49ers’ NFC Championship Game heartbreak history: 5 most gut-wrenching moments
SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan was attempting to explain the pressure that goes along with playing in an NFC Championship Game.
“The stakes and everything are heightened and people care about it a lot, lot more because there’s nothing guaranteed after it you don’t handle business,” Shanahan said on a conference call Monday as the 49ers prepare to face the Lions on Sunday in the postseason’s penultimate game.
The 49ers know this all too well. For a team that is 5-2 in the Super Bowl, they’ve had an inordinate amount of heartbreak in NFC Championship Games. In 18 games with the Super Bowl on the line, the 49ers have lost 11 times.
Get to the Super Bowl and at least you made it there. Lose in the championship game and it’s quickly forgotten by the NFL masses. The fan base, however, is another story. The play or plays that kept their team out of the big game are remembered in vivid detail by those who were either in attendance or watching on television.
Although one play never is the entire reason a team wins or loses, some are never forgotten. Here are five of those in 49ers history:
1. The Roger Craig fumble
Date/site: Jan. 20, 1991 at Candlestick Park
Score: New York Giants 15, 49ers 13
The heartbreak: After winning the Super Bowl following the 1988 and 1990 seasons, the 49ers were poised for what they called a “three-peat.” They led 13-12 over the Giants and had generated the game’s only touchdown on a 61-yard touchdown pass from Joe Montana to John Taylor.
Less than three minutes remained. Craig had gained six yards and five yards on consecutive carries as the 49ers were intent on killing the clock. On first-and-10 from the Giants’ 40, Steve Young, subbing for the injured Montana, gave it to Craig another time.
Giants defensive tackle Erik Howard got a helmet on the ball and it popped loose. Lawrence Taylor recovered from the Giants with 2:36 remaining. Seven plays later, the Giants and quarterback Jeff Hostetler had moved into position for a 42-yard Matt Bahr field goal. Bahr kicked his fifth field goal of the game, and the 49ers lost 15-13.
It was the last play of Craig’s 49ers career.
“It’s just one play,” Craig told this news organization in 2012. “That’s part of the game. It wasn’t meant to be. Joe (Montana) got hurt. The defense couldn’t stop them. … There’s never one play where you win or lose. You win and lose as a team.”
No team has ever won three straight Super Bowls.
The Giants went on to beat Buffalo 20-19 in Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Fla.
2. The Kyle Williams fumble
Score: New York Giants 20, 49ers 17
Date/site: Jan. 22, 2012 at Candlestick Park
The heartbreak: Coming off a 36-32 win over New Orleans in the divisional round that ranks as one of the most thrilling in franchise history, the 49ers were a surprising 13-3 under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh in the regular season while the Giants were 9-7 under Tom Coughlin.
In a tie game in the fourth quarter, Williams had a punt bounce off his knee — a muff rather than a fumble. The Giants recovered and the Giants went up 17-14 on a 17-yard pass from Eli Manning to Mario Manningham.
Williams was returning punts because primary specialist Ted Ginn Jr. was injured.
The 49ers tied the score and the game went into overtime. It stayed that way until Williams, after fielding a Steve Weatherford punt, caught the ball cleanly but had the ball knocked loose by Jacquian Williams at the 24-yard line.
Four plays later, Lawrence Tynes kicked a 31-yard field goal and the Giants went on to the Super Bowl.
“It was one of those situations that ended up for the worst,” Williams said. “It’s hard to be the last guy to have the ball, to have it end that way and lose a game of this magnitude.”
The Giants went on to upset New England 21-17 in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.
3. Aikman to Harper
Score: Cowboys 30, 49ers 20
Date/site: Sunday, Jan. 17, 1993 at Candlestick Park
The heartbreak: In a game between what was generally considered the two top teams in the NFL, the Cowboys were taking it to the 49ers until Steve Young hit Jerry Rice for a 5-yard touchdown to close within 24-20.
On the next possession, with Dallas backed up at its own 10 and with muddy field conditions, Dallas struck big against a 49ers blitz. Wide receiver Alvin Harper beat cornerback Don Griffin to the inside and was led perfectly by a slant pass from Troy Aikman.
Harper seemed to be running forever before he was finally brought down at the 49ers’ 10-yard line. Three plays later, Aikman hit Kelvin Martin for a touchdown. Dallas missed the extra point, but led by the final margin and Young was intercepted inside of the last two minutes by James Washington.
“A lot of people would have been conservative,” 49ers coach George Seifert said. “But they took chances. And it worked for them.”
In Dallas, the game was considered late payback for the 49ers beating Dallas following the 1981 season with Dwight Clark making “The Catch” from Joe Montana for the game’s winning points.
The Cowboys went on to beat Buffalo 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
4. Tartt can’t hold on
Score: Rams 20, 49ers 17
Date/site: Jan. 30, 2022 at SoFi Stadium
The heartbreak: The 49ers had beaten the Rams twice in the regular season, including a dramatic overtime victory in the regular-season finale to sneak in as a wild-card team with a 10-7 record.
The 49ers then upset top-seeded Green Bay 13-10 on the road with the help of a late blocked punt, setting up a third game with the Rams. The 49ers led 17-7 on a 16-yard pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to George Kittle late in the third quarter, a lead they carried into the fourth.
The Rams pulled within 17-14 on an 11-yard pass from Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp, with the 49ers in need of a gift or a big defensive play to stem the tide of momentum.
On the next possession for Los Angeles, Stafford went deep on first down for Van Jefferson. The ball, however, went directly to safety Jaquiski Tartt, who dropped it. The next play went for 29 yards to Odell Beckham Jr., with 15 yards tacked on when Jimmie Ward was called for unnecessary roughness.
The Rams eventually got a 40-yard field goal from Matt Gay to tie it and a 30-yarder from Gay with 1:49 to play to win it.
Although there were plenty of plays that could have made a difference after the dropped interception, Tartt didn’t duck responsibility.
“That’s a play I should make in my sleep, and I didn’t make it,” Tartt said.
The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium.
5. Brock’s elbow
Score: Eagles 31, 49ers 7
Date/site: Jan. 29, 2023 at Lincoln Financial Field
The heartbreak: This was a strange one because no one will ever really know what kind of chance the 49ers had to win because the game’s seminal moment came with 7:03 left in the first quarter and the Eagles leading 7-0.
It was then that rookie quarterback Brock Purdy, who took over for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 13, was hit by Haason Reddick and sustained a UCL tear in his elbow. He was replaced by Josh Johnson, who departed with a concussion. Purdy re-entered the game, but was unable to throw.
A much-anticipated matchup was no longer a game, simply a telecast.
“My arm just felt like it stretched out, just felt like a lot of just shocks all over from my elbow down to my wrist, front and back,” Purdy said. “Just pain, really, all over.”
The Eagles went on to lose Super Bowl LVII 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.