Niner Noise
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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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Joe Montana #16, Quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Rick Stewart/Allsport/Getty Images)
Joe Montana #16, Quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Rick Stewart/Allsport/Getty Images) /

No. 6: 1988 49ers

Record: 10-6, won Super Bowl XXIII

10 points for wins

5 points for division title

5 points for divisional-round win

10 points for NFC Championship game win

15 points for SB win

10 points for top 10 offense

10 points for top 10 defense

2 points for Roger Craig leading league in yards from scrimmage

Total: 67

The second Super Bowl championship group for the franchise only just misses the top-5, which features the rest of the champions and one near-miss (but more on that in a bit).

That stretch begins with the second of the five — and the first of two Super Bowl championships in a row — with the 1988 team. The reason they fall to the “worst” of the championship teams is clear: they were a somewhat underachieving regular-season team, which got hot in time for the playoffs.

Finishing with just 10 wins (the lowest number for a 49ers championship team), the team still managed to win the NFC West (oddly, three of the four teams finished 10-6, with the last-place Atlanta Falcons winning just five games and the 49ers being crowned champs based on strength of schedule).

Then the playoffs happened, and the 49ers beat the Vikings and Bears by a combined score of 62-12, before running into the AFC champion (and co-owners of the top record in the NFL) Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.

The Bengals after went into the fourth quarter leading 13-6, but Joe Montana led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, including a 10-yard pass to wide receiver John Taylor with just 34 seconds left to play to win the game 20-16.

So while this team wasn’t as strong in either phase of the game as the 1987 team (they finished seventh in points scored and eighth in points allowed per game), they put it together when it counted.

And in the process, won the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship.