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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Kyle Madson

Looking back: 49ers’ top 9 moments of the 2010s

The 2010s are officially behind the 49ers, and they enter the next decade on an extremely high note.

Since San Francisco has a first-round bye in the playoffs, we wanted to reflect on the last 10 years of 49ers football. It was a strange decade that they entered with a disappointing thud in the 2010 season, followed by a magical three-year run with three trips to the NFC Championship. The next five seasons saw 25 wins combined before they unloaded a 13-3 campaign in 2019.

We went back through those 10 years and picked out the nine biggest moments. Here they are:

Comeback in Philly / The Catch III / Huge day vs. Bills / 49ers at Pariots Colin Kaepernick runs over Packers / 2012 NFC Championship / Pick at the Stick / George Kittle’s big run / Dre Greenlaw’s tackle

Comeback in Philadelphia launches playoff run | October 2, 2011

One of the signature moments that kicked off the early-decade dominance for the 49ers was their come-from-behind win in Philadelphia against the so-called ‘Dream Team.’

San Francisco entered the game at 2-1 in Jim Harbaugh’s first year, but found themselves down 20-3 at the half. A field goal by Eagles kicker Alex Henery with 9:34 left in the third quarter made it 23-3, and the 49ers looked simply overmatched by a better team. Then Alex Smith and the 49ers went to work.

A quick score came just two minutes later on a 30-yard touchdown from Smith to Josh Morgan made it 23-10. A three-and-out by the Eagles got San Francisco the ball back, and again they made quick work of the Philadelphia defense. Smith completed all three of his throws for 62 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown to Vernon Davis with 3:03 left in the third quarter to make it a 23-17 game.

Two missed field goals by the Eagles allowed the 49ers to put together an eight-play, 77-yard scoring drive to go ahead 24-23.

Then the 49ers defense, just rising to prominence, came up with a takeaway in a key moment. Philadelphia was cruising into 49ers territory when Jeremy Maclin raced up the left sideline on a short pass. 49ers defensive end Justin Smith chased down the speedy wide receiver and punched the ball out. Safety Dashon Goldson recovered, and San Francisco put the game on ice behind 26 yards on four carries by Frank Gore to run out the clock.

Several Philadelphia miscues, including the two missed field goals, and an inexplicable second-quarter fumble at the goal line by running back Ronnie Brown helped put the 49ers in a position to come back. That win over a preseason Super Bowl contender put the 49ers on the map for the 2011 season though. They moved to 3-1 and never looked back en route to an NFC West title and a postseason berth.

The Catch III | January 14, 2012

Vernon Davis’ 14-yard touchdown with nine seconds left to cap a wild divisional round game may be the single defining moment of the 2010s for the 49ers.

That game against New Orleans featured four lead changes in the final four minutes, and proved Alex Smith and the San Francisco offense could hang with anyone in the league. It was also, at the time, a signal that the 49ers had officially arrived.

Smith was stellar, finishing 24-of-42 for 299 yards and three touchdowns. Davis’ catch wound up overshadowing an incredible game by the tight end. New Orleans simply had no answers for him. He went for 180 yards and two touchdowns on seven receptions.

Davis’s catch lifted the 49ers to the NFC championship game, and will go down with Dwight Clark in 1982 and Terrell Owens in 1998 as one of the great catches in team history.

Offense blows up vs. Bills | October 7, 2012

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

One of the forgotten games in the 49ers’ run from 2011-2013 was their 45-3 blowout win over the Bills at Candlestick Park in Week 4 of the 2012 season. Thumping a bad team isn’t the story here though. The 49ers offense in this game put up 621 total yards, including 310 through the air and 311 on the ground.

That game was the only time in NFL history a team went over the 300 mark both in the air and on the ground in a game. They’re one of 22 teams to rack up more than 620 yards in a game in NFL history, and they’re the only 49ers club to surpass 600 yards according to Pro Football Reference.

San Francisco did a lot of remarkable things in Jim Harbaugh’s first three seasons, but going over 300 yards in the air and on the ground remains one of the most incredible single-game feats in NFL history, and may not be something we ever see again.

49ers knock of Patriots at Foxboro | December 16, 2012

One of the underrated great games of the decade came in Week 15 of the 2012 season when the 49ers visited the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

San Francisco, on a bitterly cold night in New England, jumped out to a 31-3 lead behind Colin Kaepernick and Frank Gore. Then the Patriots, with 49ers defensive end Justin Smith sidelined by a torn triceps, stormed back to tie the game at 31 with 6:43 to go in the fourth quarter.

A huge return by LaMichael James after the game-tying touchdown put the 49ers at the Patriots’ 38, and Kaepernick found Michael Crabtree for a touchdown on the first play of the drive. It proved to be the game-winning score in 41-34 victory for San Francisco.

Knocking off the Patriots with Kaepernick at the helm was a pretty loud statement by the 49ers that they were bona fide Super Bowl contenders. Their defense was sensational for the first 35 minutes, but scuffled after Smith went down, and they never gained their dominant form without him.

Their path to the Super Bowl that season was always visible, but knocking off the Patriots in Foxboro was the clearest sign yet that the 49ers were ready to go blow-for-blow with any team in the league. It was also their arrival on a national stage, and at the time, a signal that another team was coming for New England’s spot at the top of the NFL.

Colin Kaepernick runs wild vs Green Bay | January 12, 2013

Given the tumult the 49ers organization underwent during and after the 2014 season, and the way Kaepernick’s career ended, it’s easy to forget he put together one of the all-time great playoff performances by a quarterback in the divisional round of the 2013 NFL playoffs.

Kaepernick was nails in his first ever playoff start despite throwing a pick-6 on the fourth play of the game. He bounced back in a big way, throwing for 263 yards and two touchdowns, and running for 181 yards and two touchdowns. The 181 rushing yards are an NFL record for a quarterback.

It was a real coming out party for Kaepernick, who’d taken over as the starter halfway through the season. While he’d played well on the national stage in New England, his diverse skill set hadn’t been displayed quite like it was against the Packers.

The 49ers offense with Kaepernick’s running ability looked as unstoppable as an NFL offense gets that night at Candlestick Park. Kaepernick had a fine run as the 49ers’ starter, but this divisional playoff game was the peak of it.

NFC Championship comeback in Atlanta | January 20, 2013

The 49ers had another one of their great moments of the decade the very next week when they traveled to Atlanta for the NFC Championship. San Francisco had no answers early on for Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones, and found themselves down 17-0 when Jones hauled in his second touchdown catch of the game just six seconds into the second quarter.

San Francisco climbed back into the game with a 15-yard touchdown run from LaMichael James, then a four-yard touchdown reception from Vernon Davis that made it 17-14.

Atlanta made it 24-14 just before the first half ended, and they wouldn’t score again the rest of the game.

Two Frank Gore touchdowns in the second half put San Francisco in front 28-24. Atlanta took over at their own 20 with 8:23 left in the game after Gore’s second touchdown. They got into the red zone with 3:09 left, and then the 49ers defense shut the faucet off. Matt Ryan’s fourth-down pass to Roddy White was broken up by linebacker NaVorro Bowman to effectively end the game and send the 49ers to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995.

It was a magnificent performance by the 49ers after an exceptionally slow start, and helped make up for the previous year’s disappointment at home in the NFC title game.

Pick at the Stick | December 23, 2013

The final game at Candlestick Park was teetering on disaster. San Francisco’s 27-17 lead had dwindled to 27-24 after Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez hauled in a touchdown pass with 2:14 to play.

Then kicker Matt Bosher’s onside try slipped under the hand of linebacker NaVorro Bowman and bounced up perfectly for running back Jason Snelling to corral it and give the Falcons the ball at the 49ers’ 30, trailing by 3 with 2:09 remaining.

Ryan completed two throws to get down to the 10. Atlanta was set to spoil the final game at Candlestick Park, and keep the 49ers out of the playoffs for at least one more week. Ryan dropped to throw a slant to Harry Douglas, but cornerback Tramaine Brock jumped the route and tipped the throw in the air just high enough for Bowman to sprint through and grab it.

He found himself sprinting to the end zone all alone as pandemonium broke out at the ‘Stick. His dive across the goal line gave Candlestick one final legendary moment, and put the 49ers into the postseason for the third consecutive season. There are a ton of memorable plays for the 49ers from the 2010s, but Bowman’s pick-6 is probably the one that stands out above them all.

George Kittle seals deal vs. Saints | December 8, 2019

The years following the 2013 season were rough for the 49ers, but they pulled out of it with a terrific 2019 campaign where they went 13-3 and finished No. 1 in the NFC.

Part of the reason they finished at the top of their conference was a wild 48-46 win over the Saints in New Orleans. The Saints took a 46-45 lead with 53 seconds left.

Jimmy Garoppolo opened the 49ers’ ensuing drive with an eight-yard strike to tight end George Kittle. He missed on his next two throws to bring up a fourth-and-2 from the 49ers’ 33-yard-line. Garoppolo’s fourth-down to Kittle turned into one of the great regular-season plays of the decade for San Francisco.

Kittle caught the ball just beyond the sticks on a quick out route. His run after the catch will go down in 49ers history. The tight end turned upfield and took off. The first defender that met him was safety Marcus Williams. Williams’ only means of slowing Kittle was hanging onto his facemask. Kittle fought through the facemask and shook off safety Vonn Bell, who was the second defender to arrive. Then defensive back CJ Gardner-Johnson flew in and jumped onto Kittle’s back. The third defender went for a two-yard ride before Kittle eventually went down. It was a 39-yard gain after all the dust settled. A facemask penalty on Williams put San Francisco at the Saints’ 14-yard line.

Robbie Gould kicked the game winning field goal with no time left three plays later. There were a slew of big plays in the Superdome on that Sunday, but Kittle’s long run was the best and most important of them. The 49ers also earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC thanks to their win over the Saints, making Kittle’s play arguably the most important of the year. If the 49ers win the Super Bowl, the Kittle run may wind up surpassing Bowman’s for the play of the decade.

Dre Greenlaw slams door on Seattle for NFC West | December 29, 2019

Perhaps recency bias is ruling here, but it’s hard to come up with a tackle more important than the fourth-down stop Greenlaw made in Week 17 of the 2019 season.

The 49ers led the Seahawks 26-21, and had the ball at the 49ers’ 12 with 55 seconds left. The winner of their Week 17 meeting won the NFC West. For the 49ers, a win also meant the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The loser would go to the No. 5 seed and go on the road for the first round of the playoffs.

Seattle converted a fourth-and-10 that put them at the 1 with 23 seconds left. Then the inexplicable happened and they took a delay of game on second down. Instead of having second-and-goal at the 1, they had second-and-goal at the 6. Russell Wilson’s second-down throw fell incomplete. So did his third down attempt.

His fourth-down try was complete to tight end Jacob Hollister inside the 1-yard-line. Greenlaw met Hollister immediately and the tight end fell straight down, unable to get the football across the goal line before his shoulder hit the turf. A review confirmed the ruling, effectively ending the game and sending the 49ers home with a first-round bye and home-field advantage wrapped up.

Greenlaw’s stop is a lot like Kittle’s in that it matters immensely in the moment, and will go down in 49ers lore, but the weight of the play will ride a lot on how the postseason ends for San Francisco. Still, it was a remarkable play that stands out in a decade where big moments weren’t easy to come by.

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