The 49ers’ 2020 season was more like four months of perpetual start-and-stop-and-start-again agony that never really went away despite all the team’s valiant attempts to subvert it while trying to remain in playoff contention during one of the most challenging seasons for any team in NFL history.
San Francisco entered the season with realistic hopes and determined plans to defend its hard-earned 2019 NFC championship and this time go one step beyond. But the 49ers never really had a chance. Try as they might, bless their hearty souls, they just couldn’t overcome the continual waves of adversity that hit them throughout an injury and health-plagued season that was defined by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The 49ers slipped all the way from the NFC throne to the NFC West cellar, a first-to-last nosedive that saw them eliminated from playoff contention by Week 15 and their victory total decrease by seven wins from the season before.
While their defense remained among the NFL’s best, finishing ranked No. 5 in the league, their offense, and special teams took a decided turn toward mediocrity or worse. San Francisco finished ranked No. 15 in the NFL in total offense, its special team's units ranked No. 27 in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus, and the team’s minus-11 turnover differential ranked 31st in the league.
It all added up to a 6-10 finish just 11 months after the 49ers had come within minutes of winning Super Bowl LIV, not the kind of outcome anybody was expecting from a rising San Francisco team that appeared to be geared for another title run entering the season.
This story is from the February/March 2021 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
This story is from the February/March 2021 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.
