Niner Noise
FanSided

San Francisco 49ers: Ranking the top 10 teams in franchise history

By Robert Morrison

JAN 1990: THE VINCE LOMBARDI TROPHY PRIOR TO THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 55-10 SUPER BOWL XXIV VICTORY OVER THE DENVER BRONCOS. MANDATORY CREDIT: RICK STEWART/ALLSPORT
JAN 1990: THE VINCE LOMBARDI TROPHY PRIOR TO THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 55-10 SUPER BOWL XXIV VICTORY OVER THE DENVER BRONCOS. MANDATORY CREDIT: RICK STEWART/ALLSPORT /
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Honorable mention No. 1: 1971 49ers

Record: 9-5, lost NFC Championship game

9 points for wins

5 points for division title

5 points for divisional-round win

10 points for top 10 offense

10 points for top 10 defense

Total: 39

This group just missed the cut and was the most successful team to not make the top 10, so they are left here, on the outside looking in.

Led by 36-year-old quarterback John Brodie, in his 15th season with the team, and running backs Fred Willard and Vic Washington, the team won the NFC West over the Los Angeles Rams due to the Rams’ finishing with a tie.

They took down the Washington Redskins at Candlestick Park in the first round of the playoffs, before being dispatched by the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship game.

Not a spectacular squad, this 49ers team was good, but not great, on both sides of the ball. And they sat at home as the Cowboys eventually won the Super Bowl over the Miami Dolphins.

The presence of a few 49ers legends (Brodie, cornerback Jimmy Johnson and defensive tackle Charlie Krueger all have their numbers retired by the team) pushes them here, close to but not in, the top 10.

Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images) /

Honorable Mention No. 2: 2012 49ers

Record: 11-4-1, lost Super Bowl

11 points for wins

5 points for division title

5 points for divisional-round win

10 points for NFCCG win

5 points for top 15 offense

15 points for top 5 defense

Total: 51

After falling to the New York Giants in the 2011 NFC Championship game, head coach Jim Harbaugh was looking for something that would push his team over the hump and into the Super Bowl.

The team tied the Rams in Week 10 after the bye, pushing their record to 6-2-1, and then welcomed the 7-2 Chicago Bears for a Monday Night Football contest at Candlestick. Starting quarterback Alex Smith had suffered a concussion in the first half of the Rams game, leaving the team in the hands of second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who one of two Niners’ fourth-quarter touchdowns to help secure the tie.

Harbaugh took Smith’s injury as an opportunity to place the electric Kaepernick into the lineup, and the young QB did not disappoint, finishing the Bears game completing 16 of 23 passes for 243 yards, two touchdowns and a 133.1 passer rating in a 32-7 49ers victory.

Kaepernick took over as the starter for the rest of the season and lead the team to a second straight NFC West title, a thrilling divisional-round win over the Green Bay Packers, where Kaepernick set the playoff record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 181 (while also throwing for 263) and eventually to Super Bowl XLVII against the Baltimore Ravens.

The team wasn’t all about the offense, however, as the defense was the second best in the NFL based on points allowed and third in yards, led by a suffocating pass rush of Justin and Aldon Smith, the top linebacking duo in the game with Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman and a solid, if unspectacular secondary, featuring safeties Donte Whitner and Dashon Goldson, and cornerbacks Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers.

The 2012 team was certainly the most exciting iteration of the 49ers in close to a decade, and the most successful one since the 1994 team, with one obvious exception: the latter won their final game of the season.

Again, this team was very close to cracking the top-10 but just missed out.