I love the San Francisco 49ers. I was never a bandwagon fan, I grew up in San Jose, California and that was my Dad’s team, so it became my team. Everyone in my family were 49ers fans, except for my oldest brother Mark, who was a Dan Marino and Miami Dolphins fan. I don’t blame him Dan Marino was an amazing Quarterback. Also his favorite wide receivers…also named Mark, Mark Duper and Mark Clayton. In fact, if you read my last post, if I remember right, my brother, Mark, who is officiating the Boxing match, is wearing his Miami Dolphins hat.
I was a little too young to remember the first Super Bowl win of the 80s for the Niners. the Niners beat the Bengals 26-21 during Super Bowl XVI. Joe Montana was still a fairly new Quarterback with Roger Craig the running back and Ronnie Lott on Defense. The coach Bill Walsh was developing his “West Coast” offense, and man was it starting to pay off.
Then came my first memory of actually watching football. It was Super Bowl XIX. When the Niners had one of the greatest seasons in team history up to that point, finishing the season with a record of 15-1-0. They breezed through the playoffs with a notable 23-0 victory over the Chicago Bears. Then they shut down Dan Marino and his Miami Dolphins. Dan Marino had a record setting year and was the NFL MVP. Another notable point is that Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright, Dwight Hicks, and Carlton Williamson, the Niners Defensive backfield, were all elected to play in the Pro-Bowl, which was the first time that had ever happened in the NFL. Our house was ecstatic, cheering, screaming, all except for my poor brother Mark, who had to watch his Dolphins lose.
The Niners would go on to sign my favorite player and one of the greatest wide receivers in history, Jerry Rice. Jerry Rice quickly became a rising star for the Niners. Montana to Rice, Montana to Rice was a regular occurrence. It also helped that the Niners had an amazing Tight End, Dwight Clark, and one of the best number 2 wide receivers, John Taylor. I always liked John Taylor; we share the same last name. The Niners would go on to win back to back super bowls in 1988 and 1989, giving them a total of 4 Super Bowls in the 1980s. Such an amazing decade of football, you can say I have a fascination with the 80s, from the sports to the movies, to the music. ☺ 1989 was a special year for the Niners, Bill Walsh retired and George Seifert took over as head coach. Joe Montana threw for 3,521 yards and 26 touchdowns, with only 8 interceptions, giving him a QB rating of 112.4, which up until that point was the highest QB rating in NFL history. He was named the League MVP. Jerry Rice continued to be one of the best if not the best Wide Receivers, I always think he was the best; he had 17 TDs that season and 1490 reception yards. The Niners would beat the Denver Broncos 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV, much to the chagrin of @broncofan99, I am sure. ☺
Then came the 1990s. The Niner’s hopes of a three peat were dashed. They would lose to the New York Giants during the NFC Conference title game. Steve Young would get his chance and finally was able to take over for the Niners as their star QB Montana asks to be traded to the Chiefs. I was sad with Montana’s decision to go to the Chiefs, but he will always be a Niner in my book. I realize he left for the right reasons; he didn’t want to create controversy with Steve Young. Steve Young and Montana are my favorite QBs of all time. Steve Young and I went to the same college, BYU, but not at the same time, haha, he is a lot older then me. Young was a different QB then Montana, his arm wasn’t quite as good as Montana, but oh could he run. Unfortunately Young didn’t like sliding, and when he ran, he ran like a running back. He was injured a few times suffering concussions.
But was able to finally get a Super Bowl win of his own, winning Super Bowl XXIX. The 49ers beat the San Diego Chargers 49-26, and at the time was the first team to win 5 Super Bowls. Young threw 6 TD passes and was named the MVP. I remember this game fondly. I will always remember Young talking about having the “monkey” off his back, referring to always being in the shadow of the great Joe Montana.
After that the Niners just didn’t have the same kind of success. Steve Young retires, and things just wouldn’t be the same, for a very long time. I never gave up hope. They had the first pick in the 2005 NFL draft and instead of picking Aaron Rogers, who wanted to play for the Niners, they picked Alex Smith, I had hopes Alex would do well, I always hated when he played in College and defeated my BYU Cougars. I got to witness first hand at the Cougars Stadium, Alex Smith dismantle BYU’s defense. But things just didn’t turn out that great. He became a decent Quarterback, but not the kind the Niners were hoping for.
Jim Harbaugh comes to the Niners and shakes things up; he turns the team around it would seem and the Niners sign Colin Kaepernick. Colin was one of the running style QBs that were becoming popular in the league. The Niners would do well with Harbaugh but would ultimately lose the Super Bowl to the other Harbaugh, in the Harbaugh Bowl. It was Super Bowl XLVII where the Niners would go on to lose to the Baltimore Ravens, 34-31.
Harbaugh decides to leave the Niners and accepts a position as the Head Coach of the Michigan Wolverines, his alma mater.
Things go downhill fast for the Niners. But during last season the Niners make a brilliant move to pick up Jimmy Garoppolo, who was the backup QB to Tom Brady. Jimmy G would lead the 49ers to 6 straight victories; giving the Niners a 6-10 season, which up until that point when he took over they were shut out. Granted the Niners were beating teams that were resting stars for the playoffs. But Jimmy looked good. The one thing I did not like is that he tended to throw lots of interceptions. Oh my I hate interceptions.
Coming into this current season I was an am full of hope, but bummed that their new star running back Jerick Mckinnon got injured during practice, which is a big blow for the Niners backfield, he will be out for the whole season. But at the QB position, have the Niners finally found a great franchise QB, something we have seen since Steve Young and Joe Montana? Time will tell. The Niners suffered a disappointing loss to the Minnesota Vikings on opening day. Jimmy had a QB rating of just 45.1, he was 15/33 with his passing and had 261 yards, and 1 TD and 3 Interceptions. I hate interceptions. But the bright side is this. The Vikings have the number one defense. If you take away the pick six, and if the Niners would have managed to score even a field goal, instead of fumbling the ball at the goal line, they would have won. Their Defense played incredible! And the offense still had 351 yards against the number one defense which isn’t too shabby. I think if Jimmy G can compose himself, throw less INTs, and the Defense can continue what they are doing, this will be a successful year for the Niners. Will they make the playoffs, probably not this year, but I am thinking a record of 8-8 is quite possible. Which is an improvement.
All in all I have stuck with my 49ers through the good times and the bad, I am excited for their future.
Thanks for joining me,
Your Scorum Friend,
Matt, aka @bayareasportsfan
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