As we get closer to the weekend, and the San Francisco 49ers first preseason game of the 2021 season, it's become abundantly clear that the buzz around this team is beyond anything we have seen in years. Not only do the 49ers have a potential Super Bowl roster, but rookie quarterback Trey Lance, who the team drafted with the number three overall pick in this year's draft, has created a stir around the position we have not seen in deacdes.
This Saturday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs is possibly the most anticipated preseason game in 49ers history. Usually preseason games are nothing to get excited about. But this year, primarily because of Lance, just seems different. But where does this preseason rank compared to years past? A lot of decisions are yet to be made, especially with the quarterback, but this could be the most important preseason in team history. Let's take a look at some other very important preseasons:
1988
The 1987 season had a lot of drama for the 49ers. For starters, there was a players strike, which shortened the season by one game (San Francisco finished with a 13-2 record). The owners refused to give in to the players, and in turn, hired "replacement players" to play in place of the regular players. Shortly after, there were striking players who crossed the picket lines to play, resulting in some NFL players playing against guys who were right off the street. In one game, head coach Bill Walsh actually ran the wishbone offense. In another game, Montana, along with a rising star at wide receiver, Jerry Rice, played against some replacement players. Rice scored 22 touchdowns in only 14 games, but only one of those games was played against replacement players.
But it was the way the 1987 season ended that made the 1988 preseason so important. The 49ers finished the regular season in 1987 as the number one seed in the NFC playoffs. In the divisional round, they faced the Minnesota Vikings. It was a game the 49ers should have won. But instead, the 49ers lost...convincingly. Quarterback Joe Montana was so ineffective that Walsh replaced him with Steve Young. Young actually gave the offense a spark. But it was too late. It was the only time Montana was ever benched for his performance. The team entered the 1988 preseason in a state of flux...and with a quarterback controversy.
1989
Walsh had retired just seven months earlier, after winning his fourth Super Bowl as the 49ers head coach, deciding to walked away. The team was turned over to defensive coordinator, George Seifert. There was plenty of pressure on Seifert and on the team's front office. The players were under pressure, as well. The season before, though it ended with a championship, was full of challenges and a quarterback controversy. Some players didn't like how Walsh handled the quarterback situation. The players wanted to win the Super Bowl without Walsh, if for no other reason than to prove they could. Seifert later recalled, "My wife first told me when I got this job, 'Don't screw it up.'" He didn't. The 49ers went on to win two more Super Bowls with Seifert as head coach.
1994
After losing in the 1992 NFC Championship Game to the Dallas Cowboys, a game the 49ers should have won, and losing to Dallas twice in 1993, including a humbling loss in the NFC Championship Game, the 49ers added some key free agents in the 1994 offseason. They entered the preseason as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl. But there were questions including: How will the new players fit in with the team? Can this new defense gel? Can the 49ers get past the Cowboys? There was a lot pressure on that team. But it did get past the Cowboys, and it won its fifth Lombardi Trophy.
1997
After winning the Super Bowl following the 1994 season, and finally getting the monkey off Young's back, the 49ers spent the next few seasons getting to know a new nemesis: Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. The 49ers were knocked out of the playoffs by the Packers in 1995 and 1996 (and later in 1997). Following the 1996 season, Steve Mariucci replaced Seifert as 49ers head coach. The 1997 49ers, like the 2021 team, also drafted a first-round quarterback, Jim Druckenmiller. Druckenmiller was supposed to be the eventual replacement for Young, a future Hall of Famer. Walsh, who served in an advisory role at the time, advised the front office to draft Arizona State Quarterback Jake Plummer. It didn't listen. And Druckenmiller didn't last long. Welcome to the NFL, coach Mariucci.
2011
The 49ers had gone eight seasons without making the playoffs, or even having a winning record. Enter Jim Harbaugh. The quirky, but talented khaki-wearing coach's hiring created a lot of buzz for San Francisco fans. But the offseason had been lost due to an owner's lockout. The players and coaches were not allowed to work, practice, or even communicate. That would be challenging enough for a team returning its coaching staff, but for a team with a brand new staff, it was a wasted offseason that certainly would lead to a difficult regular season. Add to that the complex situation surrounding the quarterback (Alex Smith had surprisingly returned to the team after almost being run out of town) and Harbaugh's rookie season seemed destined for disaster. It started off as an extremely important preseason, but it ended with an amazing run capped off by one of the greatest games in NFL history.
There is a lot of history in San Francisco, including a lot of important preseasons. So where do you rank the 2021 preseason? Is it the most important in team history? Or does a different preseason take the prize?
