The San Francisco 49ers have started off their 2025 season with two gritty road victories. This is now the fourth time the Niners have started 2-0 under head coach Kyle Shanahan, and his squad has done quite well the first three times that has occurred.
As ESPN reporter Nick Wagoner noted on social media, the previous three times the Niners have started the season 2-0 have resulted in at least an NFC Championship game appearance:
This is the fourth time the #49ers have started 2-0 under Kyle Shanahan since he took over in 2017. They have reached at least the NFC Championship game in each of the previous three times it happened.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) September 15, 2025
Two of those seasons resulted in a Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 and 2023, while in 2021, the Niners snuck into the playoffs and lost a heartbreaker to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game.
2019 and 2023 definitely had similarities because San Francisco got off to a hot start in both of those seasons. 2019 saw the team win its first eight games and finish with a record of 13-3 on the season as it clinched the NFC West crown and the No. 1 seed in the NFC, thanks to an amazing tackle by linebacker Dre Greenlaw at the goal line in Seattle against the Seahawks in Week 17.
The 2023 Niners got off to a hot start as well, winning their first five games before going on a three-game skid. They returned from their bye week and got hot yet again, finishing the season 7-2 for a 12-5 record on the year to clinch the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
2021 was a different story as the Niners began 2-0 but went 1-5 over their next six games, which put them in a tough spot. They finished the year strong, though, and barely made it into the playoffs with an epic Week 18 win against the Los Angeles Rams, which gave them a 10-7 record on the year.
How will the rest of the 2025 season play out for San Francisco?
This does not seem like a 2019 or 2023 team that is going to be the No. 1 seed in the NFC. This season, the Niners probably do not have the requisite talent to do that.
Perhaps this season will end up playing out a little more like 2021 where there are bumps in the road and some rough patches, but San Francisco comes on strong late in the year to make the playoffs with some momentum to potentially make a run.
We know the 49ers have truly been boom or bust for this entire millennium, so fans are used to the whiplash of bad seasons like 2024 followed by good years. Fans already think the Niners are headed for a bounce-back season and their solid 2-0 start is promising based on the team's history under Shanahan.