The San Francisco 49ers are an American football franchise representing the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers are members of the West division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL).
The 49ers began play in 1946 as charter members of the All-America Football Conference. They joined the NFL in the AAFC-NFL merger in 1950; from then through 1969 they did not win a division or conference title, and only finished as high as second once. After winning three consecutive division titles from 1970 to 1972, they would return to losing in 1973 and achieved only one winning season for the rest of the decade.
From 1981 to 1998, the 49ers had one of the most successful stretches of dominance in NFL history. Armed with Bill Walsh's innovative West Coast offense, Hall of Fame level quarterback play in Joe Montana and later Steve Young, and a dominant defense, the 49ers would win five Super Bowls in 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, and 1994, and made the playoffs every year but 1982 and 1991.
Another playoff drought lasted from –, a stretch of eight non-winning seasons. This drought came to end under rookie head coach Jim Harbaugh when the 49ers won their division with a 13–3 record in . From 2011 to 2013, they earned three straight berths in the NFC Championship Game, which included a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII. They would have another stretch of non-winning seasons from – before a 13–3 turnaround season in 2019 under head coach Kyle Shanahan saw them win the NFC, but lose to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. Since then, the 49ers have been to two NFC Conference Championship Games (NFCCG) and another Super Bowl, losing both NFCCGs on the road and losing Super Bowl LVIII once again to the Chiefs.
This list documents the season-by-season record of the 49ers franchise from to present, including postseason records and league awards for individual players or head coaches.
Seasons NFL champions (1920–1969)§ Super Bowl champions (1966–present)† Conference champions* Division champions^ Wild Card berth# One-game playoff berth+
+ SeasonTeamLeagueConferenceDivisionRegular seasonPostseason resultsAwardsHead coachFinish19461946AAFCWestern2nd950 Buck Shaw19471947AAFCWestern2nd842 19481948AAFCWestern2nd1220 19491949AAFC2nd#930Won First-Round Playoffs (Yankees) 17–7Lost AAFC Championship (at Browns) 7–21 1950NFLNational5th390 1951NFLNational3rd741 1952NFLNational3rd750 1953NFLWestern3rd930 1954NFLWestern3rd7411955NFLWestern5th480 Red Strader1956NFLWestern3rd561 Frankie Albert1957NFLWestern2nd+840Lost Conference Playoff (Lions) 27–311958NFLWestern4th660 1959NFLWestern4th750 Red Hickey1960NFLWestern3rd750 1961NFLWestern5th761 1962NFLWestern5th680 1963NFLWestern7th2120 Red Hickey (0–3)Jack Christiansen (2–9)1964NFLWestern7th4100 Jack Christiansen1965NFLWestern4th761 1966NFLWestern4th662 1967NFLWesternCoastal3rd770 1968NFLWesternCoastal3rd761 Dick Nolan1969NFLWesternCoastal4th482 1970NFLNFCWest^1st^1031Won Divisional Playoffs (at Vikings) 17–14Lost NFC Championship (Cowboys) 10–17John Brodie (MVP)Bruce Taylor (DROY)1971NFLNFCWest^1st^950Won Divisional Playoffs (Redskins) 24–20Lost NFC Championship (at Cowboys) 3–14 1972NFLNFCWest^1st^851Lost Divisional Playoffs (Cowboys) 28–30 1973NFLNFCWest3rd590 1974NFLNFCWest2nd680 1975NFLNFCWest2nd590 1976NFLNFCWest2nd860 Monte Clark1977NFLNFCWest3rd590 Ken Meyer1978NFLNFCWest4th2140 Pete McCulley (1–8)Fred O'Connor (1–6)1979NFLNFCWest4th2140 Bill Walsh1980NFLNFCWest3rd6100 1981NFL†NFC*West^1st^1330Won Divisional Playoffs (Giants) 38–24Won NFC Championship (Cowboys) 28–27Won Super Bowl XVI (1) (vs. Bengals) 26–21Joe Montana (SB MVP)Bill Walsh (COY)1982NFLNFCWest11th1360 1983NFLNFCWest^1st^1060Won Divisional Playoffs (Lions) 24–23Lost NFC Championship (at Redskins) 21–24 1984NFL†NFC*West^1st^1510Won Divisional Playoffs (Giants) 21–10Won NFC Championship (Bears) 23–0Won Super Bowl XIX (2) (vs. Dolphins) 38–16Joe Montana (SB MVP)1985NFLNFCWest2nd#1060Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Giants) 3–171986NFLNFCWest^1st^1051Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Giants) 3–49Joe Montana (CBPOY)1987NFLNFCWest^1st^1320Lost Divisional Playoffs (Vikings) 24–36Jerry Rice (OPOY)1988NFL†NFC*West^1st^1060Won Divisional Playoffs (Vikings) 34–9Won NFC Championship (at Bears) 28–3Won Super Bowl XXIII (3) (vs. Bengals) 20–16Jerry Rice (SB MVP) Roger Craig (OPOY)1989NFL†NFC*West^1st^1420Won Divisional Playoffs (Vikings) 41–13Won NFC Championship (Rams) 30–3Won Super Bowl XXIV (4) (vs. Broncos) 55–10Joe Montana (MVP, SB MVP, OPOY) (EOY)George Seifert1990NFLNFCWest^1st^1420Won Divisional Playoffs (Redskins) 28–10Lost NFC Championship (Giants) 13–15Joe Montana (MVP)1991NFLNFCWest3rd1060 1992NFLNFCWest^1st^1420Won Divisional Playoffs (Redskins) 20–13Lost NFC Championship (Cowboys) 20–30Steve Young (MVP, OPOY)1993NFLNFCWest^1st^1060Won Divisional Playoffs (Giants) 44–3Lost NFC Championship (at Cowboys) 21–38Jerry Rice (OPOY)Dana Stubblefield (DROY)1994NFL†NFC*West^1st^1330Won Divisional Playoffs (Bears) 44–15Won NFC Championship (Cowboys) 38–28Won Super Bowl XXIX (5) (vs. Chargers) 49–26Steve Young (MVP, SB MVP)Deion Sanders (DPOY) (EOY)1995NFLNFCWest^1st^1150Lost Divisional Playoffs (Packers) 17–27Jerry Rice (PB MVP)1996NFLNFCWest2nd#1240Won Wild Card Playoffs (Eagles) 14–0Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Packers) 14–351997NFLNFCWest^1st^1330Won Divisional Playoffs (Vikings) 38–22Lost NFC Championship (Packers) 10–23Dana Stubblefield (DPOY)Steve Mariucci1998NFLNFCWest2nd#1240Won Wild Card Playoffs (Packers) 30–27Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Falcons) 18–20 1999NFLNFCWest4th4120 Bryant Young (CBPOY)2000NFLNFCWest4th6100 2001NFLNFCWest2nd#1240Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Packers) 15–25Garrison Hearst (CBPOY)2002NFLNFCWest^1st^1060Won Wild Card Playoffs (Giants) 39–38Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Buccaneers) 6–312003NFLNFCWest3rd790 Dennis Erickson2004NFLNFCWest4th2140 2005NFLNFCWest4th4120 Mike Nolan2006NFLNFCWest3rd790 20072007NFLNFCWest3rd5110 Patrick Willis (DROY) 2008NFLNFCWest2nd790 Mike Nolan (2–5)Mike Singletary (5–4)2009NFLNFCWest2nd880 Mike Singletary2010NFLNFCWest3rd6100 Mike Singletary (5–10)Jim Tomsula (1–0)2011NFLNFCWest^1st^1330Won Divisional Playoffs (Saints) 36–32Lost NFC Championship (Giants) 17–20 Jim Harbaugh (COY)Jim Harbaugh2012NFLNFC*West^1st^1141Won Divisional Playoffs (Packers) 45–31Won NFC Championship (at Falcons) 28–24Lost Super Bowl XLVII (vs. Ravens) 31–342013NFLNFCWest2nd#1240Won Wild Card Playoffs (at Packers) 23–20 Won Divisional Playoffs (at Panthers) 23–10 Lost NFC Championship (at Seahawks) 17–232014NFLNFCWest3rd8802015NFLNFCWest4th5110Anquan Boldin (MOY)Jim Tomsula2016NFLNFCWest4th2140Chip Kelly2017NFLNFCWest4th6100Kyle Shanahan2018NFLNFCWest3rd41202019NFLNFC*West^1st^1330Won Divisional Playoffs (Vikings) 27–10Won NFC Championship (Packers) 37–20Lost Super Bowl LIV (vs. Chiefs) 20–31Nick Bosa (DROY)2020NFLNFCWest4th61002021NFLNFCWest3rd#1070Won Wild Card Playoffs (at Cowboys) 23–17Won Divisional Playoffs (at Packers) 13–10Lost NFC Championship (at Rams) 17–202022NFLNFCWest^1st^1340Won Wild Card Playoffs (Seahawks) 41–23Won Divisional Playoffs (Cowboys) 19–12Lost NFC Championship (at Eagles) 7–31Nick Bosa (DPOY)2023NFLNFC*West^1st^1250Won Divisional Playoffs (Packers) 24–21Won NFC Championship (Lions) 34–31Lost Super Bowl LVIII (vs. Chiefs) 22–25 Christian McCaffrey (OPOY)2024NFLNFCWest4th61102025NFLNFCWest3rd#1250Won Wild Card Playoffs (at Eagles) 23–19Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Seahawks) 6–41Christian McCaffrey (CBPOY) Statistics above are current as of January 17, 2026.
All-time records
Statistic Wins Losses Ties Win % All-America Football Conference regular season record 38 14 2 AAFC postseason record 1 1 — National Football League regular season record 592 512 14 NFL postseason record 39 25 — AAFC and NFL regular and postseason record 670 552 16
1 Due to a strike-shortened season in 1982, all teams were ranked by conference instead of division.
References