San Francisco 49ers: 5 Season-defining moments that led to Super Bowl 54
Every NFL team is defined by a few moments that can change the course of their season. I will look at what led the San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl 54.
The San Francisco 49ers weren’t expected to be here. After a lost 2018 season where Jimmy Garoppolo missed 13 games and the team around him suffered a cluster of injuries, the 49ers finished the year with the second-worst record in the NFL.
Most fans and analysts expected to see an improved San Francisco squad in 2019, but their ceiling was supposedly limited by a quarterback who hadn’t proven himself and a roster without big-name talent. There were expectations that they could potentially compete for a Wild Card spot, but that would be it.
Their NFC West division also presented challenges as the competition was fierce. The reigning NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams had just come off of a 13-3 season where they were one of the highest-scoring teams in the league. The perennial contender Seattle Seahawks had Russell Wilson at the helm and one of the best run games in the league. Even the bottom-dwelling Arizona Cardinals were expected to be a challenge with rookie quarterback Kyler Murray playing in Kliff Kingsbury’s spread system.
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Nonetheless, San Francisco took the league by storm. They fielded the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL, a fierce pass rush that accumulated 48 sacks on the season, and an offensive ground attack that could not be tamed. Not only did they make the playoffs, but they earned home-field advantage throughout the postseason and trounced each playoff opponent by 17 points, advancing to Super Bowl LIV.
For a team that was predicted to be at most above average, how did they turn any injury-marred 4-12 campaign into the best 49ers regular season since 2011? Well, there were key season-defining moments that transformed the Bay Area darlings into Super Bowl contenders.