The San Francisco 49ers will make their eighth Super Bowl appearance when they face the Kansas City Chiefs on February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. While no one knows which team will win until the final whistle, a sports analyst may have found a trend in the 49ers’ favor.
Jay Cuda tweeted that the 49ers would go on to win the Super Bowl if they defeated a team with a shade of blue in their uniforms during the NFC Championship Game. The trend started in the 1981 season when Joe Montana completed “The Catch” to Dwight Clark to defeat the Dallas Cowboys. Two weeks later, they won Super Bowl XVI against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The trend continued during the 1984 and 1988 seasons when they went to the Super Bowl at the Chicago Bears’ expense. They defeated the Los Angeles Rams in 1989 before becoming back-to-back Super Bowl champions.
The 49ers defeated the Cowboys again in the 1994 NFC Championship Game before dominating the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. That’s the last time the franchise has won the Super Bowl despite making two more appearances in the big game.
Conversely, the two teams they defeated before their recent Super Bowl losses do not have a dose of blue on their uniforms. San Francisco won against the Atlanta Falcons in the 2012 season and the Green Bay Packers in 2019.
Every time the 49ers have won the NFC Champ. game vs. a team that has a shade of blue in their logo they've gone on to win the Super Bowl.
— Jay Cuda (@JayCuda) January 29, 2024
And any time they've beat a non-blue team in the NFC Champ. game they've gone on to lose the Super Bowl. pic.twitter.com/qV7P27RnAl
Four seasons later, the 49ers edged the Detroit Lions to book their ticket to Super Bowl LVIII. With the Lions having Honolulu blue on their color scheme, will the favorable trend continue for Kyle Shanahan’s crew?
What’s certain is that their roster has what it takes to add another Lombardi Trophy to their collection. They had four players with at least 1,000 yards from scrimmage and a defense that ranked third in points allowed during the regular season.
-Lance Fernandez