The San Francisco 49ers are going far off track on their road to redemption.
Rewinding to 2023, Kyle Shanahan's squad was the class of the NFC. The team rolled to the conference's No. 1 seed with a 12-5 record and punched their ticket to Super Bowl LVIII with narrow playoff wins over the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. The 49ers wound up suffering heartbreak in the Super Bowl, as they fell to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime.
San Francisco entered 2024 looking to snap a 30-year Super Bowl drought. Through 13 weeks, however, it has been a season from hell.
The 49ers fell to 5-7 on the year with a blowout defeat against the Bills in snowy Buffalo. While the team is just two games back in the NFC West standings, the injury bug alone might be too much for San Francisco to overcome, as star running back Christian McCaffrey joined the list of injured players with a potentially season-ending knee injury.
Have the 49ers fallen victim to the “Super Bowl jinx”? Does such a thing even exist for a team that lost the prior Super Bowl?
Sifting through the next-season results of every losing Super Bowl team, the findings push back on the premise of a general hangover. From the bad to the historic, here is how each team that lost the Super Bowl fared the following year:
What percentage of losing Super Bowl teams make the playoffs the next year?
NFL
Out of the first 57 Super Bowl losers, 40 came back to make the playoffs the next season. The 70.2% playoff rate would refute the notion of a Super Bowl jinx.
Of the 17 runners-up that failed to make the playoffs, 11 did not even reach a .500 record. All 11 instances have come since 1989, with the earliest being that year’s Denver Broncos and the most recent being the 2019 49ers.
Which losing Super Bowl team had the worst record the next season?
The single worst showing from a Super Bowl loser in their follow-up season came from the Oakland Raiders. After getting trounced by the Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII, they went just 4-12 in 2003. Bill Callahan’s group went 2-2 to start the season before ending the year on a 2-10 slump.
Which losing Super Bowl team had the best record the next season?
The only undefeated team in NFL history had its perfect season following a Super Bowl loss.
The Miami Dolphins went 10-3-1 in 1971 before falling to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl VI. Don Shula’s team rebounded with the only undefeated season in NFL history, going 14-0 in the 1972 regular season before beating Washington 14-7 in Super Bowl VII.
As if the perfect season and franchise’s first Super Bowl victory weren’t enough, the Dolphins went back-to-back by beating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII the next season.
The 1970 Cowboys and 2017 New England Patriots are the only other teams to lose the Super Bowl and bounce back to win the title the next season, doing so in 1971 and 2018, respectively. Five additional teams reached the Super Bowl in consecutive seasons but lost both times.
How has each Super Bowl loser done the following season?
Here are the year-by-year results for each Super Bowl loser:
1966 Kansas City Chiefs: Lost Super Bowl I, finished 9-5 (missed playoffs) in following season
1967 Oakland Raiders: Lost Super Bowl II, finished 12-2 (made playoffs) in following season
1968 Baltimore Colts: Lost Super Bowl III, finished 8-5-1 (missed playoffs) in following season
1969 Minnesota Vikings: Lost Super Bowl IV, finished 12-2 (made playoffs) in following season
1970 Dallas Cowboys: Lost Super Bowl V, finished 11-3 (won Super Bowl) in following season
1971 Miami Dolphins: Lost Super Bowl VI, finished 14-0 (won Super Bowl) in following season
1972 Washington: Lost Super Bowl VII, finished 10-4 (made playoffs) in following season
1973 Minnesota Vikings: Lost Super Bowl VIII, finished 10-4 (lost Super Bowl) in following season
1974 Minnesota Vikings: Lost Super Bowl IX, finished 12-2 (made playoffs) in following season
1975 Dallas Cowboys: Lost Super Bowl X, finished 11-3 (made playoffs) in following season
1976 Minnesota Vikings: Lost Super Bowl XI, finished 9-5 (made playoffs) in following season
1977 Denver Broncos: Lost Super Bowl XII, finished 10-6 (made playoffs) in following season
1978 Dallas Cowboys: Lost Super Bowl XIII, finished 11-5 (made playoffs) in following season
1979 Los Angeles Rams: Lost Super Bowl XIV, finished 11-5 (made playoffs) in following season
1980 Philadelphia Eagles: Lost Super Bowl XV, finished 10-6 (made playoffs) in following season
1981 Cincinnati Bengals: Lost Super Bowl XVI, finished 7-2 (made playoffs) in following season
1982 Miami Dolphins: Lost Super Bowl XVII, finished 12-4 (made playoffs) in following season
1983 Washington: Lost Super Bowl XVIII, finished 11-5 (made playoffs) in following season
1984 Miami Dolphins: Lost Super Bowl XIX, finished 12-4 (made playoffs) in following season
1985 New England Patriots: Lost Super Bowl XX, finished 11-5 (made playoffs) in following season
1986 Denver Broncos: Lost Super Bowl XXI, finished 10-4-1 (lost Super Bowl) in following season
1987 Denver Broncos: Lost Super Bowl XXII, finished 8-8 (missed playoffs) in following season
1988 Cincinnati Bengals: Lost Super Bowl XXIII, finished 8-8 (missed playoffs) in following season
1989 Denver Broncos: Lost Super Bowl XXIV, finished 5-11 (missed playoffs) in following season
1990 Buffalo Bills: Lost Super Bowl XXV, finished 13-3 (lost Super Bowl) in following season
1991 Buffalo Bills: Lost Super Bowl XXVI, finished 11-5 (lost Super Bowl) in following season
1992 Buffalo Bills: Lost Super Bowl XXVII, finished 12-4 (lost Super Bowl) in following season
1993 Buffalo Bills: Lost Super Bowl XXVIII, finished 7-9 (missed playoffs) in following season
1994 San Diego Chargers: Lost Super Bowl XXIX, finished 9-7 (made playoffs) in following season
1995 Pittsburgh Steelers: Lost Super Bowl XXX, finished 10-6 (made playoffs) in following season
1996 New England Patriots: Lost Super Bowl XXXI, finished 10-6 (made playoffs) in following season
1997 Green Bay Packers: Lost Super Bowl XXXII, finished 11-5 (made playoffs) in following season
1998 Atlanta Falcons: Lost Super Bowl XXXIII, finished 5-11 (missed playoffs) in following season
1999 Tennessee Titans: Lost Super Bowl XXXIV, finished 13-3 (made playoffs) in following season
2000 New York Giants: Lost Super Bowl XXXV, finished 7-9 (missed playoffs) in following season
2001 St. Louis Rams: Lost Super Bowl XXXVI, finished 7-9 (missed playoffs) in following season
2002 Oakland Raiders: Lost Super Bowl XXXVII, finished 4-12 (missed playoffs) in following season
2003 Carolina Panthers: Lost Super Bowl XXXVIII, finished 7-9 (missed playoffs) in following season
2004 Philadelphia Eagles: Lost Super Bowl XXXIX, finished 6-10 (missed playoffs) in following season
2005 Seattle Seahawks: Lost Super Bowl XL, finished 9-7 (made playoffs) in following season
2006 Chicago Bears: Lost Super Bowl XLI, finished 7-9 (missed playoffs) in following season
2007 New England Patriots: Lost Super Bowl XLII, finished 11-5 (missed playoffs) in following season
2008 Arizona Cardinals: Lost Super Bowl XLIII, finished 10-6 (made playoffs) in following season
2009 Indianapolis Colts: Lost Super Bowl XLIV, finished 10-6 (made playoffs) in following season
2010 Pittsburgh Steelers: Lost Super Bowl XLV, finished 12-4 (made playoffs) in following season
2011 New England Patriots: Lost Super Bowl XLVI, finished 12-4 (made playoffs) in following season
2012 San Francisco 49ers: Lost Super Bowl XLVII, finished 12-4 (made playoffs) in following season
2013 Denver Broncos: Lost Super Bowl XLVIII, finished 12-4 (made playoffs) in following season
2014 Seattle Seahawks: Lost Super Bowl XLIX, finished 10-6 (made playoffs) in following season
2015 Carolina Panthers: Lost Super Bowl 50, finished 6-10 (missed playoffs) in following season
2016 Atlanta Falcons: Lost Super Bowl LI, finished 10-6 (made playoffs) in following season
2017 New England Patriots: Lost Super Bowl LII, finished 11-5 (won Super Bowl LIII) in following season
2018 Los Angeles Rams: Lost Super Bowl LIII, finished 9-7 (missed playoffs) in following season
2019 San Francisco 49ers: Lost Super Bowl LIV, finished 6-10 (missed playoffs) in following season
2020 Kansas City Chiefs: Lost Super Bowl LV, finished 12-5 (made playoffs) in following season
2021 Cincinnati Bengals: Lost Super Bowl LVI, finished 12-4 (made playoffs) in following season
2022 Philadelphia Eagles: Lost Super Bowl LVII, finished 11-6 (made playoffs) in following season
