That painful reality resurfaced this week when Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus ranked the 10 best NFL teams of the past 20 years that failed to win a Super Bowl. The two Shanahan-led NFC champion 49ers squads made the list.
H/t to Peter Panacy of Niner Noise for the find.
The highest-ranked San Francisco team was the 2023 49ers, who finished 12-5 during the regular season before defeating the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions en route to Super Bowl 58.
Locker placed that team third on his list.
"San Francisco reached Super Bowl 58 with a league-best 95.3 overall PFF grade," Locker wrote. "Impressively, the 49ers graded no worse than third in both offensive and defensive profiles. A whopping nine starters — six on offense and three on defense — secured at least an 84.5 mark, including stars like Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, and Fred Warner.
"Losing to the Chiefs in overtime in the big game only reaffirms the legitimacy of this 49ers team, which owns the 14th-best point differential in league history."
Four years earlier, Shanahan guided the 49ers to a 13-3 record in just his third season as head coach. That team defeated the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers before advancing to Super Bowl 54.
The 2019 49ers came in at No. 10 on Locker's ranking.
"The 2019 49ers were a phenomenal group, pacing the league with a 93.9 overall PFF grade," Locker wrote. "San Francisco sat no worse than sixth in EPA per play on both sides of the ball, including second in defensive and fourth in offensive grade. Many of the same linchpins dominated, although its defense was even scarier with Richard Sherman, Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner, and Jimmie Ward next to Bosa.
"The 49ers actually compiled the third-highest point differential during the 2019 campaign at a +169, trailing the Ravens and Patriots. But San Francisco's more well-rounded group — one which was firmly in Super Bowl 54 against Kansas City — makes it a hair better than those two."
While the recognition highlights how dominant those two 49ers teams were, it also serves as a painful reminder of two championship opportunities that slipped away.
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