1980 San Francisco 49ers season

1980 San Francisco 49ers season
Owner	Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.
General manager	Bill Walsh
Head coach	Bill Walsh
Home field	Candlestick Park
Results
Record	6–10
Division place	3rd NFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	none

The 1980 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 31st season in the National Football League and their 35th overall. This was both Bill Walsh's and Joe Montana's second season with the team. The 49ers looked to improve on their previous output of 2–14 (which they had earned in both of the two previous seasons). They failed to make the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season, but they did improve to 6–10.

On December 7, 1980, the 49ers staged the greatest come from behind victory in the history of the NFL's regular season. The 49ers rallied from 28 points down to defeat the New Orleans Saints by a score of 38–35 in Week Fourteen. This was the last full season until 1999 that the 49ers would finish with less than 10 wins.

Personnel

Staff

1980 San Francisco 49ers staff

	Front office Owner and President – Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr. General Manager – Bill Walsh Director of Football Operations – John McVay Head coaches Head Coach – Bill Walsh Offensive coaches Quarterbacks – Sam Wyche Running Backs – Billie Matthews Receivers – Milt Jackson Tight Ends – Bruce Coslet Offensive Line – Bobb McKittrick			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Chuck Studley Defensive Line – Bill McPherson Linebackers – Norb Hecker Defensive Backs – George Seifert Special teams coaches Special Teams – Milt Jackson Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Al Vermeil

Roster

1980 San Francisco 49ers roster

	Quarterbacks 17 Steve DeBerg 16 Joe Montana Running backs 35 Lenvil Elliott 38 Bob Ferrell FB 36 Paul Hofer 42 Ricky Patton Wide receivers 20 Terry Anderson 87 Dwight Clark 89 James Owens 84 Mike Shumann 88 Freddie Solomon Tight ends 82 Bob Bruer 82 Lewis Gilbert 86 Charle Young		Offensive linemen 68 John Ayers G/T 77 Jean Barrett T 64 Ken Bungarda T 51 Randy Cross G 62 Walt Downing G 71 Keith Fahnhorst T 56 Fred Quillan C 67 Ron Singleton T Defensive linemen 76 Dwaine Board DE 65 Lawrence Pillers DE 78 Archie Reese DE 79 Jim Stuckey DE 74 Jimmy Webb DT 75 Ted Vincent DT 90 George Visger DT		Linebackers 57 Dan Bunz MLB 55 Scott Hilton OLB 59 Willie Harper OLB 52 Bobby Leopold OLB 54 Craig Puki ILB 53 Tom Seabron OLB 50 Terry Tautolo ILB 58 Keena Turner OLB Defensive backs 33 Ricky Churchman SS 28 Charles Cornelius CB 22 Dwight Hicks FS 44 Charles Johnson CB 46 Melvin Morgan CB 32 Scott Perry FS 26 Ray Rhodes CB 29 Gerald Williams CB Special teams  3 Jim Miller P 14 Ray Wersching K		Reserve lists Practice squad Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 7	at New Orleans Saints	W 26–23	1–0	Louisiana Superdome	58,621
2	September 14	St. Louis Cardinals	W 24–21	2–0	Candlestick Park	49,999
3	September 21	at New York Jets	W 37–27	3–0	Shea Stadium	50,608
4	September 28	Atlanta Falcons	L 17–20	3–1	Candlestick Park	56,518
5	October 5	at Los Angeles Rams	L 26–48	3–2	Anaheim Stadium	62,188
6	October 12	at Dallas Cowboys	L 14–59	3–3	Texas Stadium	63,399
7	October 19	Los Angeles Rams	L 17–31	3–4	Candlestick Park	55,360
8	October 26	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 23–24	3–5	Candlestick Park	51,925
9	November 2	at Detroit Lions	L 13–17	3–6	Pontiac Silverdome	78,845
10	November 9	at Green Bay Packers	L 16–23	3–7	Milwaukee County Stadium	54,475
11	November 16	at Miami Dolphins	L 13–17	3–8	Miami Orange Bowl	45,135
12	November 23	New York Giants	W 12–0	4–8	Candlestick Park	38,574
13	November 30	New England Patriots	W 21–17	5–8	Candlestick Park	45,254
14	December 7	New Orleans Saints	W 38–35	6–8	Candlestick Park	37,949
15	December 14	at Atlanta Falcons	L 10–35	6–9	Atlanta Fulton County Stadium	55,767
16	December 21	Buffalo Bills	L 13–18	6–10	Candlestick Park	37,476

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 14: vs. New Orleans Saints

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Saints	14	21	0	0	0	35
49ers	0	7	14	14	3	38

at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, California

• Date: Sunday, December 7
• Game time: 1:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 48 °F or 8.9 °C, wind 12 miles per hour (19 km/h; 10 kn)
• Referee: Dick Jorgensen
• TV announcers (CBS): Jim Kelly & Jim Hill
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First quarter NO – Ike Harris 33-yard pass from Archie Manning (Benny Ricardo kick) – Saints 7–0 NO – Henry Childs 21-yard pass from Archie Manning (Benny Ricardo kick) – Saints 14–0 Second quarter NO – Jack Holmes 1-yard run (Benny Ricardo kick) – Saints 21–0 SF – Freddie Solomon 57-yard punt return (Ray Wersching kick) – Saints 21–7 NO – Jack Holmes 1-yard run (Benny Ricardo kick) – Saints 28–7 NO – Ike Harris 41-yard pass from Archie Manning (Benny Ricardo kick) – Saints 35–7 Third quarter SF – Joe Montana 1-yard run (Ray Wersching kick) – Saints 35–14 SF – Dwight Clark 71-yard pass from Joe Montana (Ray Wersching kick) – Saints 35–21 Fourth quarter SF – Freddie Solomon 14-yard pass from Joe Montana (Ray Wersching kick) – Saints 35–28 SF – Lenvil Elliott 7-yard run (Ray Wersching kick) – Tie 35–35 Overtime SF – Ray Wersching 36-yard field goal – 49ers 38–35 Saints Archie Manning 24/38, 377 Yds, 3 TD, INT Tony Galbreath 16 Rush, 86 Yds Henry Childs 8 Rec, 144 Yds, TD 49ers Joe Montana 24/36, 285 Yds, 2 TD Lenvil Elliott 25 Rush, 125 Yds, TD Dwight Clark 6 Rec, 155 Yds, TD

The 49ers fought back from a 28-point deficit in the second half to win in overtime 38–35. The game was named as #8 on NFL Top 10 on Top Ten Comebacks.

Week 16

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 6 7 5 0 18 49ers 6 0 7 0 13 Date: December 21 Location: Candlestick Park, San Francisco, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 53 °F or 11.7 °C, wind 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h; 5.2 kn) RAIN TV announcers (NBC): Don Criqui and Mike Haffner

Standings

NFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Atlanta Falcons(1)	12	4	0	.750	5–1	10–2	405	272	L1
Los Angeles Rams(5)	11	5	0	.688	5–1	9–3	424	289	W2
San Francisco 49ers	6	10	0	.375	2–4	4–8	320	415	L2
New Orleans Saints	1	15	0	.063	0–6	0–12	291	487	L1