While the SF 49ers have had some phenomenal postseason success, they’ve also been marked by heartbreaking playoff losses.
Typically, when one thinks about the SF 49ers in the postseason, hearkening back to the glory years of the 1980s and 1990s is a favorite thing to do.
It’s easy. The Niners were, after all, about as dominant a dynasty in professional sports during the 1980s, and that trend continued amid other competition into the following decade. Even the San Francisco teams of the early 2010s were powerhouses expected to make deep runs into the postseason.
There’s no shortage of great playoff moments throughout the SF 49ers’ storied history. But paralleling those wonderful memories are some heartbreaking moments, including a most-recent fourth-quarter Super Bowl collapse which stained what was a pretty exceptional record in the NFL championship game.
Unfortunately, the Niners have endured their share of painful playoff losses over the years, and Niner Noise goes back through the franchise’s archives to rank the 10 worst ones fans are still struggling to deal with to this day.
No. 10: SF 49ers 1998 divisional loss to Falcons
Final Score: Falcons 20, SF 49ers 18
Kicking off this list is a game many San Francisco fans like to forget happened. After all, the SF 49ers finally got over one of their biggest nemesis teams the previous week, the Green Bay Packers, in dramatic fashion thanks to a last-second touchdown pass from quarterback Steve Young to wide receiver Terrell Owens.
But that magic didn’t carry over into the divisional round against the Atlanta Falcons, who took advantage of an early ankle injury to Niners running back Garrison Hearst and made life exceptionally difficult for Young throughout the rest of the game.
Young was intercepted three times in what proved to be the final playoff game of his otherwise storied career. Despite those gaffes, however, Young and his team found themselves in a position to capitalize on some fourth-quarter magic.
Trailing by two points and with under three minutes remaining, Young and the offense seemed poise to reclaim some of that Wild Card round magic again.
Only this time, Falcons safety William White pulled down his second of two interceptions that day, sending San Francisco home early in a postseason that had so much promise after the team went 12-4 during the regular season.
No. 9: SF 49ers 1998 NFC Championship loss to Packers
Final Score: Packers 23, SF 49ers 10
While the Dallas Cowboys had been the SF 49ers’ chief obstacle both in the early 1970s and early 1990s, the Packers were the team that regularly gave Steve Young and Co. fits later on that decade.
For two consecutive years, quarterback Brett Favre and the Packers ended the Niners’ playoff run, beating San Francisco in the divisional round in back-to-back years.
In 1997, though, the expectation was supposed to be different. San Francisco went 13-3 and finished tops within the division. Those two previous playoff losses were going to serve as proverbial “fuel for the fire” to finally beat Green Bay.
This time for the rights to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XXXII.
Unfortunately, Favre and the Packers had entirely different plans. Green Bay’s defense swarmed around Young, sacking him four times and forcing an interception, and the SF 49ers were limited to just three points over the first three quarters while eventually getting out to a commanding 23-3 lead.
Not even the Niners’ final touchdown made this game seem closer than it actually was.
Losing three straight playoff games to the Packers was a rough stretch for San Francisco fans, but at least Young and the SF 49ers finally got their vengeance a year later.
No. 8: SF 49ers 1993 NFC Championship loss to Cowboys
Final Score: Cowboys 30, SF 49ers 20
The Niners’ playoff runs in 1992 and 1993 were tough to admit. After all, following San Francisco being the “team of the decade” in the 1980s, the Cowboys were now becoming the primary force in the 1990s.
Two back-to-back losses in the NFC Championship those seasons marked the transition from one dynasty to another, and the second of those heartbreaking defeats makes this list at No. 8.
The game itself wasn’t overly spectacular. The SF 49ers led only once in the game following a touchdown run by Steve Young in the first quarter. And while the Niners managed to stay in contention for the rest of the bout, it was pretty clear Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and running back Emmitt Smith were taking over.
Aikman outdueled Young by tossing two touchdowns against zero interceptions against Young’s two picks thrown. And while San Francisco closed the gap late to make it 24-20, a late touchdown pass from Aikman to wide receiver Kelvin Martin sealed the deal.
The loss wouldn’t have been so bad from the SF 49ers’ vantage point if it weren’t for Dallas’ head coach, Jimmy Johnson, shouting “How ’bout them Cowboys?” in the locker room after the game:
To this day, when that sound clip airs, no Niners fan likes to recall that was after Dallas pulled off the victory over San Francisco.
No. 7: SF 49ers 2012 NFC Championship loss to NY Giants
Final Score: NY Giants 20, SF 49ers 17
Ah, yes. The Kyle Williams fumbling game.
Much like how the SF 49ers pulled off a miraculous come-from-behind victory over the Packers in 1999, only to lose to the Falcons the following week, the 2011 Niners were riding high after managing an emotional and insane win over the New Orleans Saints, which revitalized quarterback Alex Smith’s career under then-first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh’s defense was rolling that 2011 season, and the Wild Card NY Giants, who had gone 9-7 during the regular season, seemed to be no match in the NFC Championship game.
But the Giants went toe-to-toe with Smith and Co. with quarterback Eli Manning matching his opponent’s touchdown passes with two.
San Francisco was still up 14-10 in the fourth quarter, though, and the Giants were forced to punt late. Unfortunately for the SF 49ers, their primary return specialist, Ted Ginn, was out with an injury, forcing Williams to take over in his stead.
Williams elected not to field that punt, but the ball bounced up and hit him. New York subsequently recovered, then took a 17-14 lead with just over eight minutes remaining.
The Niners tied things up to send the game into overtime, but Williams was put in the negative spotlight again by fumbling another punt return in the extra frame.
The Giants would kick their game-winning field goal and advance to the Super Bowl, where they’d pull off another upset over the New England Patriots. And as things turned out, San Francisco’s lone turnovers in the game stemmed from Williams’ gaffes.
What if, right?
No. 6: SF 49ers Super Bowl LIV loss to Chiefs
Final Score: Chiefs 31, SF 49ers 20
It’s pretty crazy to think, at least for the better part of three quarters, the SF 49ers were thwarting the usually dominant efforts from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his electric offense in Super Bowl LIV.
The Niners had picked off Mahomes twice, while San Francisco’s ground game was all but ensuring the Chiefs offense would stay off the field as much as possible.
And all that led to a 10-point SF 49ers fourth-quarter lead.
Things began to fall apart, though, as head coach Kyle Shanahan elected to move away from the ground game and put more focus on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who hadn’t been asked to do too much through the air in the Niners’ playoff push up to that point. Some key 3-and-outs, batted-down passes and missing key receivers on third down helped shift the momentum.
It was momentum Mahomes and Kansas City’s offense keyed in on, too.
Mahomes completed that now-infamous 3rd-and-15 pass to a wide-open wide receiver, Tyreek Hill, on a busted coverage for 44 yards. Was EDGE Nick Bosa held on the play? Yes. Was it called by the officials? No.
But that didn’t give the Chiefs the lead. It only made it 20-17, and San Francisco still had the lead.
By that point, however, Kansas City’s offense was rolling while the SF 49ers defense was clearly gassed.
And Garoppolo’s overthrow of wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders after the Chiefs took a 24-20 lead all but ended the Niners’ chances for yet another storybook Super Bowl win.
It’ll be a Super Bowl loss San Francisco fans won’t forget for decades.
No. 5: SF 49ers 1957 divisional loss to Lions
Final Score: Lions 31, SF 49ers 27
It’s time to go way back into the SF 49ers’ historical archives, long before the modern-football era and back when Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle was becoming a league legend.
Despite Tittle’s lengthy accolade list that got him into Canton, he only got into the postseason once with the Niners and just five times over his otherwise storied career, and each one of those games ended up being losses.
The worst of the bunch, and No. 5 on this list, was the 1957 divisional round against the Detroit Lions — a game that saw San Francisco get out to a commanding 27-7 lead in the third quarter. Tittle had tossed three touchdowns up to that point, and there were few signs of life from Detroit’s offense.
But that all changed in the third quarter.
The Lions defense ended up intercepting Tittle three times, then Detroit scored 24 unanswered points after the SF 49ers tacked on their final points of the game, a field goal early in the third frame.
Detroit’s game-winning field goal late in the fourth quarter was the dagger, giving the Lions the victory and putting a cap on what’s still one of the Niners’ biggest postseason collapses in playoff history.
No. 4: SF 49ers 2013 Super Bowl XLVII loss to Ravens
Final Score: Ravens 34, SF 49ers 31
There are so many “what if?” moments paralleling each one of San Francisco’s playoff losses over the years, and few games have as many as that infamous 2013 Super Bowl XLVII loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
At least in terms of entertainment value, this bout between brothers Jim Harbaugh and John Harbaugh had it all. The lights went out at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, it was a back-and-forth contest with Baltimore getting out to a commanding 28-6 lead early in the third quarter, thanks to a kickoff return for a touchdown (again, no holding called on the play) only to see Jim Harbaugh’s squad engineer what was appearing to be an epic comeback afterward.
The Ravens still held the lead late in the fourth quarter, though, but the SF 49ers had their chances. Three of them, to be exact, right up against the goal line.
The Niners had a 1st-and-goal from Baltimore’s 5-yard line. Trailing 34-29, the thinking was offensive coordinator Greg Roman would go to his “bread and butter,” getting running back Frank Gore the ball to powerhouse his way into the end zone.
Instead, Roman called for three consecutive fade passes from quarterback Colin Kaepernick to wide receiver Michael Crabtree.
None of them connected.
In terms of “what ifs?,” San Francisco fans everywhere will continue to wonder what would have happened if Gore was given the ball.
We’ll never know. But the end result could have been different instead of the SF 49ers’ first-ever Super Bowl loss.
No. 3: SF 49ers 2014 NFC Championship loss to Seahawks
Final Score: Seahawks 23, SF 49ers 17
The Niners haven’t had too much luck with fade passes in the playoffs, and the 2014 NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks is yet again one of those painful examples of why.
Much like Super Bowl XLVII the season before, this particular interdivisional bout was an instant classic. These were two powerhouse teams expected to compete for a Super Bowl, and the winner was likely to defensively dominate the AFC champions, the Denver Broncos, in Super Bowl XLVIII.
It was a back-and-forth contest, too, with Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson dueling it out with Colin Kaepernick. San Francisco got out to a 10-0 early lead, thanks to a Wilson fumble, yet Seattle stormed back to tie the game early in the third quarter. Then, Kaepernick hit wide receiver Anquan Boldin in the end zone in what seemed to be a key go-ahead touchdown to make things 17-10.
Unfortunately, those moments aren’t why this game is infamous.
Momentum turned when linebacker NaVorro Bowman suffered a gruesome injury on a goal-line stand. But the SF 49ers still had a chance to win late.
Except for another Kap fade pass to Michael Crabtree didn’t connect. No, and this time it was deflected by cornerback Richard Sherman and into the waiting arms of Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith.
But the final memory, and what puts this game all the way up at No. 3 on the list of all-time heartbreaks, was Sherman’s postgame rant about Crabtree.
At least Sherman switched ranks later in his career, but that interview with Fox Sports’ Erin Andrews made him Niners public enemy No. 1, and it was made all that worse with Seahawks fans rubbing it in over the following seasons.
No. 2: SF 49ers 1991 NFC Championship loss to NY Giants
Final Score: NY Giants 15, SF 49ers 13
Unfortunately for San Francisco fans, the Giants are one of those teams sending the SF 49ers to offseason heartbreak more than once during both teams’ elongated histories.
While the 2012 defeat at the hands of the G-Men was painful, the 1991 NFC Championship game loss was much more devastating. And just like that turnover-prone game from Kyle Williams, the 1991 version featured yet another costly fumble that turned the tide of the outcome away from the Niners.
Only that time, it was a San Francisco legend, running back Roger Craig, who coughed up the most infamous fumble in franchise history with mere minutes remaining in regulation and the SF 49ers holding firm to a 13-12 lead.
It was a hard-fought game up to that point, with the Niners being the only team to find the end zone that pitiful January afternoon. But despite the defensive showdown, San Francisco had the game won. The Giants weren’t able to get the SF 49ers off the field, and all Craig needed to do was secure possession to chew up the clock.
His fumble led to New York’s game-winning field goal, and the Giants would go on to win in the Super Bowl much like they did in 2012.
But what makes this even more painful is the loss cost San Francisco its chance at NFL history to become the first team ever to three-peat as Super Bowl champions.
It also marked the end of the SF 49ers dynasty from the previous decade.
No. 1: SF 49ers 1972 divisional loss to Cowboys
Final Score: Cowboys 30, SF 49ers 28
And for the No. 1 playoff moments SF 49ers fans would like to forget?
Well, it’s not the two Super Bowl losses. Not even those painfully hard-to-swallow NFC Championship game defeats.
San Francisco 49ers
No, the worst postseason loss in Niners history goes way back to 1972 when San Francisco had the game in hand over the Cowboys entering the fourth quarter. Remember, Dallas had embarrassed the SF 49ers in the postseason leading up to this tilt, yet the Niners were in a position to end that trend in a decisive fashion.
Ironically enough, this bout made FanSided’s list for the worst defeat in 49ers history.
San Francisco was up 28-13 entering the fourth quarter. But Cowboys head coach Tom Landry made a decision that would forever live in Dallas lore: benching starting quarterback Craig Morton and replacing him with a future Hall of Famer, Roger Staubach.
Staubach would engineer an epic comeback, scoring an unanswered 17 fourth-quarter points en route to the 30-28 victory for the Cowboys.
Meanwhile, all those years of frustration for the SF 49ers at the hands of Dallas continued, and it would take another 10 years before the Niners finally got their playoff grudge match over their archrivals in 1982.
At least that game was one for the storybooks, but Cowboys fans probably would like to rub this 1972 bout back in Niners fans’ faces.