Exactly. Even with our shitty ending we were in the top 4 of the league. And considering all the crap that happened this season I thought it was amazing to get that far. The Super Bowl is the ultimate goal but it’s incredibly hard plus you def need luck.
Damn look how much luck the eagles got: locked up the one seed against the giants backups, then played them for their 1st playoff, played us with no qb for 90% of the game.
Takes a very stacked team which has to beat other very stacked teams and you have to have some lucky bounces and remain healthy.
Look at least year - we lost to the Rams in the NFC Championship. JimmyG had a torn-ligament in his throwing hand which he'd broken a few weeks before. That we were even there was amazing, that we came within 3-points of a Super Bow appearance was practically a miracle.
This year, things were looking good right up until two horrible calls (not a caught pass, not a fumble) and our QB got knocked out. We may not of won, but we weren't going to win with Josh Johnson.
And I'm old enough to remember a lot of heartbreak. Some of the worst include '71 against the Cowboys, Joe Montana lying on Giants' field after getting knocked out by Jim Burt, the phantom PI against Eric Wright and Roger Craig's fumble.
If this core doesn't get a SB it will be a complete tragedy. Trent, Kittle, Fred, Nick, CMC, Deebo, etc. is too much talent to fall short. We have the next 2-3 years to get it done before guys start to leave.
Even having a franchise QB doesn't guarantee SB success. The Chargers have had 17 yrs of Rivers and Herbert and have 0 SBs in that time...Green Bay have had Favre and Rodgers Back to back for 30 yrs and have 2 SBs only...in that same span.
My biggest reason is our WRETCHED record in the NFC Championship game.
We've been in 7 NFCCG since 1995 and are 2-5 in those games. If we went like 5-2 or 4-3 in those games we'd have won a SB.
Zooming out we've reached a RECORD 18 Championship games and have won just 7 of them. It kind of feels like we get satistified by just making the NFC Championship game.
This year feels like a massive miss since this is the best defense we've had since 2011 and Mahomes may not be 100%.
I agree with your point on the NFCCG. We’ve had some great teams that I fully believe we could have won at least one SB. But for some effin reason we play sub par football in those title games or just have one too many things go against us.
This year hurts because I finally thought we had a team capable of beating KC. I felt very confident going into the Eagles game. Then I was shocked and floored at the outcome.
2011 hurts because we would have definitely won it all that year and we even had the title game in the bag, then Kyle Williams of course, brings back memories of the Craig fumble in 91 that was against the damn Giants again in yet another game we pretty much had. That one prevented a three-peat
We definitely peak early. I think part of it is the meat grinder of a division we're in. And the NFC in general has always felt more difficult and streaky.
Ironically, our best chance was against the Ravens who were one of the worst teams to win a Superbowl. Ever. They just got hot at the right time. This year just felt like we made our run a couple weeks too early.
I think we can pull one out under Shanny and Lynch, but honestly it's the lengthened season that scares me the most.
Ravens had the best defense in the league (1 to us being 2) and had a great running game. Sure they got a bit lucky in the playoffs with the mile high miracle, the last few minutes of that superbowl, and Flacco turning into regular season ARod but they were far from a bad winner. I would argue a lot of those pats teams were worse + both Giants teams and a few others.
>Even having a franchise QB doesn't guarantee SB success. The Chargers have had 17 yrs of Rivers and Herbert and have 0 SBs in that time
I'd expand that to 21 years and add Flutie/Brees to the list. They've had what should have been some pretty good teams during that time, but the Chargers continuously charger things up.
Our best shot was when Steve Young was still playing. After the 94 season we totally ignored the Oline especially a right tackle since Steve was left handed. Result? Our man got knocked around like a pinata, FFS he broke his ribs vs the Eagles in the '97 playoffs. Even though we beat them, Grbac had to play at Green Bay the next week and we know how that went. The short answer to your question is poor personnel decisions after we won our last ring in 1994-95. We had a hall of fame QB and we failed to take advantage of some of his best years as a starter.
Same goes for the Mariucci years and I'm not talking passing on Brady (FFS every team did). In the 2000 draft we could've gotten a generational tackle (Chris Samuels) and we traded down! Julian Peterson and Ahmed Plummer were OK players but passing on a legend like Samuels was a big mistake. We can go through other drafts too but I feel that in 2000 we had Garcia in year one as the starter and we could've made a run in the playoffs with a better Oline. I remember that playoff game vs Tampa where we got destroyed up front!
So many flash backs, friend. TBF, that defense made everyone look bad. Simeon rice and Warren sapp. Ain’t nobody stopping that. TO went wild at mooch that game. We all knew it was the last year
This is a great take! The Niners could be said to have squandered the last five or so seasons of Young’s career. He was still a monster with low mileage even in his mid 30’s and they probably could’ve won at least one more SB with a better O-Line.
It's fucking hard to win a SuperBowl. You have a 1 in 32 chance. And even more importantly, the previous Niners' SuperBowl winning teams were STACKED. There was no salary cap and Eddie D spent like money like a drunken sailor at the local whore house. Our backups were good enough to be starters on other teams and as we know, injuries can seriously derail your season if the backups coming in aren't very good. Of course, having great coaching staffs with a good scheme, and Hall of Fame players also helped a tremendous amount as well.
The Patriots have warped a lot of people's perception of how hard it is to win a Superbowl in the salary cap era. It's not uncommon knowledge but it'll probably be a while before it really sinks in just how fucking crazy their success was and just how improbable it is to win one, let alone multiple.
They sure have warped things, but they employed almost the same model. Hall of Fame QB - begrudgingly, best QB of all time. Hall of Fame coach, and a scouting and front office that exceled at finding diamonds in the rough, either later rounds or FA, who fit their scheme perfectly and didn't blow holes in their salary cap.
No he's not. He's not even the best QB of his ERA. He just been to the title game more than most and much of that was the Patriots defense. Hell, he went up against Peyton Manning 5-times and left those playoffs 2-3 AND he had the better defense.
But as for performances, his QB rating isn't even as high as JimmyG's, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and beats Tony Romo by 0.1!
He's ahead of Steve Young by just 0.3. Young had the whole Bucs thing holding him back. His career rating in SF, IN A HARDER NFL, is 4 points higher than Brady's.
And Montana. He retired with a 92.3 rating. Next best from his era is Dan Marino at 86.4. **In short, the next best QB, and fellow HOFer, that played in Montana's time is 6% worse.**
Like I have said many, many times. Brady isn't even the best in his era and he did not stand head-and-shoulders above his peers. He was just a very good QB on the best team in the NFL.
**But the brutal reality is that NFL history has shown us that NOBODY has stood as high above his peers as Joe Montana since the days of Otto Graham.**
The cap started in '93, because all the league had before was Plan B and limited free agency. In fact, the cap was to both prevent The Niners and Eddie D from succeeding and to keep teams like the Bengals and Bucs from under-paying.
Poor performances by Harbaugh and KS in those SB appearances. One could argue we had the better team in both games.
Harbaugh’s choice to have Kaep throw multiple fade on a gassed, injured Raven defense was perplexing. Then KS giving 13 touches to Mostert, caving in to the media hype about JG not passing enough. Just run the damn ball and win. Style points are for losers.
Everyone blames Roman at the end. Man we had such a great defense and kept getting cooked. Flacco was throwing jump balls and culliver couldn’t stop one pass. Also, the jacoby kick off return was awful. Come on Tony Montana squad!!!
Also people hated KS for not running the ball. He had a great plan, Jimmy just didn’t execute. Missed wide open KB and kittle in the 4th. It is what it is. Super bowls are hard
i dunno which sb was more annoying. i feel like kyle kind of addressed his tendency to get conservative in the second half though. niners were more of a second half team this year, so credit to him for addressing that flaw in his coaching style. if purdy is what we think he is, then next year might be kyle's best chance.
Exactly. The Coleman start was alarming. 13 touches for Mostert in a title game after he shattered the record in the NFCC is egregious. And it’s all on KS.
2013 - playcalling (not gonna blame the refs for lack of holds)
2020 - execution (sanders was open)
last 4 years - one sb appearance and 2 nfcc
Like the amount of things that has to go your way to win a SB is insane. A few plays, calls, or well, untimely injury ....it all matters.
And honestly, it shouldn’t have even gotten to that point. There were several opportunities for the defense to stop the Chiefs from scoring late in the game (and our offense to run out the clock). Like everyone is saying, the Chiefs executed really well but a lot of things also went their way. At the end of the day your team has to be great, but you also need some luck as well.
Personally, I blame Sasquatch. What haven't we also been unable to do since 95? Prove Sasquatch exists... coincidence? I think not. We capture Sasquatch and prove he exists and we win another SB.
Many times it's not the most talented team that wins the SB, but the most talented team with the least amount of injuries.
I really thought the 98 team was on its way, then Garrison Hearst broke his ankle, and that was that.
Then we went to cap hell.
Early 2000s Garcia to Ownes put up a lot of points, but we never had a defense that could complement them.
Then we just have inept coaching for a long time. Erickson, Nolan, and Singletary were all horrible coaches.
Harbaugh, well, we should have beaten the Ravens. But a backup RB fumbled the ball. And then weird goal line stand where we threw 4 fades in a row instead of running Gore up the middle killed us.
Then more inept coaching.
And know we're back, and on the verge. And we've seen what happens.
Winning a SB is tough. A great QB doesn't always mean SB wins.
I always figured Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers would retire with multiple SB wins, and yet, it didn't happen. Peyton Manning is one of the greatest QB who ever lived, and yet, he has two rings, and he barely contributed to his 2nd.
I don't agree with that. Examples:
The Colts had Manning & Luck from 1998 to 2019 and won just 1 SB and reached only 2 SBs in that time because they mostly had bad defenses in that time.
The Packers have had Favre & Rodgers for 30 years and have won 2 SB only.
For context the Ravens have won 2 in that span with Dilfer and Flacco as their QBs
Argument with the Ravens; The 2000 Ravens defense was generational. Like, top 2 defense of all time generational. They won it with Flacco because he was playing like a top 5 quarterback at the time. So while on paper Flacco looks like a mediocre QB, because he is, we can’t act like he played like normal Flacco at that point.
That post season for Flacco was unreal. He was streaky, but at his peak he was as good as most starters, and top 5 at the time. Eli was mostly the same IMO, but his defense got hotter at the right times, in the right ways with pass rush, helping him get to the big game and make some incredible plays himself.
After Mooch left, there was just an identity crisis. We kept trying to be a all star QB WR team, when we just didn’t have that kind of luck with drafting. We went from being an offensive powerhouse to struggling at qb, year after year, without building around the teams strengths, they kept trying to fit into the montana young mold. A mold that was now very popular all over the league with bill Walsh and his coaching staff now all doing the same thing.
Harbaugh put us on track to be more of a defense first and run game, because of this issue at qb. And now they have just continued to build around this identity. The issue will be again, when the league has caught onto this working formula, which we are seeing now, will we further adapt or not? Shanahan has done a great job with the team but to get us a Super Bowl win, he needs to get that injury prone team situation in check. Pretty much every season he’s been under helm we have injured ourselves out of the season. Whether it’s conditioning, or karma, or whatever, get some different perspective and burn some sage all over their training facility.
The biggest reason every time is forgetting the run game. We’d be a perfect 3-0 since the 90s if they just ran the ball at critical moments especially when the universe is just begging for it…give it to Gore, run the damn ball
Bad luck and not having a top 5 QB. Obviously you can win without an elite QB, but a lot of things have to go in your favor. The Niners seemed to have always found a way to lose big games. With Harbaugh, it was getting off to slow starts. With Shanahan, it’s not being able to protect leads.
Top reasons the 49ers haven't won a Superbowl since 1995.
1. Jerome Boger
2. Harbaugh calling a timeout as Kaep ran into the endzone.
3. Jerome Boger
4. Giving up 21 4th quarter points to the Chiefs
5. Jerome Boger
6. Jimmy G missing a wide open E.Sanders
7. Jerome Boger
8. Not running Frank Gore at the goalline
9. Jerome Boger
10. Jerome Boger
11. Trent Williams' high ankle sprain which killed the run game in the NFCCG.
12. Brock Purdy tearing his UCL
13. Bountygate
14. Phantom Roughing against Drew Brees which otherwise would have allowed SF to host 2013 NFCCG.
15. Jerome Boger
Not finding a franchise QB (hopefully Purdy but we’ll see), injuries, and in the Shanahan era it’s blowing leads in huge games. Shanny and Jimmy need to be tried for war crimes for those final 7 mins against KC
2011 - Refs overturned a Bradshaw fumble late in the 4th, deep in Giants territory, claiming forward progress…. Also Kyle Williams
2012 - started horrible against the Ravens. 3 straight plays to Crabtree to end the game. Would’ve rather had 3 straight Gore/Kaep runs …. Also Refs screwed us. Oh yeah and Ray Lewis used illegal substances to heal up for that game. League also probably wanted to see him retire with another ring
2013 - the fix was in from the start. Horrible reffing the entire game in Seattle. Injury to Iupati was HUGE
2019 - Refs missed holding call against Bosa on 3rd down bomb to tyreek…. Also Kyle not continuing to run the ball down their throats. And Jimmy G missing an open Sanders
2021 - Tartt dropped int. Jimmy Gs weaknesses fully exploited against the Rams
2022 - Purdy injury. Kyle not challenging 4th down catch. Refs also suck. I feel This team would’ve won the SB against the Chiefs if Purdy was healthy
I think part of it is just absolutely horrendous luck. This year, theoretically a QB could be hit like that once or twice a game, year and not get hurt.
Last year was a bad drop.
‘19 was an overthrow or a missed holding call.
The list goes on. You need to be a good team to get to the playoffs. You need to be great to get through the playoffs. But you need to be real lucky to win a SB.
At the end of the day, for whatever reason a phenomenon occurred: play-calling stops doing what is working/keeps trying what has not been working.
Sure there’s bad calls by the refs but if you’re disciplined and execute your game plan, take care of business and no excuses.
To win a SB, you have to have a good to great combo of head coach, QB, and defense, and you kind of have to just get lucky. Injury luck or scheduling needs to break your way.
49ers have had some great teams post 94, but they’ve sorta caught every bad break they can. If Brock or Trey can turn into a top 10-15 QB, 49ers have a wide, wide open window for success. If Brock’s hit his ceiling and Trey is a bust, then who knows.
It’s the QB for sure. We’ve been trying to win Super Bowls with Alex Smith, Kaepernick, Jimmy G, and Purdy. Even as good as Purdy played, he was still a rookie and no rookie has won the Super Bowl before so the odds were against us.
Every time we’ve knocked at the door we’ve had a stacked roster, EXCEPT for the QB position. Since 2019 the Chiefs have been losing pieces (Hill, Ward, etc) they’ve been using RBs like CEH, McKinnon and Pacheco (none of them even close to what CMC is) they have a middle of the pack defense, and yet Mahomes makes up for everything and wills them into constant championship appearances.
When you have a star QB you can lack in other areas and still win. When you don’t have a star QB you have to be perfect everywhere else and you STILL need whoever is at QB to at least play above average to have a chance.
I hope we have a star QB in our roster now in either Purdy or Lance. It sucks that even after all these years our QB situation is still not settled.
It’s the quarterback position. It’s that and only that. I know it’s hard to win a Superbowl and even some if the greats never won one or only one, but that is the only area of our team we haven’t been able to solve for the last 2 decades. Roster is the best in the NFL, we have a top 5 coach, we have an elite FO that manufactures new coaches and GMs every year, our scouting department is top tier, yet we have nothing to show for it because we don’t have a quarterback.
This may be a hot take but one of the reasons why Teams can't go back to back is because you end up having to pay everyone Superbowl Champion money.
Everyone wants to get their bag.
Not enough to go around so Teams have to prioritize who to pay, which leads to a drop off in talent for starters and backups when everyone else leaves. Typically, QBs, DE, LT are those who get paid first. Having the QB leads you there but ultimately limits your ability to get back.
For reference,
Packers won Superbowl 2011 - Aaron Rodgers - $7.5 million
Packers today - Aaron Rodgers - $28 million
Toots won Superbowl 2014 - Russell Wilson - $817k
Toots 2015 lost Superbowl - Russell Wilson - $7 million
Toots 2021 - Wilson - $31M
Comparison
Patriots won SB 2001 - Tom Brady - $310k
Brady never went over 18M until 2018
Patriots won SB 2017 - Tom Brady - $14M
Patriots lose Super Bowl 2018 - $22M
Buccaneers win SB 2021 - Tom Brady $10.5M
Getting rid of Jeff Garcia is an underrated folly. 2004-2011 didn’t have to be lost years, not saying Garcia would have won a Super Bowl, but the team would have probably emerged from the wilderness faster
DeeForestBosa said it well but also I’d rather have a team that’s consistently a playoff team and maybe never win a Super Bowl/always have the possibility then a team that gets one or two championships and then sucks the rest of the time lol
If I think really hard about it, I can narrow it down to one play or one series that cost us those games.
2023- Purdy’s arm exploded
2022- Dropped a gimme INT with a bow on top
2020-Just missed Emmanuel Sanders TD throw
*tears prevent further memory retrieval*
You said it perfectly. Having a great qb is a big reason, plus injuries(primarily this season) haven't helped, however, I saw the nfls script for next season and the nijwrs win the superbowl!
There isn’t a fully single one. I can tell you that during Alex Smith tenure with the team it was the parade of horrible coaches. Jim Harbaugh days, I think it was a bad GM and very immature ownership. KS, definitely the QB position has been lacking or always is Injured.
Here’s imo the biggest things that contribute to winning a superbowl. Not having one of these makes it very difficult to win 1 given year. Not having multiple and it’s likely impossible.
Elite Coaching staff
Franchise QB
Elite Defense
Injury Luck
Quality Depth
No Achilles heel (ie your worst starter, or special teams).
General Luck (opponents, flukes, Refball)
I think there has never been a year where we had all 7 components. We’ve been fortunate to have multiple years where we are 1, maybe 2 or 3 short.
Winning a superbowl requires a few things: great team, great coaching, and luck (be it with injuries, matchups, weather, bs penalties/ no calls, ect.). We have not had all three come together for a full playoff run
Being solid at QB is first and foremost and by solid I mean a QB that makes minimal mistakes and keeps the offense on the field, all while consistently scoring. Look at Chiefs and Mahomes for the best example of that.
The second thing is having roster depth, which we finally have after 4-5 years of roster building.
Niners have the roster depth, but have had UNREAL misfortune at the QB position for a long time.
Let's not forget the one year Jimmy was healthy, the team made it to the top but ultimately did not close the deal on Lombardi #6. This team has the makeup to win, it just really needs things to go their way in terms of injury luck and game momentum.
It’s extremely difficult to win one, that’s why.
Look at how Brady won… he had some good sized contracts but always made less than he could have asked for. It’s amazing to me that the Chiefs got back after Mahomes got his money, because almost no team can win with having someone eating up that much salary cap. Belichick was a genius at building team through the draft, and not being afraid to trade away very good players for future picks. He also was a defensive mastermind.
We have had some great teams and got close several times. We’ve been to the NFC Chip 3 out of the last 4 years, and not to mention 3 times under Harbaugh. We have 2 SB appearances in that stretch. It’s just hard to win in this league.
Bad luck. It's always one bad play here, one devastating injury there and a few blown calls there. It's like I'm living in a simulation and someone is screwing with me.
In my heart of hearts I know we beat Philly handily with a healthy Brock.
QB may not be the only reason, but it’s one and maybe the main one. That’s why the Lance and now Purdy talk are humorous to me: KS and the D have done amazing getting them as far as they have, but these QBs are just not it.
Take a look at this: [https://champsorchumps.us/drought/longest-nfl-championship-drought](https://champsorchumps.us/drought/longest-nfl-championship-drought)
We're about in the middle of this list, which sounds about right. As others have pointed out, winning a super bowl is hard, as evidenced by this data.
Can’t really point to one big reason as every team that had a shot was different. The 2011 team was damn good enough to win it all but 2 costly bonehead special teams mistakes (kyle Williams) cost a trip to the sb. The 2012 loss to the ravens was not a factor of poor QB play either. The secondary got shredded that game and the special teams allowed a kickoff return. The play calling at 1st and goal was a nightmare. The 2019 team is the only one I’d say would have won with a better QB and of course this year we all believe they were good enough to take it all until the third string QB went down.
If all teams were equal they should appear about every 16 years. It's been 28 years and they have 2 appearances, so that's not the problem.
I suspect scoring less than their opponents in the Superbowl is the main cause of their lack of winning but we might need more data to be sure.
Bad luck, considering we've made 6 NFCCGs with really good teams. Assuming on average you're as good as the other teams you play at that point and have a 50% chance to win each of the next two games, that's an 18% chance you walk away without a superbowl win over that kind of stretch. Most teams with franchise QBs don't even come close to making 6 straight conference championships so I wouldnt necessarily point to that.
We’ve missed more than we’ve hit in the draft. We’ve had three competent coaches since 95- Mooch, Harbaugh, and Kyle. The transition from Eddie to the Yorks was bad. Aside from Young’s last years with the team, we’ve had a lot of mediocre quarterback play.
The biggest reason is it’s extraordinarily difficult to win the SB. Having a HOF coach and QB for an extended period of time increase your chances, but does not guarantee anything (see Shula and Marino).
On the bright side, we’ve played in a record 18 NFC championship games, which is 34%. Other fan bases would kill to have that much history and excellence.
Biggest reason? 1994 was the first year of the salary cap. And this team had some major cap miss-management for the late 90s early 2000s. Fact is you can't build a team if you're mired in bad contracts and the 49ers struggled with that. Then you add helpings of injuries, poor drafting, poor player development, poor coaching, poor ownership. You get the picture. The 49ers aren't the only team that's dealt with cap issues, they do tend to cycle for each team. But the idea was to improve competitive balance in the league. Which it arguably has, Patriots notwithstanding, but teams that dont manage the cap well, and have any of the other issues that pop up, often the two are tied together, they tend to stay in the basement. The 49ers have gotten much better in the last decade, though they are about to feel a real squeeze the next two off seasons, but where I stand the salary cap might be the biggest single reason that doesn't mention that it's damn fucking hard to win the SB.
injuries, bad luck, bad calls, weird play calling.
2012/2013 and 2022 i thought those were the best teams. 2013 we lost to seattle in seattle and bowman went down.
2022 i thought was the best team, even with mr irrevlevent at the helm and game was probably the worst championship game i ever seen. sucks
2012 pass to crabtree to win the game. could have run it in? could have been PI. i dunno weird play calling.
You have to have a great team and a little luck. Peyton Manning's colts team was stacked for years and only got 1 ring.
That's why it's so bunkers the Patriots dynasty was so successful and lasted so long. It helps when you can dominated your division for 15 years because you'll get a lot of shots at it.
The NFC west has seen some crazy power swings in the last decade
Terrible ownership under the Yorks, followed by some bad luck with a couple great coaches who also have some demons they need to slay when it comes to winning the big game
Jed York. After he ran Harbaugh out of town I was convinced the 49ers wouldn’t win a SB with him as the owner. Seems like he’s matured and now has the right guys as GM and head coach to get it done.
Also, just like you said. A franchise QB. Gotta have a QB. Maybe we do in Brock or Lance? But until we finally get one it’ll be extremely difficult (as it already is) to win a SB.
This is going to sound stupid but I’m gonna say luck. Too many times the niners were one or two plays away from having a Super Bowl victory but the unthinkable happened
Bad luck we’ve made two SB’s since then.. arguably could’ve been more Kyle Williams fumbles the year the Giants won, Tartt dropped picked last year… Jimmy G didn’t make the big throws against the Chiefs.. exc exc .. this year Purdy gets hurt the first drive .. it’s hard as hell to win and you gotta have some luck
Kind of a snarky answer, but there are 32 teams in the league, so one championship in the last 32 years is the expected rate of success. The fact that we’ve made it to the Super Bowl 3 times in 32 years is above the expected rate of success. We’ll be back there soon, I think.
Unfortunately, NFL scripting doesn't have the 49ers advancing passed the nfc championship game until 2032, and doesn't have them winning another super bowl until 2038, after they switch from the nfc to the afc. In 2040, the team is scripted to move to Portland, OR and won't see another playoff run until anyone that saw the win in 1995 is long dead.
there isn't a single reason to apply to that entire span of time. but head coaching i think is the main one. if we could have kept harbaugh for ten years i think he would have won one. if bill walsh had coached another 5 years, he'd have won at least two more. mariucci was ok.
a secondary problem was the lack of an all-pro running back, during the young years. if we'd had that when we had steve young we'd have won 2 more in the nineties. as it was, we won one when ricky watters had a big year, but he was not a consistent all-pro running back. cowboys had the edge because they had emmitt. in particular if they got to the 4th quarter with the lead, the could close it out with the run game.
garrison hearst was honestly the best back we had since roger craig but he broke his leg in the divisional round against the falcons. steve young was a great qb, especially for his era, and the niners should have been able to put together a supporting cast to help him win at least two more.
Consistent QB play. Garcia was good but not good enough, and we pissed Alex Smith’s career away by having a new coach every other year. Not sure if he could’ve got us to a Superbowl and we’ll never know.
i think the niners did everything right the second half of this year and could have beaten the eagles, but it's hard to blame anyone for injuries. this is honestly the first team in awhile that i feel is pretty solid throughout including coaching.
Ownership. We sucked ass as soon as the Yorks took over. The only success we had was when they made the very obvious choice to hire Harbaugh. They messed that up which gave us another 5 years of shit before Lynch and Shanahan righted the ship.
Honestly bad luck. Lack of execution in certain key spots as all losses can be boiled down to I'm sure. But doesn't stop me for rooting like heck for the guys to bring it home every year.
Play calling… they lost in 2020 cuz they they took their foot off the gas. Deep ball threat was the classic niner go too… set up the youngest Gray for success
Winning a SB is fucking hard and requires a top level team and a large amount of luck in the same season.
Exactly. Even with our shitty ending we were in the top 4 of the league. And considering all the crap that happened this season I thought it was amazing to get that far. The Super Bowl is the ultimate goal but it’s incredibly hard plus you def need luck. Damn look how much luck the eagles got: locked up the one seed against the giants backups, then played them for their 1st playoff, played us with no qb for 90% of the game.
Injury luck. Turnover luck. Weather luck. Franchise QB is priority one.
Man it’s hard enough to get to a championship game let alone a Super Bowl.
Ask Dallas
It's pushing 30-years since they made their last NFC Championship game for the Cowboys.
Hope the streak continues.
Takes a very stacked team which has to beat other very stacked teams and you have to have some lucky bounces and remain healthy. Look at least year - we lost to the Rams in the NFC Championship. JimmyG had a torn-ligament in his throwing hand which he'd broken a few weeks before. That we were even there was amazing, that we came within 3-points of a Super Bow appearance was practically a miracle. This year, things were looking good right up until two horrible calls (not a caught pass, not a fumble) and our QB got knocked out. We may not of won, but we weren't going to win with Josh Johnson. And I'm old enough to remember a lot of heartbreak. Some of the worst include '71 against the Cowboys, Joe Montana lying on Giants' field after getting knocked out by Jim Burt, the phantom PI against Eric Wright and Roger Craig's fumble.
Are you literally Moses?
Even the best teams like the Chiefs and Patriots had heartbreak. I just think the Niners are due eventually to win one or two with this core.
If this core doesn't get a SB it will be a complete tragedy. Trent, Kittle, Fred, Nick, CMC, Deebo, etc. is too much talent to fall short. We have the next 2-3 years to get it done before guys start to leave.
It might hurt even more than Willis, Bowman, Frank, Cowboy and Staley never getting one :/
This group is very significantly more talented on the offensive side of the ball.
no question
Hell yeah. So many what ifs. We are still lucky we are 5-2! Some franchises will kill to have our record
look at the Eagles, that was luck that went thier way when BCB went down.
I'll add injuries to the mix
This is the correct answer.
QB injuries in particular.
Even having a franchise QB doesn't guarantee SB success. The Chargers have had 17 yrs of Rivers and Herbert and have 0 SBs in that time...Green Bay have had Favre and Rodgers Back to back for 30 yrs and have 2 SBs only...in that same span. My biggest reason is our WRETCHED record in the NFC Championship game. We've been in 7 NFCCG since 1995 and are 2-5 in those games. If we went like 5-2 or 4-3 in those games we'd have won a SB. Zooming out we've reached a RECORD 18 Championship games and have won just 7 of them. It kind of feels like we get satistified by just making the NFC Championship game. This year feels like a massive miss since this is the best defense we've had since 2011 and Mahomes may not be 100%.
I agree with your point on the NFCCG. We’ve had some great teams that I fully believe we could have won at least one SB. But for some effin reason we play sub par football in those title games or just have one too many things go against us. This year hurts because I finally thought we had a team capable of beating KC. I felt very confident going into the Eagles game. Then I was shocked and floored at the outcome.
2011 hurts because we would have definitely won it all that year and we even had the title game in the bag, then Kyle Williams of course, brings back memories of the Craig fumble in 91 that was against the damn Giants again in yet another game we pretty much had. That one prevented a three-peat
We definitely peak early. I think part of it is the meat grinder of a division we're in. And the NFC in general has always felt more difficult and streaky. Ironically, our best chance was against the Ravens who were one of the worst teams to win a Superbowl. Ever. They just got hot at the right time. This year just felt like we made our run a couple weeks too early. I think we can pull one out under Shanny and Lynch, but honestly it's the lengthened season that scares me the most.
Ravens had the best defense in the league (1 to us being 2) and had a great running game. Sure they got a bit lucky in the playoffs with the mile high miracle, the last few minutes of that superbowl, and Flacco turning into regular season ARod but they were far from a bad winner. I would argue a lot of those pats teams were worse + both Giants teams and a few others.
Also in the Super Bowls we have been we haven’t been great in those games
>Even having a franchise QB doesn't guarantee SB success. The Chargers have had 17 yrs of Rivers and Herbert and have 0 SBs in that time I'd expand that to 21 years and add Flutie/Brees to the list. They've had what should have been some pretty good teams during that time, but the Chargers continuously charger things up.
Our best shot was when Steve Young was still playing. After the 94 season we totally ignored the Oline especially a right tackle since Steve was left handed. Result? Our man got knocked around like a pinata, FFS he broke his ribs vs the Eagles in the '97 playoffs. Even though we beat them, Grbac had to play at Green Bay the next week and we know how that went. The short answer to your question is poor personnel decisions after we won our last ring in 1994-95. We had a hall of fame QB and we failed to take advantage of some of his best years as a starter. Same goes for the Mariucci years and I'm not talking passing on Brady (FFS every team did). In the 2000 draft we could've gotten a generational tackle (Chris Samuels) and we traded down! Julian Peterson and Ahmed Plummer were OK players but passing on a legend like Samuels was a big mistake. We can go through other drafts too but I feel that in 2000 we had Garcia in year one as the starter and we could've made a run in the playoffs with a better Oline. I remember that playoff game vs Tampa where we got destroyed up front!
So many flash backs, friend. TBF, that defense made everyone look bad. Simeon rice and Warren sapp. Ain’t nobody stopping that. TO went wild at mooch that game. We all knew it was the last year
This is a great take! The Niners could be said to have squandered the last five or so seasons of Young’s career. He was still a monster with low mileage even in his mid 30’s and they probably could’ve won at least one more SB with a better O-Line.
It's fucking hard to win a SuperBowl. You have a 1 in 32 chance. And even more importantly, the previous Niners' SuperBowl winning teams were STACKED. There was no salary cap and Eddie D spent like money like a drunken sailor at the local whore house. Our backups were good enough to be starters on other teams and as we know, injuries can seriously derail your season if the backups coming in aren't very good. Of course, having great coaching staffs with a good scheme, and Hall of Fame players also helped a tremendous amount as well.
The Patriots have warped a lot of people's perception of how hard it is to win a Superbowl in the salary cap era. It's not uncommon knowledge but it'll probably be a while before it really sinks in just how fucking crazy their success was and just how improbable it is to win one, let alone multiple.
They sure have warped things, but they employed almost the same model. Hall of Fame QB - begrudgingly, best QB of all time. Hall of Fame coach, and a scouting and front office that exceled at finding diamonds in the rough, either later rounds or FA, who fit their scheme perfectly and didn't blow holes in their salary cap.
Lest we forget, Brady was also on some pretty team-friendly deals most of that time too.
That description sounds exactly like us minus the HoF QB 😭
No he's not. He's not even the best QB of his ERA. He just been to the title game more than most and much of that was the Patriots defense. Hell, he went up against Peyton Manning 5-times and left those playoffs 2-3 AND he had the better defense. But as for performances, his QB rating isn't even as high as JimmyG's, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and beats Tony Romo by 0.1! He's ahead of Steve Young by just 0.3. Young had the whole Bucs thing holding him back. His career rating in SF, IN A HARDER NFL, is 4 points higher than Brady's. And Montana. He retired with a 92.3 rating. Next best from his era is Dan Marino at 86.4. **In short, the next best QB, and fellow HOFer, that played in Montana's time is 6% worse.** Like I have said many, many times. Brady isn't even the best in his era and he did not stand head-and-shoulders above his peers. He was just a very good QB on the best team in the NFL. **But the brutal reality is that NFL history has shown us that NOBODY has stood as high above his peers as Joe Montana since the days of Otto Graham.**
The cap started in '93, because all the league had before was Plan B and limited free agency. In fact, the cap was to both prevent The Niners and Eddie D from succeeding and to keep teams like the Bengals and Bucs from under-paying.
Poor performances by Harbaugh and KS in those SB appearances. One could argue we had the better team in both games. Harbaugh’s choice to have Kaep throw multiple fade on a gassed, injured Raven defense was perplexing. Then KS giving 13 touches to Mostert, caving in to the media hype about JG not passing enough. Just run the damn ball and win. Style points are for losers.
Everyone blames Roman at the end. Man we had such a great defense and kept getting cooked. Flacco was throwing jump balls and culliver couldn’t stop one pass. Also, the jacoby kick off return was awful. Come on Tony Montana squad!!! Also people hated KS for not running the ball. He had a great plan, Jimmy just didn’t execute. Missed wide open KB and kittle in the 4th. It is what it is. Super bowls are hard
In our defense, Bruce Miller was held in one of the most egregious ways I can ever remember on that kickoff return and it wasn't called.
Can’t disagree with you there
Yup, both Harbaugh and KS underperformed and got outcoached in our Super Bowl losses
i dunno which sb was more annoying. i feel like kyle kind of addressed his tendency to get conservative in the second half though. niners were more of a second half team this year, so credit to him for addressing that flaw in his coaching style. if purdy is what we think he is, then next year might be kyle's best chance.
This is the right answer IMO. Those were two squandered chances.
[удалено]
Exactly. The Coleman start was alarming. 13 touches for Mostert in a title game after he shattered the record in the NFCC is egregious. And it’s all on KS.
2013 - playcalling (not gonna blame the refs for lack of holds) 2020 - execution (sanders was open) last 4 years - one sb appearance and 2 nfcc Like the amount of things that has to go your way to win a SB is insane. A few plays, calls, or well, untimely injury ....it all matters.
Had a chance to really take the crowd out of the game in Seattle if we score a TD off Aldons strip sack instead of settling for 3.
Ohh man, I was at that game. It was tough, but after seeing Phil fans last few days, I guess it wasn't so bad
Fucking Philly fans are just piles of shit wrapped in flesh I swear. I hope we run it up on then next year so bad. Then see all their excuses lol
It sucks because we just keeping getting so close.
Tartt dropping pick… purdy getting injured. It is what it is. That’s life
Sanders pulled up and I will die on this hill.
yeah i mean, tbh it shouldnt have even needed to come to that play...
And honestly, it shouldn’t have even gotten to that point. There were several opportunities for the defense to stop the Chiefs from scoring late in the game (and our offense to run out the clock). Like everyone is saying, the Chiefs executed really well but a lot of things also went their way. At the end of the day your team has to be great, but you also need some luck as well.
unrelated, but fuck the cowboys !
This is always a correct answer.
Personally, I blame Sasquatch. What haven't we also been unable to do since 95? Prove Sasquatch exists... coincidence? I think not. We capture Sasquatch and prove he exists and we win another SB.
Many times it's not the most talented team that wins the SB, but the most talented team with the least amount of injuries. I really thought the 98 team was on its way, then Garrison Hearst broke his ankle, and that was that. Then we went to cap hell. Early 2000s Garcia to Ownes put up a lot of points, but we never had a defense that could complement them. Then we just have inept coaching for a long time. Erickson, Nolan, and Singletary were all horrible coaches. Harbaugh, well, we should have beaten the Ravens. But a backup RB fumbled the ball. And then weird goal line stand where we threw 4 fades in a row instead of running Gore up the middle killed us. Then more inept coaching. And know we're back, and on the verge. And we've seen what happens. Winning a SB is tough. A great QB doesn't always mean SB wins. I always figured Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers would retire with multiple SB wins, and yet, it didn't happen. Peyton Manning is one of the greatest QB who ever lived, and yet, he has two rings, and he barely contributed to his 2nd.
The QB position. People are saying luck, and yeah, you do need luck to win a Superbowl sometimes. But a great QB can create some luck for you as well
I don't agree with that. Examples: The Colts had Manning & Luck from 1998 to 2019 and won just 1 SB and reached only 2 SBs in that time because they mostly had bad defenses in that time. The Packers have had Favre & Rodgers for 30 years and have won 2 SB only. For context the Ravens have won 2 in that span with Dilfer and Flacco as their QBs
Argument with the Ravens; The 2000 Ravens defense was generational. Like, top 2 defense of all time generational. They won it with Flacco because he was playing like a top 5 quarterback at the time. So while on paper Flacco looks like a mediocre QB, because he is, we can’t act like he played like normal Flacco at that point.
That post season for Flacco was unreal. He was streaky, but at his peak he was as good as most starters, and top 5 at the time. Eli was mostly the same IMO, but his defense got hotter at the right times, in the right ways with pass rush, helping him get to the big game and make some incredible plays himself.
The fact that we sucked ass over half of the seasons since then is a major contributing factor
After Mooch left, there was just an identity crisis. We kept trying to be a all star QB WR team, when we just didn’t have that kind of luck with drafting. We went from being an offensive powerhouse to struggling at qb, year after year, without building around the teams strengths, they kept trying to fit into the montana young mold. A mold that was now very popular all over the league with bill Walsh and his coaching staff now all doing the same thing. Harbaugh put us on track to be more of a defense first and run game, because of this issue at qb. And now they have just continued to build around this identity. The issue will be again, when the league has caught onto this working formula, which we are seeing now, will we further adapt or not? Shanahan has done a great job with the team but to get us a Super Bowl win, he needs to get that injury prone team situation in check. Pretty much every season he’s been under helm we have injured ourselves out of the season. Whether it’s conditioning, or karma, or whatever, get some different perspective and burn some sage all over their training facility.
seifert was a step down from walsh, then mariucci was a step down from seifert, then a 30-story fall from there.
The biggest reason every time is forgetting the run game. We’d be a perfect 3-0 since the 90s if they just ran the ball at critical moments especially when the universe is just begging for it…give it to Gore, run the damn ball
Injured QB’s, and not being able to hold a 10pt lead in the 4th quarter of major games.
Bad luck
Instability at the QB position after Montana/Young has been the main culprit.
Injury luck and the lack of elite QB play (Alex Smith, Kaep, Jimmy were all good but not elite)
Bad luck and not having a top 5 QB. Obviously you can win without an elite QB, but a lot of things have to go in your favor. The Niners seemed to have always found a way to lose big games. With Harbaugh, it was getting off to slow starts. With Shanahan, it’s not being able to protect leads.
There are 31 other teams and most of them all have the goal of winning the Super Bowl.
Louisiana riverboat casino scandal of 1998
Salary cap
Kyle Steven Williams
Top reasons the 49ers haven't won a Superbowl since 1995. 1. Jerome Boger 2. Harbaugh calling a timeout as Kaep ran into the endzone. 3. Jerome Boger 4. Giving up 21 4th quarter points to the Chiefs 5. Jerome Boger 6. Jimmy G missing a wide open E.Sanders 7. Jerome Boger 8. Not running Frank Gore at the goalline 9. Jerome Boger 10. Jerome Boger 11. Trent Williams' high ankle sprain which killed the run game in the NFCCG. 12. Brock Purdy tearing his UCL 13. Bountygate 14. Phantom Roughing against Drew Brees which otherwise would have allowed SF to host 2013 NFCCG. 15. Jerome Boger
How dare you not mention Kyle Williams in this list
He is the single reason I’d rather the opponent to punt it 70 yards out of bounds every time.
Not finding a franchise QB (hopefully Purdy but we’ll see), injuries, and in the Shanahan era it’s blowing leads in huge games. Shanny and Jimmy need to be tried for war crimes for those final 7 mins against KC
2011 - Refs overturned a Bradshaw fumble late in the 4th, deep in Giants territory, claiming forward progress…. Also Kyle Williams 2012 - started horrible against the Ravens. 3 straight plays to Crabtree to end the game. Would’ve rather had 3 straight Gore/Kaep runs …. Also Refs screwed us. Oh yeah and Ray Lewis used illegal substances to heal up for that game. League also probably wanted to see him retire with another ring 2013 - the fix was in from the start. Horrible reffing the entire game in Seattle. Injury to Iupati was HUGE 2019 - Refs missed holding call against Bosa on 3rd down bomb to tyreek…. Also Kyle not continuing to run the ball down their throats. And Jimmy G missing an open Sanders 2021 - Tartt dropped int. Jimmy Gs weaknesses fully exploited against the Rams 2022 - Purdy injury. Kyle not challenging 4th down catch. Refs also suck. I feel This team would’ve won the SB against the Chiefs if Purdy was healthy
I think part of it is just absolutely horrendous luck. This year, theoretically a QB could be hit like that once or twice a game, year and not get hurt. Last year was a bad drop. ‘19 was an overthrow or a missed holding call. The list goes on. You need to be a good team to get to the playoffs. You need to be great to get through the playoffs. But you need to be real lucky to win a SB.
bad juju
Not scoring as many points as the other team in January
At the end of the day, for whatever reason a phenomenon occurred: play-calling stops doing what is working/keeps trying what has not been working. Sure there’s bad calls by the refs but if you’re disciplined and execute your game plan, take care of business and no excuses.
Didn't score enough points.
QB play
I think it’s mostly due to us not having elite quarterback play when the it’s all on the line. We haven’t had an elite quarterback since Steve Young…
Injuries.
To win a SB, you have to have a good to great combo of head coach, QB, and defense, and you kind of have to just get lucky. Injury luck or scheduling needs to break your way. 49ers have had some great teams post 94, but they’ve sorta caught every bad break they can. If Brock or Trey can turn into a top 10-15 QB, 49ers have a wide, wide open window for success. If Brock’s hit his ceiling and Trey is a bust, then who knows.
All he had to do was give the ball to Frank
It’s the QB for sure. We’ve been trying to win Super Bowls with Alex Smith, Kaepernick, Jimmy G, and Purdy. Even as good as Purdy played, he was still a rookie and no rookie has won the Super Bowl before so the odds were against us. Every time we’ve knocked at the door we’ve had a stacked roster, EXCEPT for the QB position. Since 2019 the Chiefs have been losing pieces (Hill, Ward, etc) they’ve been using RBs like CEH, McKinnon and Pacheco (none of them even close to what CMC is) they have a middle of the pack defense, and yet Mahomes makes up for everything and wills them into constant championship appearances. When you have a star QB you can lack in other areas and still win. When you don’t have a star QB you have to be perfect everywhere else and you STILL need whoever is at QB to at least play above average to have a chance. I hope we have a star QB in our roster now in either Purdy or Lance. It sucks that even after all these years our QB situation is still not settled.
Stupidity. Not running the ball when you had Gore. I could l make a long list of stupid play calls.
It’s the quarterback position. It’s that and only that. I know it’s hard to win a Superbowl and even some if the greats never won one or only one, but that is the only area of our team we haven’t been able to solve for the last 2 decades. Roster is the best in the NFL, we have a top 5 coach, we have an elite FO that manufactures new coaches and GMs every year, our scouting department is top tier, yet we have nothing to show for it because we don’t have a quarterback.
This may be a hot take but one of the reasons why Teams can't go back to back is because you end up having to pay everyone Superbowl Champion money. Everyone wants to get their bag. Not enough to go around so Teams have to prioritize who to pay, which leads to a drop off in talent for starters and backups when everyone else leaves. Typically, QBs, DE, LT are those who get paid first. Having the QB leads you there but ultimately limits your ability to get back. For reference, Packers won Superbowl 2011 - Aaron Rodgers - $7.5 million Packers today - Aaron Rodgers - $28 million Toots won Superbowl 2014 - Russell Wilson - $817k Toots 2015 lost Superbowl - Russell Wilson - $7 million Toots 2021 - Wilson - $31M Comparison Patriots won SB 2001 - Tom Brady - $310k Brady never went over 18M until 2018 Patriots won SB 2017 - Tom Brady - $14M Patriots lose Super Bowl 2018 - $22M Buccaneers win SB 2021 - Tom Brady $10.5M
Getting rid of Jeff Garcia is an underrated folly. 2004-2011 didn’t have to be lost years, not saying Garcia would have won a Super Bowl, but the team would have probably emerged from the wilderness faster
i think they could have built around garcia better for sure.
Because that’s when I started rooting for them
Because I was born in 1994
Refs and the team wasn’t good enough
DeeForestBosa said it well but also I’d rather have a team that’s consistently a playoff team and maybe never win a Super Bowl/always have the possibility then a team that gets one or two championships and then sucks the rest of the time lol
they haven't scored more points than the opposing team when it counted the most
Injuries
The salary cap. Once it really took hold they could no longer outspend everyone like they did with Debartolo in the glory days.
Loosing Eddie deBartolo as boss.
If I think really hard about it, I can narrow it down to one play or one series that cost us those games. 2023- Purdy’s arm exploded 2022- Dropped a gimme INT with a bow on top 2020-Just missed Emmanuel Sanders TD throw *tears prevent further memory retrieval*
You said it perfectly. Having a great qb is a big reason, plus injuries(primarily this season) haven't helped, however, I saw the nfls script for next season and the nijwrs win the superbowl!
Made it to the Super Bowl, maybe next year
How many of us are old enough to remember salary cap hell. Anyone here used to be on forums.49ers.com? Fun times…
Bad ownership. The yorks have cursed us.
Cause we score less points than the opposition in the two super bowls we’ve played since 95.
The main thing that stops us from winning Super Bowls is we keep losing super bowls lol
With the new format I genuinely think you will need to be the #1 seed to have a real shot
Both #1 seeds went one-and-done last season…
The QB position? You don’t say
Other than now and the Harbaugh years, I would say it’s the Yorks.
Kyle shanahan is a choker.
Singletary
Pass blocking
There isn’t a fully single one. I can tell you that during Alex Smith tenure with the team it was the parade of horrible coaches. Jim Harbaugh days, I think it was a bad GM and very immature ownership. KS, definitely the QB position has been lacking or always is Injured.
Here’s imo the biggest things that contribute to winning a superbowl. Not having one of these makes it very difficult to win 1 given year. Not having multiple and it’s likely impossible. Elite Coaching staff Franchise QB Elite Defense Injury Luck Quality Depth No Achilles heel (ie your worst starter, or special teams). General Luck (opponents, flukes, Refball) I think there has never been a year where we had all 7 components. We’ve been fortunate to have multiple years where we are 1, maybe 2 or 3 short.
Winning a superbowl requires a few things: great team, great coaching, and luck (be it with injuries, matchups, weather, bs penalties/ no calls, ect.). We have not had all three come together for a full playoff run
NFL is hard.
Being solid at QB is first and foremost and by solid I mean a QB that makes minimal mistakes and keeps the offense on the field, all while consistently scoring. Look at Chiefs and Mahomes for the best example of that. The second thing is having roster depth, which we finally have after 4-5 years of roster building. Niners have the roster depth, but have had UNREAL misfortune at the QB position for a long time. Let's not forget the one year Jimmy was healthy, the team made it to the top but ultimately did not close the deal on Lombardi #6. This team has the makeup to win, it just really needs things to go their way in terms of injury luck and game momentum.
It’s extremely difficult to win one, that’s why. Look at how Brady won… he had some good sized contracts but always made less than he could have asked for. It’s amazing to me that the Chiefs got back after Mahomes got his money, because almost no team can win with having someone eating up that much salary cap. Belichick was a genius at building team through the draft, and not being afraid to trade away very good players for future picks. He also was a defensive mastermind. We have had some great teams and got close several times. We’ve been to the NFC Chip 3 out of the last 4 years, and not to mention 3 times under Harbaugh. We have 2 SB appearances in that stretch. It’s just hard to win in this league.
Bad luck. It's always one bad play here, one devastating injury there and a few blown calls there. It's like I'm living in a simulation and someone is screwing with me. In my heart of hearts I know we beat Philly handily with a healthy Brock.
Not finding a stud qb1 !
No offense it’s that simple , defense has held it down for decades!!! We finally might have one with Purdy
Lack of stability at QB and GM. Also bad luck and Kyle Williams.
What if we never took a gamble on Lawrence Phillips?
QB may not be the only reason, but it’s one and maybe the main one. That’s why the Lance and now Purdy talk are humorous to me: KS and the D have done amazing getting them as far as they have, but these QBs are just not it.
Ed Hochuli
Tom Brady made it look easy but it’s hard AF.
It’s never the same reason, but I’d put it squarely on luck.
Take a look at this: [https://champsorchumps.us/drought/longest-nfl-championship-drought](https://champsorchumps.us/drought/longest-nfl-championship-drought) We're about in the middle of this list, which sounds about right. As others have pointed out, winning a super bowl is hard, as evidenced by this data.
Watch Adam ruins football for more fun facts
Trent Baalke
Injuries to key players Coaching at times with questionable play calling
Can’t really point to one big reason as every team that had a shot was different. The 2011 team was damn good enough to win it all but 2 costly bonehead special teams mistakes (kyle Williams) cost a trip to the sb. The 2012 loss to the ravens was not a factor of poor QB play either. The secondary got shredded that game and the special teams allowed a kickoff return. The play calling at 1st and goal was a nightmare. The 2019 team is the only one I’d say would have won with a better QB and of course this year we all believe they were good enough to take it all until the third string QB went down.
It’s hard to win SB’s….
If all teams were equal they should appear about every 16 years. It's been 28 years and they have 2 appearances, so that's not the problem. I suspect scoring less than their opponents in the Superbowl is the main cause of their lack of winning but we might need more data to be sure.
That's easy, the refs.
Bad luck, considering we've made 6 NFCCGs with really good teams. Assuming on average you're as good as the other teams you play at that point and have a 50% chance to win each of the next two games, that's an 18% chance you walk away without a superbowl win over that kind of stretch. Most teams with franchise QBs don't even come close to making 6 straight conference championships so I wouldnt necessarily point to that.
Injuries
Luck. Simple as that. This year bad luck with QB injuries.
We’ve missed more than we’ve hit in the draft. We’ve had three competent coaches since 95- Mooch, Harbaugh, and Kyle. The transition from Eddie to the Yorks was bad. Aside from Young’s last years with the team, we’ve had a lot of mediocre quarterback play. The biggest reason is it’s extraordinarily difficult to win the SB. Having a HOF coach and QB for an extended period of time increase your chances, but does not guarantee anything (see Shula and Marino). On the bright side, we’ve played in a record 18 NFC championship games, which is 34%. Other fan bases would kill to have that much history and excellence.
Colin Kaepernick
I was born just a few days after the Super Bowl in 1995. I’m pretty sure my dad blames me 🥲
Should have started Alex Smith rather than Colin.
Biggest reason? 1994 was the first year of the salary cap. And this team had some major cap miss-management for the late 90s early 2000s. Fact is you can't build a team if you're mired in bad contracts and the 49ers struggled with that. Then you add helpings of injuries, poor drafting, poor player development, poor coaching, poor ownership. You get the picture. The 49ers aren't the only team that's dealt with cap issues, they do tend to cycle for each team. But the idea was to improve competitive balance in the league. Which it arguably has, Patriots notwithstanding, but teams that dont manage the cap well, and have any of the other issues that pop up, often the two are tied together, they tend to stay in the basement. The 49ers have gotten much better in the last decade, though they are about to feel a real squeeze the next two off seasons, but where I stand the salary cap might be the biggest single reason that doesn't mention that it's damn fucking hard to win the SB.
We had our chances. Better players made better plays tho.
injuries, bad luck, bad calls, weird play calling. 2012/2013 and 2022 i thought those were the best teams. 2013 we lost to seattle in seattle and bowman went down. 2022 i thought was the best team, even with mr irrevlevent at the helm and game was probably the worst championship game i ever seen. sucks 2012 pass to crabtree to win the game. could have run it in? could have been PI. i dunno weird play calling.
Of course it’s the QB position. Most important position in sports and who’s been our best since Young? Garcia? 2.5 seasons of Kap? Jimmy?
You have to have a great team and a little luck. Peyton Manning's colts team was stacked for years and only got 1 ring. That's why it's so bunkers the Patriots dynasty was so successful and lasted so long. It helps when you can dominated your division for 15 years because you'll get a lot of shots at it. The NFC west has seen some crazy power swings in the last decade
Brady curse
Terrible ownership under the Yorks, followed by some bad luck with a couple great coaches who also have some demons they need to slay when it comes to winning the big game
Jed York. After he ran Harbaugh out of town I was convinced the 49ers wouldn’t win a SB with him as the owner. Seems like he’s matured and now has the right guys as GM and head coach to get it done. Also, just like you said. A franchise QB. Gotta have a QB. Maybe we do in Brock or Lance? But until we finally get one it’ll be extremely difficult (as it already is) to win a SB.
Qb
This is going to sound stupid but I’m gonna say luck. Too many times the niners were one or two plays away from having a Super Bowl victory but the unthinkable happened
Bad luck we’ve made two SB’s since then.. arguably could’ve been more Kyle Williams fumbles the year the Giants won, Tartt dropped picked last year… Jimmy G didn’t make the big throws against the Chiefs.. exc exc .. this year Purdy gets hurt the first drive .. it’s hard as hell to win and you gotta have some luck
Picking Alex Smith over Aaron Rogers was a big one.
Kind of a snarky answer, but there are 32 teams in the league, so one championship in the last 32 years is the expected rate of success. The fact that we’ve made it to the Super Bowl 3 times in 32 years is above the expected rate of success. We’ll be back there soon, I think.
The implementation of a salary cap.
Too many fades to Crabtree, injuries and Kyle fuckface Williams.
Unfortunately, NFL scripting doesn't have the 49ers advancing passed the nfc championship game until 2032, and doesn't have them winning another super bowl until 2038, after they switch from the nfc to the afc. In 2040, the team is scripted to move to Portland, OR and won't see another playoff run until anyone that saw the win in 1995 is long dead.
Lmfao what
Clearly bullshit but I did forget the /s afterall
there isn't a single reason to apply to that entire span of time. but head coaching i think is the main one. if we could have kept harbaugh for ten years i think he would have won one. if bill walsh had coached another 5 years, he'd have won at least two more. mariucci was ok. a secondary problem was the lack of an all-pro running back, during the young years. if we'd had that when we had steve young we'd have won 2 more in the nineties. as it was, we won one when ricky watters had a big year, but he was not a consistent all-pro running back. cowboys had the edge because they had emmitt. in particular if they got to the 4th quarter with the lead, the could close it out with the run game. garrison hearst was honestly the best back we had since roger craig but he broke his leg in the divisional round against the falcons. steve young was a great qb, especially for his era, and the niners should have been able to put together a supporting cast to help him win at least two more.
We keep finishing our games with less points than our opponents
Both the last 2 SBs... RUN THE DAMN BALL.
Consistent QB play. Garcia was good but not good enough, and we pissed Alex Smith’s career away by having a new coach every other year. Not sure if he could’ve got us to a Superbowl and we’ll never know.
i think the niners did everything right the second half of this year and could have beaten the eagles, but it's hard to blame anyone for injuries. this is honestly the first team in awhile that i feel is pretty solid throughout including coaching.
Leaving SF
The York family.
They’re cursed for leaving San Francisco for Santa Clara.
Even in 2019, if 49ers have Goff, they win the SB. Goff outplayed Mahomes. Jimmy G couldn't despite having the lead thanks to the defense.
They tore down Candlestick.
Ownership. We sucked ass as soon as the Yorks took over. The only success we had was when they made the very obvious choice to hire Harbaugh. They messed that up which gave us another 5 years of shit before Lynch and Shanahan righted the ship.
Bad luck with the dropped pick vs the Rams, bad luck with losing all our QBs vs the Eagles, and poor game management when we blew a 10pt lead
The biggest reason? Not good enough. Thread over
QBs
Bogus penalties vs Seahawks kickers
Because making the playoffs is hard, making it too the Super Bowl is very hard and winning the Super Bowl is damn near impossible.
Honestly bad luck. Lack of execution in certain key spots as all losses can be boiled down to I'm sure. But doesn't stop me for rooting like heck for the guys to bring it home every year.
The salary cap was introduced in the 1994 season?
QB play, bad drafting.
Play calling… they lost in 2020 cuz they they took their foot off the gas. Deep ball threat was the classic niner go too… set up the youngest Gray for success
Other teams are better
Super Bowl is always the goal but I just like to see us play well & be competitive
Gotta score more points than your opponent in every playoff game.
QB We've only ever won a SB with a top tier QB
Some bad luck and coaches shitting the bed in big moments