With patience amongst ownership and management, thorough and innovative guidance and leadership from a vibrant coaching staff and a well-developed culture and team chemistry that simmered through two ugly losing seasons to get to this point before it could flourish, the 49ers rebounded from their 4-win finish of the year before to unexpectedly emerge as a complete product that often bore the resemblance of a well-oiled powerhouse. San Francisco got there as a team in the true sense of the word, with every unit and practically every player on the roster having some kind of imprint on the success the 49ers enjoyed. That success was considerable, with San Francisco improving by nine games in the win column, posting the NFC’s best record at 13-3 and earning the conference’s No. 1 playoff seed, then blowing out the Vikings and Packers to reach the franchise’s seventh Super Bowl, where everything about the 49ers was virtually looking like what came before it this season until those fateful final seven minutes of the NFL’s championship game. Here, the Niner Report looks back on a Super season with a unit-by-unit analysis, comparing performance to last year, including final season grades for each position and highlighting the team’s best and most improved players.
QUARTERBACKS: A
Better, worse or same as 2018: Much better
Unit MVP: Jimmy Garoppolo
Most improved: Garoppolo
Best newcomer: None
This story is from the February 2020 edition of Niner Report.
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This story is from the February 2020 edition of Niner Report.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
