San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers: A legacy of gold, from the gold rush to five Super Bowl titles.
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The team plays its home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, located 38 mi southeast of San Francisco. The team is named after the prospectors of the California gold rush.
The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and joined the NFL in 1950 when the leagues merged. The 49ers were the first major professional sports team based in San Francisco. They are the 9th-oldest franchise in the NFL based on continuous NFL tenure from 1950, with the Bears, Cardinals, Packers, Giants, Lions, Washington, Steelers, and Rams being older. The team has been owned and operated by Italian Americans (the Morabito and DeBartolo families) since their inception, though the DeBartolo family took over in 1977.
The team played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco before moving to Candlestick Park in 1971 and then to Levi's Stadium in 2014. Since 1988, the 49ers have been headquartered in Santa Clara.
Quick Facts
- Super bowl meetings
- 0
- First major playoff clash
- 1972 Divisional Round
- Lombardi era connection
- Packers won five titles under Vince Lombardi; the 49ers won zero during his tenure
- Notable quarterback duel
- Bart Starr vs. John Brodie; Brett Favre vs. Steve Young
- Rivalry status
- Active and Historic
Lore & Background
The 49ers won five Super Bowl championships between 1981 and 1994. Four of those came in the 1980s, and were led by Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young, Charles Haley, Fred Dean, and coaches Bill Walsh and George Seifert. They were division champions 22 times between 1970 and 2023, making them one of the most successful teams in NFL history. The 49ers are tied with the New England Patriots for most playoff wins (40) in NFL history, having been in the league playoffs 30 times (29 times in the NFL and one time in the AAFC), and have also played in the most NFC Championship Games (19), hosting 11 of them, also an NFC record.
The team has set numerous NFL records, including most consecutive away games won (18), most consecutive seasons leading the league in scoring (4), most consecutive games scored (420 games from 1977 to 2004), most field goals in a season (44), most games won in a season (18), and most touchdowns (8) and points scored (55) in a Super Bowl.
Reader's Guide
The 49ers were founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and joined the NFL in 1950 when the leagues merged. The team played at Kezar Stadium from 1946 to 1970, then moved to Candlestick Park in 1971, and to Levi's Stadium in 2014. The team's headquarters have been in Santa Clara since 1988. The 49ers were the first major league professional sports franchise based in San Francisco and one of the first on the Pacific Coast.
In 1957, owner Tony Morabito died of a heart attack during a game; ownership passed to Victor Morabito and Josephine V. Morabito. The team was known for the 'Million Dollar Backfield' in the 1950s, consisting of Y. A. Tittle, John Henry Johnson, Hugh McElhenny, and Joe Perry. The 49ers were the first NFL team to use the shotgun formation, devised by coach Red Hickey in 1960. In 1970, under coach Dick Nolan, the 49ers won their first NFC West divisional title and reached the NFC Championship Game, losing to the Dallas Cowboys.
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