It’s tempting to say the 49ers’ 2024 season was doomed from the start, but let’s not kid ourselves—it was more like a slow, spiraling descent into chaos. From questionable quarterback decisions to a brutal injury list that could fill a small novel, this team just couldn’t get out of its own way. And you know what? Numbers don’t lie. So let’s dive into the digits that define a season most fans would like to forget.
1. 1-2
The record after the first three games. Starting a season with a whimper isn’t exactly the way to strike fear into opponents. Especially when you drop games to your division rivals. That Week 2 loss to the Rams? Painful.
2. 14 unanswered points
That’s what Arizona slapped on the scoreboard in Week 5 to steal a game the 49ers had in the bag. Up 23-10 at halftime, they just… stopped. No more points, no more effort, no more anything. That loss turned out to be the blueprint for the season.
3. 11th pick (maybe)
The highest draft pick San Francisco can secure this year is No. 11. And even that feels like a cruel joke. The team picked a bad year to be bad, because their record doesn’t even guarantee them a truly elite draft position. Oh, and there’s still a chance they fall to 14th. Classic.
4. 15 players on the injury report
By Week 18, the 49ers’ injury report was a who’s who of key contributors: Brock Purdy, Deebo Samuel, Nick Bosa, and Deommodore Lenoir, to name a few. It’s like the football gods decided to play Jenga with their roster and pulled all the critical pieces.
5. 12 meaningful injuries
That’s the number of players who saw significant snaps this year and are now sitting out. This wasn’t just your usual bumps and bruises; it was an epidemic. It’s hard to win games when half your roster is in street clothes.
6. 0 points in the second half (Week 5)
We keep coming back to this game because, honestly, it was the moment the wheels fell off. Getting blanked in the second half by the Cardinals? That’s like losing a three-legged race to a team with two people carrying the sack.
7. 158 yards (Josh Dobbs’ shining moment)
Dobbs, a man shuffled around the NFL like he’s playing musical chairs, threw for 158 yards and two touchdowns in a heroic performance for Minnesota just a week after being traded from Arizona. And yet, the 49ers opted to ride Brandon Allen into a disaster against Green Bay earlier in the year. Why?
8. 23 points (vs. Arizona)
That’s all the 49ers managed in their Week 5 loss, despite dominating the first half. You’d think a team with so many weapons could score more than zero points in 30 minutes. But nope. This team makes procrastination look like an art form.
9. 6 draft spots (2021 déjà vu)
Remember 2021? The 49ers landed the 12th pick after a 6-10 season. This year could mirror that mess, proving that history not only repeats itself—it rubs your nose in it.
10. 7 games for Dobbs in Arizona
When Dobbs was with the Cardinals, he went 1-7. But somehow, his brief flashes of brilliance for the Vikings and the 49ers’ refusal to start him earlier this year make you wonder—what could have been?
11. 3 games (out of playoff contention)
By mid-December, the 49ers were officially out of the playoff picture, which meant the final stretch of the season was basically glorified preseason football. Not exactly the vibe you want for a team that was supposed to contend.
12. 49ers fans, still loyal
Despite it all, this team has one thing going for it: its fans. Through injuries, bad luck, and some head-scratching decisions, the Faithful have stuck by their squad. Probably out of stubbornness, but hey, loyalty is loyalty.
The 2024 49ers season will go down as one of those “what if?” years. What if Dobbs had started against Green Bay? What if Week 5 had ended differently? What if the injury bug hadn’t bitten so hard? But as the saying goes, “if ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.”
P.S. Draft season starts now.
P.P.S. Who’s starting the GoFundMe for a 49ers injury exorcism?
