Worst team in NFL history: 2005 49ers

Originally posted by Bigfishrider:

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
I know much of this is subjective but those '77 and '78 teams were awful. GM changes. Coaching changes. QB changes. They were a bad team in an era when there were fewer teams and no salary cap. You had more draft picks every year to build with and they were still terrible. I think they were equally as bad as the 2005 or 2004 teams. The fans back then agreed since we only had about 35000 hardcore fans for each game.

The '78 team committed 63 turnovers, and they fumbled 56 times, 10 of which came in a single game against the Lions. All those are still NFL records.

When you run out of quarterbacks, and are forced to line up Freddie Solomon under center in the last game of the year......yeah that's bad. Would have been interesting to watch though.

Dwight Clark said in an interview that the '79 team was the best 2-14 team ever, even though they lost a ton you could see a good offensive framework, and the players felt good things were ahead.

Believe me as a season ticket holder back then it was very painful to watch. What made it even worse was the Raiders were great then and we kept hearing it from their fans. I know how Tampa Bay fans must have felt in their early years. Same with saints fans wearing the bags over their heads.

There was a bright side though. Not hard to get in and out with only about 35,000 fans on average. Plus many started leaving at the end of the 3rd quarter.

We complain a lot on this forum but we're pretty lucky compared to some teams. Lions, Bears and Houston just to name 3. How would you like to live and die with those train wrecks every week.

When your team is really bad all you can do is make jokes about them. Or wear the bag like the Aints fans. That's how you get through the season.

Those years sure sucked but nothing stung worse than 1999. It was clear that year that Steve was on his way out and the dynasty was over. I still remember the distinct feeling of being sick to my stomach from knowing we just another crappy team going forward instead of the powerhouse that was a contender year in and year out.

Originally posted by KowboyKiller:
Those years sure sucked but nothing stung worse than 1999. It was clear that year that Steve was on his way out and the dynasty was over. I still remember the distinct feeling of being sick to my stomach from knowing we just another crappy team going forward instead of the powerhouse that was a contender year in and year out.

Yup. Although I never imagined we were going to be that awful for the next 13 years.

Originally posted by KowboyKiller:
Those years sure sucked but nothing stung worse than 1999. It was clear that year that Steve was on his way out and the dynasty was over. I still remember the distinct feeling of being sick to my stomach from knowing we just another crappy team going forward instead of the powerhouse that was a contender year in and year out.

At least the 1999 49ers were sweet to play on video games like NFL2k or NFL Blitz

Originally posted by TheGore49er:
Yup. Although I never imagined we were going to be that awful for the next 13 years.

Things were really Yorked up

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
I was there every game ... been there through the good and bad

*fun fact, majority never liked going there and was called a dump... but now, it's Graceland

The escalator ride building anticipation then you walk through the dark cement section through way and your first glance at the field WOW it always looked illuminated. As if a giant spotlight was shining on it. Glad I got to take my children there and experience it!! The smell of garlic fries wafting through out!! I miss it! Exiting the parking was a disaster!!

Originally posted by Izyniner:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
I was there every game ... been there through the good and bad

*fun fact, majority never liked going there and was called a dump... but now, it's Graceland

The escalator ride building anticipation then you walk through the dark cement section through way and your first glance at the field WOW it always looked illuminated. As if a giant spotlight was shining on it. Glad I got to take my children there and experience it!! The smell of garlic fries wafting through out!! I miss it! Exiting the parking was a disaster!!

loved everything about the place.. it was my church.

I still have my seats

The 2004 season - we we're two overtime wins away from being 0-16. Those we're some dark times for us Niner fans

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
I lived through it. Not gonna do lame memory lane

This. I haven't missed a game since week 2 1995. This was a forgettable team and have no desire to revisit.

It makes sense. That '05 team avg 4 yds per play!

They were last on offense, defense, pass offense/defense, 1st downs, 3rd down. No playmakers other than Julian Peterson on D, an old BY, and just a bad OL/DL.

Originally posted by 49ersRing:
It's also funny to me that Mike McCarthy was our OC that season, lead us to one of the worst single season offensive performances of all-time and as a result was hired as the HC of the Packers.

I was amazed he didn't get fired much less get hired as a Head Coach. After that hire I'm sure the Rooney Rule was tweaked.

That team was garbage, but no way they were worse than many Detroit, Cleveland, NY Jets teams

Originally posted by RickyRoma:
Bad, but nowhere close to the expansion 1976 Bucs in terms of futility. Even though the scoring wasn't anything close to what we see in today's game, that TB team got shut out 4 or 5 times.

I was curious about this too, and I'm assuming that '05 is ranked lower because of how bad they were in an era that was far more open to offense. The '76 Bucs were still two years before massive rule changes occurred to open up offense. Even still, they're the 4th worst team since 1950 using this metric. The greatest 49er team (and 5th best team since 1950) according to the site is the 1987 team, which somehow was upset by an 8-7 Vikings squad in the first round of the playoffs.

Listings of worst/best teams, offenses, defenses of all time here: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2020/historical-dvoa-estimates-revisited

1999 was by far the worst. Especially for us fans that grew up in the glory years of the 80s/90s. It was the first time in my (our) life that we saw the team become awful and it hurt to watch them crumble. I think the realization hit when we got trounced by the St Louis Rams, after beating them in 25+ straight games.

The drafting of Alex Smith (and missing out on Rodgers) was the worst decision this franchise has made in its stories history. In essence we could have been a dynasty matching the Patriots pound for pound in the 2000s and 2010s. Instead Alex ended up being primarily a bust for us, and even Rodgers only accomplished one SB title in GB because front mgmt over there has no clue how to draft or sign players.

Originally posted by DrEll:
1999 was by far the worst. Especially for us fans that grew up in the glory years of the 80s/90s. It was the first time in my (our) life that we saw the team become awful and it hurt to watch them crumble. I think the realization hit when we got trounced by the St Louis Rams, after beating them in 25+ straight games.

The drafting of Alex Smith (and missing out on Rodgers) was the worst decision this franchise has made in its stories history. In essence we could have been a dynasty matching the Patriots pound for pound in the 2000s and 2010s. Instead Alex ended up being primarily a bust for us, and even Rodgers only accomplished one SB title in GB because front mgmt over there has no clue how to draft or sign players.

'99 was really bad, especially with Steve Stenstrom at the helm. But that team did offer some hope after Garcia was reinserted as the starter. The offense put up some big numbers at the end of '99. There was 0 hope in '04. I agree though, after years of dominance, it was hard to watch the team struggle after young got knocked out.

Originally posted by zeppfan1:

Originally posted by DrEll:
1999 was by far the worst. Especially for us fans that grew up in the glory years of the 80s/90s. It was the first time in my (our) life that we saw the team become awful and it hurt to watch them crumble. I think the realization hit when we got trounced by the St Louis Rams, after beating them in 25+ straight games.

The drafting of Alex Smith (and missing out on Rodgers) was the worst decision this franchise has made in its stories history. In essence we could have been a dynasty matching the Patriots pound for pound in the 2000s and 2010s. Instead Alex ended up being primarily a bust for us, and even Rodgers only accomplished one SB title in GB because front mgmt over there has no clue how to draft or sign players.

'99 was really bad, especially with Steve Stenstrom at the helm. But that team did offer some hope after Garcia was reinserted as the starter. The offense put up some big numbers at the end of '99. There was 0 hope in '04. I agree though, after years of dominance, it was hard to watch the team struggle after young got knocked out.

Please….don't remind us