SF 49ers: Ranking the 5 biggest disappointing seasons in team history
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: 2014 SF 49ers (8-8)
It’s somewhat odd to consider a .500 San Francisco team a disappointment, especially one ranking at No. 2 on the list.
But after the team made it to three NFC Championship games, winning one of them and getting to the Super Bowl the three years prior, it’s hard not to classify 2014 as a disappointment.
These were, of course, the years under head coach Jim Harbaugh, and he deserved a lot of credit for taking an underachieving-yet-talented team in the wake of Mike Singletary’s departure and turning it into a true smashmouth, defensively dominant squad much like Singletary envisioned.
In 2014, however, things began to fall apart.
While the roster was beginning to show signs of cracks under then-general manager Trent Baalke, it was Baalke and the front office’s rifts with Harbaugh that became the storyline. Various reports cited tension between Harbaugh and the front office, which was siding with Baalke, and the results began to trickle down onto the field.
Especially down the stretch when the SF 49ers were still in contention for yet another playoff push but ultimately finished by losing four of their last five games.
Harbaugh was, of course, part of that now-infamous “mutual” parting of ways at the conclusion of the season, which kicked off the rapid demise of what had been one of the most dominating stretches in franchise history.