1969 San Francisco 49ers season

The 1969 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 20th season in the National Football League, their 24th overall, and their second under head coach Dick Nolan.

1969 San Francisco 49ers season
Owner	Josephine Morabito Jane Morabito
General manager	Louis Spadia
Head coach	Dick Nolan
Offensive coordinator	Ed Hughes
Home stadium	Kezar Stadium
Results
Record	4–8–2
Division place	4th NFL Coastal
Playoffs	Did not qualify
← 1968 49ers seasons 1970 →

Offseason

NFL draft

1969 San Francisco 49ers draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	7	Ted Kwalick	TE	Penn State
1	16	Gene Washington	WR	Stanford

Personnel

Staff / Coaches

1969 San Francisco 49ers staff

Front office Team Owner(s) - Josephine Morabito & Jane Morabito General manager / Team President – Louis Spadia Personnel Scout - Dick Gallagher Head coaches Head coach - Dick Nolan Offensive coaches Chief of Offense / Offensive Coordinator - Ed Hughes Offensive Consultant – Y.A. Tittle Offensive Backfied – Mike Holovak Offensive Line / Blocking – Ernie Zwahlen

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator / Defensive Line – Paul Wiggin Linebackers – Mike Giddings Defensive Backfield / Secondary – Jim Shofner Special teams coaches Joe Perry - Kicking Coach / Game Scout

Roster

1969 San Francisco 49ers roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 12 John Brodie 11 Steve Spurrier Running backs (RB) 42 Doug Cunningham 22 Gary Lewis 24 Jimmy Thomas 45 Bill Tucker 40 Ken Willard Wide receivers (WR) 81 Lee Johnson 85 Clifton McNeil  1 Noland Smith 18 Gene Washington 88 Dick Witcher Tight ends (TE) 82 Ted Kwalick 89 Bob Windsor

Offensive linemen (OL) 79 Cas Banaszek T 65 Randy Beisler G/T 75 Forrest Blue C 66 Elmer Collett G 73 Lance Olssen C 69 Woody Peoples G 76 Len Rohde T Defensive linemen (DL) 72 Bill Belk DE 74 Earl Edwards DE 53 Tommy Hart DE 70 Charlie Krueger DT 60 Roland Lakes DT 78 Sam Silas DE/DT

Linebackers (LB) 54 Harold Hays OLB 57 Frank Nunley MLB 58 Jim Sniadecki OLB 52 Skip Vanderbundt OLB 64 Dave Wilcox OLB Defensive backs (DB) 39 Kermit Alexander CB 37 Jimmy Johnson CB 32 Mel Phillips FS 27 Al Randolph SS 25 Roosevelt Taylor FS/SS 48 John Woitt CB Special teams (ST) 17 Momcilo Gavric K 15 Jon Kilgore P

Practice squad 59 Fritz Greenlee LB -- Bob Hoskins G 43 Gene Moore RB -- Wayne Moore T Reserve 50 Ed Beard LB (IR) -- David Chapple P (IR) 30 Johnny Fuller S (IR) 86 Kevin Hardy DT (IR) 80 Stan Hindman DE (IR) 33 Bill Wondolowski WR (IR) Rookies in italics

Preseason

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	August 10	vs. Cleveland Browns	L 19–24	0–1	Husky Stadium	32,219
2	August 17	Dallas Cowboys	L 17–20	0–2	Kezar Stadium	33,894
3	August 23	at Denver Broncos	L 15–19	0–3	Mile High Stadium	33,161
4	August 31	at Oakland Raiders	L 28–42	0–4	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum	53,122
5	September 7	St. Louis Cardinals	L 10–21	0–5	Kezar Stadium	27,506
6	September 13	at Los Angeles Rams	L 28–31	0–6	Anaheim Stadium	39,179

^[1]

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 21	at Atlanta Falcons	L 12–24	0–1	Atlanta Stadium	45,490
2	September 28	at Green Bay Packers	L 7–14	0–2	Milwaukee County Stadium	48,184
3	October 5	Washington Redskins	T 17–17	0–2–1	Kezar Stadium	35,184
4	October 12	Los Angeles Rams	L 21–27	0–3–1	Kezar Stadium	45,995
5	October 19	Atlanta Falcons	L 7–21	0–4–1	Kezar Stadium	28,684
6	October 26	at Baltimore Colts	W 24–21	1–4–1	Memorial Stadium	60,238
7	November 2	Detroit Lions	L 14–26	1–5–1	Kezar Stadium	35,100
8	November 9	at Los Angeles Rams	L 30–41	1–6–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	73,795
9	November 16	Baltimore Colts	W 20–17	2–6–1	Kezar Stadium	38,472
10	November 23	at New Orleans Saints	L 38–43	2–7–1	Tulane Stadium	71,448
11	November 27	at Dallas Cowboys	T 24–24	2–7–2	Cotton Bowl	62,348
12	December 6	Chicago Bears	W 42–21	3–7–2	Kezar Stadium	32,826
13	December 14	at Minnesota Vikings	L 7–10	3–8–2	Metropolitan Stadium	43,028
14	December 21	Philadelphia Eagles	W 14–13	4–8–2	Kezar Stadium	25,391
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFL Coastal
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Los Angeles Rams	11	3	0	.786	5–1	7–3	320	243	L3
Baltimore Colts	8	5	1	.615	3–3	5–4–1	279	268	W1
Atlanta Falcons	6	8	0	.429	2–4	4–6	276	268	W3
San Francisco 49ers	4	8	2	.333	2–4	3–7	277	319	W1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Game summaries

Week 6: at Baltimore Colts

Week Six: San Francisco 49ers (0–4–1) at Baltimore Colts (3–2)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
49ers	0	10	14	0	24
Colts	0	7	7	7	21

at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, Maryland

• Date: October 26, 1969
• Game weather: 48 °F or 8.9 °C, relative humidity 49%, wind 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h; 4.3 kn)
• ^[2]

Game information

First quarter No scoring plays Second quarter SF — Tommy Davis 18-yard field goal. 49ers 3–0 BAL — Tom Matte 11-yard pass from Johnny Unitas (Lou Michaels kick). Colts 7–3 SF — Ken Willard 5-yard rush (Tommy Davis kick). 49ers 10–7 Third quarter SF — Dick Witcher 18-yard pass from Steve Spurrier (Tommy Davis kick). 49ers 17–7 SF — John Woitt 57-yard interception return (Tommy Davis kick). 49ers 24–7 BAL — Jimmy Orr 6 yard pass from Johnny Unitas (Lou Michaels kick). 49ers 24–14 Fourth quarter BAL — Tom Matte 1 yard rush (Lou Michaels kick). 49ers 24–21 Top passers SF — Steve Spurrier – 18/30, 205 yards, TD, INT BAL — Johnny Unitas – 19/37, 300 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT Top rushers SF — Doug Cunningham – 13 rushes, 51 yards BAL — Tom Matte – 17 rushes, 81 yards, TD Top receivers SF — Dick Witcher – 3 receptions, 54 yards, TD BAL — Jimmy Orr – 8 receptions, 146 yards, TD

This would be the last time the 49ers would visit the Colts until 1989^[3] — by when Robert Irsay had moved the franchise to Indianapolis — and the last time the 49ers would play in Baltimore until meeting the Ravens in 2003.^[4]

Week 10: at New Orleans Saints

Week Ten: San Francisco 49ers (2–6–1) at New Orleans Saints (2–7)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
49ers	7	14	7	10	38
Saints	0	7	21	15	43

at Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, Louisiana

• Date: November 23, 1969
• Game weather: 62 °F or 16.7 °C, relative humidity 75%, wind 9 miles per hour (14 km/h; 7.8 kn)
• Game attendance: 71,448
• ^[5]

Game information

First quarter SF — Ken Willard 1-yard run (Momcilo Gavric kick). 49ers 7–0. Drive: Second quarter SF — Dick Witcher 8-yard pass from Doug Cunningham (Momcilo Gavric kick). 49ers 14–0. Drive: SF – Ken Willard 1-yard run (Momcilo Gavric kick). 49ers 21–0. Drive: NO — Ray Poage 22-yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Tom Dempsey kick). 49ers 21–7. Drive: Third quarter NO — Andy Livingston 12-yard run (Tom Dempsey kick). 49ers 21–14. Drive: NO — Danny Abramowicz 49-yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Tom Dempsey kick). Tie 21–21. Drive: NO — Danny Abramowicz 13-yard pass from Andy Livingston (Tom Dempsey kick). Saints 28–21. Drive: SF — Jimmy Thomas 45-yard pass from John Brodie (Momcilo Gavric kick). Tie 28–28. Drive: Fourth quarter NO — Safety, center snap out of end zone. Saints 30–28. NO — Tom Dempsey 17-yard field goal. Saints 33–28. Drive: SF — Jimmy Thomas 18-yard pass from John Brodie (Momcilo Gavric kick). 49ers 35–33. Drive: NO — Tom Dempsey 43-yard field goal. Saints 36–35. Drive: SF — Momcilo Gavric 23-yard field goal. 49ers 38–36. Drive: NO — Ernie Wheelwright 3-yard run (Tom Dempsey kick). Saints 43–38. Drive: Top passers SF – John Brodie – 15/24, 290 yards, 2 TD, INT NO – Billy Kilmer – 13/24, 235 yards, 2 TD Top rushers SF – Doug Cunningham – 14 rushes, 84 yards NO – Andy Livingston – 14 rushes, 83 yards, TD Top receivers SF – Jimmy Thomas – 3 receptions, 106 yards, 2 TD NO – Danny Abramowicz – 5 receptions, 113 yards, 2 TD

NFL Films selected this matchup as the Game of the Week.

Awards, records, and honors