5 most insane Wild Card weekend games in SF 49ers history
By Peter Panacy
The SF 49ers have had incredible playoff moments, and Wild Card weekend has provided no shortage of excitement and crazy outcomes.
The 2020 SF 49ers fell short of their goal to get back to the Super Bowl and win it this time, ultimately finishing with a 6-10 record in a year where injuries defined the primary outcome.
So that means the Niners won’t be enjoying yet another wild Wild Card weekend of games, instead watching as other top-contending teams from around the league battle it out for the right to advance into the divisional round.
Fortunately, San Francisco can proudly look back at some crazy playoff moments of its own during its storied history. There’s no shortage of Super Bowl wins, crazy postseason upsets and clutch moments where the SF 49ers created highlight-reel memories the fanbase would talk about for generations.
And a number of those came during Wild Card weekend, too.
Unfortunately, not all the Wild Card moments are great ones, but that doesn’t eliminate them from being classified as insane outcomes.
Let’s go back through the Niners’ postseason history and rank out the five craziest Wild Card games San Francisco has played.
No. 5: NY Giants stun the SF 49ers in 1985
Final Score: NY Giants 17, SF 49ers 3
Again, not all Wild Card games have gone the SF 49ers’ way, and such was the case at the end of the 1985 season.
Fans may recall the year before when the Niners won the Super Bowl behind the 1984 squad, which was widely viewed as the most dominant team in franchise history. Much of that same squad was back, only San Francisco added a prolific wide receiver by the name of Jerry Rice.
But Rice and quarterback Joe Montana weren’t much of a match for a stout NY Giants defense that held the SF 49ers to a mere 362 yards of total offense while sacking Montana four times and forcing an interception.
”I thought our defense did as good as it ever did,” then-Giants head coach Bill Parcells told the New York Times after the game. ”Those were the world champions. Somebody had to get rid of them. I’m glad we did.”
If there was any vindication for the Niners, the Giants were defensively dominated by the eventual Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears the following week, failing to score in a 21-0 Bears victory.
Still, for the defending Super Bowl champs to be limited to just three points in their follow-up campaign was quite the shocker.