There is no shortage of heartbreaking Niners playoff losses to choose from.
The San Francisco 49ers have had no shortage of heartbreaking playoff losses in the last 15 years or so. However, if you could only erase one playoff loss from franchise history and turn it into a win, which one would you choose?
This was an interesting prompt posted by the social media account @FBGreatestMoments on X, which can be viewed here.
There are plenty of losses to choose from. While younger fans like myself are more focused on the Jim Harbaugh and Kyle Shanahan years, there are even some from the 1980s which could be good candidates for erasure.
49ers’ most heartbreaking playoff losses
Some Niners fans on social media said they would erase the loss San Francisco suffered in the 1987 season during the playoffs when it lost to the Minnesota Vikings in the divisional round. The Niners looked solid that season under head coach Bill Walsh. Quarterback Joe Montana looked like his old self, and the team was humming going into the postseason.
However, a confluence of bad weather conditions and poor play contributed to a heartbreaking loss against Minnesota. It seemed like the Niners had the juice to win it all that year, but who knows, maybe if they win it all that year, they don’t win the Super Bowl in the 1988 and 1989 seasons through the butterfly effect
Another good option would be the 1990 NFC Championship game against the New York Giants. The 49ers would have gone to their third straight Super Bowl and would have been able to take a chance at being the first team to win three Super Bowls in a row, but Montana got hurt in the game and San Francisco lost 15-13.
Let’s not dwell too much on running back Roger Craig’s fumble.
Turning to this millennium, the 49ers had three straight heartbreakers under Harbaugh. There was the 2011 NFC Championship loss to the Giants when Kyle Williams muffed the punt. Of course, the epic comeback that came up short against the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl the following year, and finally the loss against the Seattle Seahawks in the 2013 NFC Championship game.
Of these losses, it seems obvious that the Super Bowl would be the one to undo so the Niners would have a sixth Lombardi Trophy. The loss to Seattle would be a close second because with how easily Seattle handled the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, it seems like the conference championship was the real Super Bowl that year.
The heartbreak continued under Shanahan. We do not need to go through them all, but the one I would undo is the one that occurred most recently: the 2024 Super Bowl loss against the Kansas City Chiefs.
There was a feeling going into the Super Bowl that this was going to be the end of heartbreak. Niners fans have known nothing but heartbreak in this millennium, and it felt like the team was finally due to get over the hump.
It was not meant to be.
Winning a Super Bowl with Brock Purdy, who was selected with the last pick in the NFL Draft, against Patrick Mahomes and the mighty Chiefs would have been so sweet. A victory would have redeemed San Francisco’s loss to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl four years prior and would have made all of the pain and heartbreak worth it.
Alas, we cannot go back and change history. Back to the Future taught us the dangers of that. All we can do is hope that somehow the 49ers can overcome all of the scar tissue and heartbreak they have experienced and can win a Super Bowl soon.