Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Both went 14-2. Both had the best record in the NFL. They lost famously memorable NFC-CG's vs. NFC East teams (NYG/DAL) that went on to beat Buffalo in the SB (One an epic, the other a blowout)

Both navigated tricky schedules against good teams:

1990 49ers beat 5 playoff teams (Saints/Redskins/Bengals/Giants/Oilers)

1992 49ers beat the Saints 2x/Eagles/Dolphins/Vikings, and even a game they didn't win was memorable (Buffalo no punts)

Which of these coulda been Niner squads was better?

oh boy this is a tough one. As a 49ers fan AND a Bills fan this was a great era to watch football. First seeing this thread I figured I would definitely pick the 1990 team. At the end of the regular season it looked to me that they were going to pull off the threepeat. After the AFCCG (51-3) that afternoon I remember changing my SB prediction to Bills over 49ers. Well.... that didn’t happen.

So upon closer examination I have to give a slight edge to the 1992. I still say they were the best team in the league going into the playoffs in 1990. They were not in 1992 though. (Dallas) In hindsight, in 90 they seemed to sputter down the stretch. Only scoring above 20 once in the last 6. Including only 7 against the hyped game against the Giants. Better ground game in 92 with Watters over 90’s combo of Carter and aging Roger Craig. 92 Young was superior than 90 Montana. The defenses seemed roughly equal to me.

The '90 '9ers offense was really starting to show its age. Craig was wearing down and Montana was aging and (though still very good) likely wasn't playing at the same level that Young was from '92-'94.

The 1990 '49ers defense was probably a bit better than the '92 version (which was a little weak against the pass) but with the addition of Watters and Steve Young playing at an All-Pro level I think the 1992 '9ers were much more of a scoring machine than the '90 '9ers were.