49ers Super Bowl History: Every Appearance and Playoff Run
Five wins in five tries, then three straight losses. Every 49ers Super Bowl, every NFC title game heartbreak, and why I can't stop counting.
The 49ers have won five Super Bowls and played in eight. That's the answer if that's all you came for. I can recite the five in my sleep and I'd give anything not to be able to recite the three, so stick around, because the whole story of being a Niners fan lives in the gap between those two numbers.
Five wins in five tries. Then three straight losses.
We went 5 and 0 under Bill Walsh, George Seifert, Joe Montana and Steve Young. We're 0 and 3 since. A whole generation of Niners fans only knows the second half of that sentence.
Every 49ers Super Bowl
| Game | Season | Result | Site | MVP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XVI | 1981 | 49ers 26, Bengals 21 | Pontiac, Michigan | Joe Montana |
| XIX | 1984 | 49ers 38, Dolphins 16 | Stanford Stadium | Joe Montana |
| XXIII | 1988 | 49ers 20, Bengals 16 | Miami | Jerry Rice |
| XXIV | 1989 | 49ers 55, Broncos 10 | New Orleans | Joe Montana |
| XXIX | 1994 | 49ers 49, Chargers 26 | Miami | Steve Young |
| XLVII | 2012 | Ravens 34, 49ers 31 | New Orleans | Joe Flacco |
| LIV | 2019 | Chiefs 31, 49ers 20 | Miami Gardens | Patrick Mahomes |
| LVIII | 2023 | Chiefs 25, 49ers 22 (OT) | Las Vegas | Patrick Mahomes |
The five we won
Super Bowl XVI, 1981 season. It started with The Catch. Montana to Dwight Clark over the Cowboys, 28 to 27, in the NFC title game at Candlestick, and if you want to know the exact moment this franchise changed forever, that's it. Two weeks later in the Silverdome, we held off the Bengals 26 to 21 for the first title in team history.
Super Bowl XIX, 1984 season. A game at Stanford Stadium, practically in our backyard, against Dan Marino in the year everybody thought Marino was going to rewrite the sport. Montana took him apart, 38 to 16. We'd beaten the Bears 23 to 0 just to get there. That team might be the best one we've ever had, and I'll fight you about it.
Super Bowl XXIII, 1988 season. The Bengals again, and this one nearly killed everybody I know. Down three with barely over three minutes left, backed up on our own 8, Montana went 92 yards and hit John Taylor for the winner with 34 seconds to go. Jerry Rice was the MVP with 215 receiving yards. Twenty to sixteen. Walsh walked away after that one.
Super Bowl XXIV, 1989 season. Fifty five to ten. Fifty five! Against Denver and John Elway, under George Seifert in his first year as head coach, and it's still the most lopsided Super Bowl ever played. Rice caught three touchdowns. I still put this one on sometimes when a season's going badly.
Super Bowl XXIX, 1994 season. Steve Young finally got the monkey off his back. We beat the Cowboys 38 to 28 in the NFC title game, which was the real Super Bowl that year, then Young threw six touchdown passes against the Chargers, a Super Bowl record, and we won 49 to 26. Watching him run around the field after that game is one of the happiest things I've ever seen a grown man do.
The three we lost
Super Bowl XLVII, 2012 season. Jim Harbaugh against his brother, Colin Kaepernick in his first year as the starter, and a blackout in the Superdome that stopped the game with Baltimore way up. We came all the way back. Then we had it, first and goal late, and four plays later we didn't. Ravens 34, 49ers 31. I'm not going to talk about the no call on Crabtree. I've said enough about it to enough people.
Super Bowl LIV, 2019 season. We led the Chiefs 20 to 10 in the fourth quarter. I'd started to let myself feel it. Then Mahomes happened, 21 straight points, and it ended 31 to 20. If you want to feel bad, ask anybody in the Bay Area what they were doing when Jimmy Garoppolo overthrew Emmanuel Sanders.
Super Bowl LVIII, 2023 season. Las Vegas, overtime, Mahomes again. Brock Purdy had us ahead, Kyle Shanahan took the ball first in OT, we kicked a field goal, and Kansas City walked it down and won 25 to 22. Whether taking the ball first was right is an argument that'll outlive me. I've got my own feelings about what that game did to this team.
49ers playoff history by the numbers
Through the 2025 season the Niners have made the playoffs 31 times, counting one trip in the old AAFC in 1949. They've got 40 playoff wins and 22 division titles. They've played in 19 NFC Championship Games, winning 8 and losing 11, and if you're from here you know those 11 by heart.
The Cowboys got us in 1970 and 1971, then again in 1992 and 1993, and that rivalry's a column by itself. The Redskins beat us 24 to 21 in 1983. The Giants took 1990, 15 to 13, on the last play, with a three peat right there in front of us, and again in overtime in 2011. Green Bay ended 1997. Seattle ended 2013, which I still can't think about. The Rams took 2021 at SoFi, and 2022 in Philadelphia was over when Purdy's elbow went and we ran out of quarterbacks, 31 to 7.
Last year we went 12 and 5, won at Philadelphia 23 to 19 in the Wild Card round, and then lost 41 to 6 in Seattle. Seattle won the Super Bowl. At Levi's. In our building. I didn't watch.
Quick answers
How many Super Bowls have the 49ers won? Five: XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV and XXIX.
How many Super Bowls have the 49ers been in? Eight, with a record of 5 and 3.
When did the 49ers last win the Super Bowl? January 29, 1995, when they beat the Chargers 49 to 26 to finish the 1994 season.
When were the 49ers last in the Super Bowl? February 11, 2024, a 25 to 22 overtime loss to the Chiefs in Las Vegas.
Who has the most Super Bowl MVPs for the 49ers? Joe Montana with three. Jerry Rice and Steve Young have one each.
So that's 31 years and counting since the last one. This team's 6 and 1 right now, and I'm trying very hard not to do what I always do. If you want to see how this season's going, the schedule hub has every result, and if you want the whole region's trophy case, here's every Bay Area championship. Heading to a game? Read the Levi's Stadium guide first. Everything else is on the 49ers hub.
The guys who did all that, by the numbers, are on the 49ers all time leaders page.
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