoffs. Since 1982, the 49ers and Giants have met eight times in the postseason, tied for the most times two teams have met in the playoffs in the NFL since that time.
