When the San Francisco 49ers defeated the New Orleans Saints last Sunday, they accomplished something that hadn't been done in 37 years by opening an NFL season with consecutive road wins with two different starting quarterbacks.
Regular starter Brock Purdy, of course, opened the campaign under center and helped the Niners to a dramatic 17-13 comeback victory in Week 1 over the Seattle Seahawks. And with Purdy out of action in Week 2 with a case of turf toe, backup Mac Jones filled in nicely and led San Francisco to a 26-21 win over the New Orleans Saints.
The last time this rare feat occurred was in 1988 and was accomplished by none other than—yep, you guessed it—the San Francisco 49ers.
Despite being benched for Steve Young in the Niners' playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings following the 1987 campaign, Joe Montana started Week 1 of the '88 season and led San Francisco to a 34-33 win over the Saints.
But with Montana nursing a bruised elbow heading into Week 2, head coach Bill Walsh opted to start Young against the New York Giants. And while Young got credit for the win, it was Montana who sealed it, coming off the bench in the fourth quarter to throw a late touchdown pass to wide receiver Jerry Rice in a 20-17 victory.
Young made a few more starts later in the season, as Walsh wanted to use him more, but Montana ultimately kept his job. And despite the QB controversy that was brewing, the Niners finished with a 10-6 regular-season record and went on to win Super Bowl 23, which is the whole point we're trying to make here in the first place. Believe me, I could get into much more detail, but we'll keep things moving.
Now, we could just go ahead and say that the specific history with the two different quarterbacks helping the Niners to consecutive road wins to open the '88 season is a great omen for this year's Niners and leave it at that.
But there's more.
Leaving the two-QB aspect out of it, as that was a unique situation, that '88 campaign was only one of six instances before this season in which San Francisco opened a season 2-0 with both victories coming on the road.
And on four of those occasions, the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl, with two of those trips resulting in the team hoisting a Lombardi Trophy. A fifth instance resulted in a trip to the NFC Championship game, and only once has the team kicked off a season with consecutive road wins and failed to make the playoffs, that being the very first time it happened in 1974.
Here's a quick rundown of the entire list:
- 1974: 6-8, Missed NFL Playoffs
- 1988: Won Super Bowl
- 1989: Won Super Bowl
- 2019: Lost Super Bowl
- 2021: Lost NFC Championship Game
- 2023: Lost Super Bowl
- 2025: TBD
Okay, so none of this genuinely means a thing as it pertains to this year's team, but having some positive history on your side certainly doesn't hurt. And four trips to the Super Bowl and a fifth trip to the conference title game is undoubtedly positive history.
We now will just wait to see how this 2-0 Niners team stacks up on this list come the end of the season.