The 2009 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 64th season, 60th in the National Football League (NFL), and the first and only full year with Mike Singletary as head coach after being named interim head coach in 2008. It is the seventh year in which the 49ers have their seventh offensive coordinator. They were looking to improve upon their 7–9 record from 2008 with the 10th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft.
The 49ers started the 2009 season hot by winning three of the first four games. Their only loss in that span was against the Minnesota Vikings on a last-second, 32-yard touchdown from quarterback Brett Favre to wide receiver Greg Lewis. With that, and a week-5 blowout loss against the Atlanta Falcons, the team got a bad omen for the remainder of the year. The 49ers' defense, led by linebacker Patrick Willis, kept the 49ers in games, while their offense was inconsistent. Most of the blame was due to their weak offensive line, namely, the injury of left tackle Joe Staley in a week 7 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
The 49ers won a week 12 home game over the Jacksonville Jaguars, 20–3. The win helped keep the 49ers' season alive. Going into week 13 against the Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers were heavily favored to win the game; however, critical mistakes in the game cost them the win and gave the team a huge blow of any chances of making the playoffs. The following week on Monday Night Football, the 49ers played the Arizona Cardinals, who were trying to clinch the NFC West. The 49ers' defense came out and exploded on the Cardinals top-ranked offense, causing them to turn over the ball 7 times. This was the first time San Francisco caused 7 or more turnovers in a game since forcing eight against the New Orleans Saints on September 14, 1997. The 49ers won the game 24–9, keeping their very slim playoff hopes alive. The next week they were defeated by the Philadelphia Eagles. The loss officially wiped out the 49ers from playoff contention.
Despite being benched for 5 and a half games, Alex Smith came in and threw for a career-best 2,350 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. Frank Gore rushed for 1,120 yards and 13 touchdowns. He was awarded his second Pro Bowl appearance. Tight end Vernon Davis turned his career around by leading the team with 965 yards and 13 touchdowns – which tied the single-season record for most touchdowns by a tight end. Rookie wide receiver Michael Crabtree, who held out the first four games of the season, was able to put up solid numbers, with 625 receiving yards, 48 receptions, and 2 touchdowns. On defense, Patrick Willis, for the second time in his first three seasons in the league, led the NFL with 152 tackles and helped the 49ers become one of the best defensive units in the NFL. He was awarded his third straight Pro Bowl appearance.
The 49ers defense would finish the season in the top of the league in multiple categories. They finished fourth in the league in scoring defense, surrendering just 17.6 points per game. They also finished fifth in the league in forced turnovers with 33, tied for first in the league with 15 fumble recoveries and sixth in rushing defense.
Offseason
Coaching changes The 49ers released Mike Martz on December 30, 2008. One day following the firing of Martz, the 49ers released quarterbacks coach Ted Tollner and running backs coach Tony Nathan. "To get where we needed to go, I felt those decisions needed to be made at this time", said Mike Singletary. Tony Nathan's replacement came on January 7, 2009, when former 49ers' fullback Tom Rathman agreed to become the new running backs coach.
Before the 49ers found a new quarterbacks coach, they introduced two new coaching positions on January 12, 2009. Mike Singletary's nephew Vantz Singletary became the 49ers' inside linebackers coach, while Al Harris was signed as the 49ers' pass rush specialist coach.
One month after the firing of Martz, Jimmy Raye was finally hired as offensive coordinator, making him the seventh offensive coordinator in seven years for the 49ers. Along with the hiring of Raye, Ted Tollner's replacement Mike Johnson was signed as the 49ers' quarterback coach.
The 49ers' next coaching addition would be Jason Michael as an offensive assistant on March 6, 2009.
Offensive coordinator search
Two days after Mike Singletary was hired as San Francisco's head coach, Singletary fired offensive coordinator Mike Martz. "I am not what he is looking for offensively. I understand that", said Martz in a statement released by the club. With the firing of Martz, the 49ers guaranteed themselves their seventh offensive coordinator in seven years. Possible replacement candidates included Colts wide receivers coach Clyde Christensen, former Rams head coach Scott Linehan, Browns offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski. After a second interview with the 49ers, Linehan was offered the position; however, he declined the position stating that it was not right for his family. Soon after, Linehan accepted the offensive coordinator position for the Detroit Lions. Following, the 49ers interviews Broncos offensive coordinator Rick Dennison, former Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinski, and Ravens quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson. On the same day as the interview with Jackson, the 49ers flew in former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Reeves for an interview for the position. Following the Reeves interview, the 49ers interviewed Hue Jackson a second time.
One day after Jackson was interviewed, former New York Jets' running back coach Jimmy Raye II was interviewed, making him the eighth offensive coordinator candidate to be interviewed by the 49ers. After interviewing with the 49ers, Raye was named the new offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers; coincidentally, Raye's first NFL job was the wide receivers coach for the 49ers under Ken Meyer in 1977. Raye stated that he and Mike Singletary shared a belief on how football should be played, that being a ground-based, physical football team. Raye has had successful years as a run-based offensive coordinator, namely with the 1984 Los Angeles Rams, when Eric Dickerson rushed for a league-record 2,105 yards. However, his recent success has been questionable. While being the Oakland Raiders' offensive coordinator from 2004 to 2005, the Raiders were 32nd and 29th in rushing offense, respectively. Nonetheless, while Raye was running backs coach for the New York Jets over the past two years, Jets' running back Thomas Jones has finished each season with over 1,000 yards rushing. In the 2008 season, Jones finished the season with the 5th most rushing yards, behind only Adrian Peterson, Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams, and Clinton Portis.
Uniform change In 1996 the 49ers changed their uniform colors to a darker cardinal red, with the most recent change being updating their pants back to gold in 1998. Eleven years later, the 49ers decided to once again modify their uniform. The uniform change rumors were confirmed by Andy Dolich at the 49ers' State of the Franchise. When asked when they were going to change their uniforms "back to normal", Dolich replied, stating, "Stay tuned. Don't be surprised if you see championship colors back". The uniforms were revealed on April 25, 2009, during the first day of the draft. 49ers players Patrick Willis, Josh Morgan, Dashon Goldson, Joe Staley, and Moran Norris displayed the new jerseys and pants at the 49ers draft party. The new jerseys are very similar to the classic design, with minor changes to the sleeve stripes, the moving of secondary numerals to the top of the shoulders, and the inclusion of a "49ers" ligature below the neck. The shade of red is also arguably slightly darker than the scarlet of classic jerseys, but significantly lighter than the cardinal red used in the 1996–2008 designs.
Roster changes
Additions The following are players signed by the 49ers in the 2009 off-season:
Date signed Position Player 2008 Team Contract01-22 CB Jimmy Williams Did not play Released01-23 WR Micheal Spurlock Tampa Bay Buccaneers TBA01-29 WR Maurice Price New England Patriots TBA02-28 WR Brandon Jones Tennessee Titans 5 yrs / $16.5 mil03-02 FB Moran Norris Detroit Lions 3 yrs / $5 mil03-04 QB Damon Huard Kansas City Chiefs TBA03-10 DE Demetric Evans Washington Redskins 2 yrs / $3.8 mil03-16 S Lewis Baker Did not play Released03-16 LB Mark Washington Did not play TBA03-27 OT Marvel Smith Pittsburgh Steelers TBA04-30 OT Alex Boone Ohio State Buckeyes† TBA04-30 LB Diyral Biggs Bowling Green Falcons† TBA04-30 WR Dobson Collins Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs† TBA04-30 DE Pannel Egboh Stanford Cardinal† TBA04-30 QB Kirby Freeman Baylor Bears† Released04-30 G Kyle Howard Wyoming Cowboys† TBA04-30 G Matthew Huners South Florida Bulls† Released04-30 CB Terrail Lambert Notre Dame Fighting Irish† TBA04-30 DE Khalif Mitchell East Carolina Pirates† TBA04-30 RB Kory Sheets Purdue Boilermakers† Released04-30 CB Carlos Thomas South Carolina Gamecocks† TBA04-30 CB Jahi Word-Daniels Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets† TBA04-30 LB Marques Harris San Diego Chargers 1yr05-01 K Alex Romero New Orleans VooDoo‡ TBA05-21 CB Dré Bly Denver Broncos 1 yr07-07 FB Brit Miller Illinois Fighting Illini† TBA07-30 DT Babatunde Oshinowo Philadelphia Eagles Released07-31 G/C Matt Spanos Miami Dolphins 1 yr08-07 WR Chris Francies New Orleans Saints TBA08-16 FB Bill Rentmeester Wisconsin Badgers† –08-19 CB Eric Green Arizona Cardinals 1 yr
† College football team ‡ Arena Football League team
Departures The following are players who were released by the 49ers in the 2009 off-season:
Date Released Position Player Contract left 2009 Team02-10 LB Tully Banta-Cain 1yr / $1.275 mil New England Patriots02-10 S Keith Lewis 1yr / $0.85 mil Arizona Cardinals03-27 OT Jonas Jennings 3yrs –05-13 QB Kirby Freeman – –05-18 S Jimmy Williams – –07-24 S Lewis Baker – –07-31 C/G Matthew Huners – –08-07 DL Babatunde Oshinowo – –08-16 RB Thomas Clayton – –
Free agents The following are players whose contracts expired at the end of the 2008 season: Position Player Free agency tag* 2009 Team Date signed Contract TE Billy Bajema UFA St. Louis Rams March 30, 2009 TBA OT Damane Duckett UFA New England Patriots March 24, 2009 TBA DE Ronald Fields UFA Denver Broncos March 3, 2009 2yrs / $5 mil RB DeShaun Foster UFA TBA LB Roderick Green UFA TBA WR Bryant Johnson UFA Detroit Lions February 28, 2009 3yrs / $9 mil QB Jamie Martin UFA TBA QB JT O'Sullivan UFA Cincinnati Bengals March 6, 2009 2yrs RS Allen Rossum UFA San Francisco 49ers March 10, 2009 TBA TE Sean Ryan UFA Kansas City Chiefs April 21, 2009 TBA LB Takeo Spikes UFA San Francisco 49ers March 4, 2009 2 yrs CB Donald Strickland UFA New York Jets March 25, 2009 3yrs FB Zak Keasey ERFA TBA *RFA: Restricted free agent, UFA: Unrestricted free agent, ERFA: Exclusive-rights free agent
2009 NFL draft
After finishing the 2008 season with a 7–9 record, the 49ers held the 10th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft.
+ San Francisco 49ers' 2009 NFL Draft selections Draft order Player name Position Height Weight College Contract Notes Round Choice Overall 1 10 10 Michael Crabtree WR 6 ft 2 in 214 lb Texas Tech 6 yrs 2 11 43Traded Traded to the Carolina Panthers 3 10 74 Glen Coffee RB 6 ft 0 in 209 lb Alabama 4 yrs 4 11 111Traded Traded to the Carolina Panthers5 10 146 Scott McKillop ILB 6 ft 1 in 244 lb Pitt 4 yrs 35 171 Nate Davis QB 6 ft 1 in 226 lb Ball State 4 yrs Compensatory Pick 6 11 184 Bear Pascoe TE 6 ft 5 in 261 lb Fresno State 4 yrs7 10 219 Curtis Taylor S 6 ft 3 in 204 lb LSU 4 yrs / $1.8 mil 35 244 Ricky Jean-Francois DT 6 ft 3 in 281 lb LSU 4 yrs Compensatory Pick