Team History: Montana and Young led 49ers to five titles, 17 double-digit win seasons

Team History: Montana and Young led 49ers to five titles, 17 double-digit win seasons

A team succeeding at multiple levels of a sport is a rare occurrence. Several schools have become prosperous Division I programs at the college level. In professional football, the AFL-NFL merger brought 10 new teams into the combined league in 1970. However, the first prominent rival to the senior league happened nearly 20 years before. 

Tony Morabito was the owner of a lumber company in San Francisco in the late 1930s. He believed that cross-country travel was more feasible than ever, but the NFL kept rejecting his franchise application. After Morabito was declined again at the league’s office in Chicago, he crossed the street for a meeting that would change his fortunes. 

The meeting was with Arch Ward, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, who also successfully created the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the College All-Star Game in football and the Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament. Ward was asked multiple times to become President of the NFL, but feuded with several owners, especially Washington’s George Preston Marshall, so he decided to start his own league. 

Morabito was granted one of eight franchises in the All-America Football Conference, which was slated to start in 1945, but was postponed a year due to World War II. He called the team the 49ers as a reference to those who came to Northern California for the Gold Rush during the mid-19th century. San Francisco was consistently the second-best team in the league, but perennial powerhouse Cleveland was also in the West Division. 

Under former Cal and Santa Clara coach Lawrence “Buck” Shaw and quarterback Frankie Albert, the 49ers went 9-5 and ranked second in both offense and defense in the AAFC’s first season. However, the Browns topped the league on both sides of the ball, went 12-2 and defeated the New York Yankees to win the first championship. 

After two more second-place finishes (including a 12-2 mark in 1948), San Francisco greatly benefited from changes the AAFC made before what turned out to be its final season in 1949. Brooklyn and New York combined under the Yankees name, and the league went to a single-division format, with the top four clubs making the playoffs.

San Francisco posted a 9-3 record and defeated New York in the semifinals. In the final AAFC title game, Albert threw a touchdown pass, but Cleveland quarterback Otto Graham and running backs Marion Motley and Edgar Jones combined for 200 yards and two touchdowns on the ground as the Browns won their fourth championship, 21-7. 

Two days before the game, the NFL recognized the younger league’s legitimacy and worked out a merger deal. The Los Angeles Dons would merge with the Rams, and the 49ers, Browns and Baltimore Colts would be granted NFL franchises. Cleveland reached the NFL Championship Game in its first six seasons and won three titles, while San Francisco made the playoffs just once over the next 20 years. 

Albert was in his second season as coach in 1957, and he led the 49ers to an 8-4 record. Team stars included quarterback Y.A. Tittle, who was the United Press International MVP, along with Pro Bowl running back Joe McElhenny and receiver Billy Wilson. The defense featured All-Pro tackle Leo Nomellini and linebacker Marv Matuszak. 

San Francisco was trailing Detroit in the West Division when the teams squared off in early November. The 49ers were down 31-28, with 10 seconds left when Tittle threw up a pass from the 41-yard-line that was caught by a leaping R.C. Owens. The “Alley Oop” helped propel San Francisco to the postseason. 

Unfortunately, Morabito was not around for the success. The week before, he suffered a heart attack and died while watching his team play the Bears. San Francisco received word of his death at halftime and scored the game’s final 14 points for a 21-17 win. Morabito’s wife, Josephine, and brother, Victor, took over control of the club. 

The 49ers and Lions met again in the playoffs after tying for the division crown. San Francisco jumped out to a 27-7 third-quarter lead in the Division game, but Detroit stormed back, scoring three second-half rushing touchdowns to win, 31-27. 

Despite hovering around .500 most years, the 49ers endured a 12-year postseason drought. Victor Morabito died in 1964, leaving Josephine, along with Victor’s widow, Jane, to run the team. 

San Francisco hired former Dallas defensive coordinator Dick Nolan as head coach in 1968, and the team returned to the postseason two years later. The 49ers went 10-3-1 behind the tandem of quarterback John Brodie and receiver Gene Washington. 

After edging the Vikings in the Division round, the 49ers fell to the Cowboys, in the first NFC Championship Game in 1970. San Francisco’s bad luck against Dallas continued, with losses in the conference title game and the Division round in the next two years. 

Nolan was fired after the 1975 season, in the midst of an eight-year playoff drought. In 1977, the Morabito widows sold the team to Edward DeBartolo Jr., a businessman who was part of one of the largest public real estate companies in the U. S. 

DeBartolo hired former Stanford head man Bill Walsh as the coach and general manager in 1979. Walsh’s first draft produced a player who would turn around the fortune of the franchise. After backing up Steve DeBerg for two years, Joe Montana used Walsh’s “West Coast offense” to lead the team to a 13-3 record in 1981 and help Dwight Clark and Freddie Solomon become one of the better receiving tandems in the NFL. 

San Francisco defeated the Giants in the Division round, then Montana used some magic in the NFC Championship Game. Down six points with 58 seconds left, the 49ers were on the Dallas six-yard-line. Montana was chased to his right and threw the ball up, with Clark making a leaping fingertip grab in the back of the end zone. Ray Wersching punctuated “The Catch,” with his extra point to send the 49ers to their first Super Bowl. 

Wersching kicked four field goals and Montana was named MVP with one touchdown passing and another rushing in a 26-21 win over the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, giving San Francisco its first of four championships in the decade. 

The team went 10-6 in 1983. After edging the Lions on a late Montana to Solomon touchdown pass, San Francisco fell to Washington in the NFC title game on a Mark Moseley field goal with 40 seconds left. 

The following year, San Francisco boasted the league’s second-best offense en route to a 15-1 record. Postseason wins over the Giants and Bears earned the 49ers their second conference crown. Roger Craig ran for a touchdown and caught two more, and Montana earned his second MVP award after throwing for 331 yards and three scores in a 38-16 win over the Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX. 

In 1985, the 49ers added receiver Jerry Rice to an already potent offense. San Francisco suffered early playoff exits the next three years, including a loss to the Vikings in the Division round after a league-best 13-2 mark in 1987. A year later, San Francisco avenged the loss to Minnesota, then routed Chicago in the NFC Championship Game. 

The 49ers and Bengals squared off again. A 93-yard kickoff return by Stanford Jennings gave Cincinnati a 13-6 advantage heading into the fourth quarter, but Montana continued to earn his “Captain Comeback” nickname with another memorable moment. Trailing 16-13, he led San Francisco on an 11-play, 92-yard drive culminating in a 10-yard pass to John Taylor with 34 seconds left. The play gave the 49ers a 20-16 win in Super Bowl XXIII. Rice was the game’s MVP after his 11-catch, 215-yard performance. 

Walsh retired after the victory, and he was replaced by defensive coordinator George Seifert in 1989. Montana was the league MVP, and the 49ers went 14-2 and reached their second straight Super Bowl. “Joe Cool” threw five scoring passes to earn a third MVP award in a 55-10 win over Denver, the most lopsided score in the game’s history. 

Another 14-2 record and another Montana MVP award the next season went to waste when the 49ers lost the NFC Championship Game to the Giants, 15-13, on a last-second field goal by Matt Bahr. Montana injured his elbow in the 1991 preseason and missed most of the next two years before being traded to the Chiefs before the 1993 season. 

Behind Montana’s former backup Steve Young, San Francisco missed the playoffs in 1991, then went 14-2 but lost to the eventual champion Cowboys in the conference title game. Dallas knocked San Francisco out the same round in 1993, but the 49ers returned the favor the following year. Young was the NFL’s MVP in both 1992 and ’94. 

In Super Bowl XXIX, Young threw for 325 yards and six touchdowns and was named MVP of San Francisco’s 49-26 victory over the San Diego Chargers. After the team lost in the Division round each of the next two years, Seifert’s contract was not renewed, despite the fact that he had the highest winning percentage in NFL history at that point.

Former Cal coach Steve Mariucci replaced Seifert, and he led San Francisco to a 13-3 record in his first season in 1997. The 49ers beat the Vikings in the Division game before Young and the new receiving pair of Terrell Owens and J.J. Stokes lost to the Packers. 

In the 24-year period encompassing the coaching tenures of Walsh, Seifert, and Mariucci (1979-2002), the team went to the playoffs 18 times and had 19 double-digit win seasons, including 16 in a row. 

During this time, DeBartolo admitted to paying Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards $400,000 as part of an attempt to obtain a riverboat casino license. When Edwards was charged with racketeering and money laundering (among other things), DeBartolo pleaded guilty of failing to report a felony. 

He received a punishment of two years probation and was fined $1 million. The NFL also barred him from team operations for a year. He turned control over to his sister, Denise DeBartolo York, in 2000. While she is still the principal owner, day-to-day decisions are handled by her son, Jed York, who was named President and CEO in December 2008. 

The team has been to the playoffs just three times since Mariucci left, all under former Stanford coach and NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh. San Francisco went 13-3 in 2011 and beat the Saints in the Division round on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Alex Smith to tight end Vernon Davis with nine seconds left. The 49ers lost to the Giants in overtime in the NFC Championship Game. 

In the following year, the 49ers beat the Packers, then got two Frank Gore touchdown runs in a win against the Falcons to send them to the Superbowl for the sixth time. Super Bowl XLVII was a family affair, featuring Jim Harbaugh and his brother, John, who was the head coach of the Ravens. 

The game was delayed 34 minutes due to a power outage as the teams returned to the field following halftime. When play resumed, Jacoby Jones returned the second half kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown to put Baltimore up, 28-6. San Francisco mounted a comeback, but Justin Tucker kicked a 38-yard field goal with 3:19 left and the Ravens held on for a 34-31 win. 

San Francisco beat the Packers and Panthers in the 2013 playoffs before the Seahawks scored the final 13 points to win, 23-17, in the NFC Championship Game. 

Former Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is entering his third year as head coach. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is joined on offense by ex-Atlanta back Tevin Coleman and George Kittle, who set an NFL record for tight ends with 1,377 yards in 2018. On defense, Pro Bowl tackle DeForest Buckner is joined by free agents Dee Ford and Kwon Alexander, as well as Nick Bosa, who was chosen second overall in the Draft.

-By: Kevin Rakas