Better 49ers Defense?

Checked, yes he was. Loved that guy. Loved his hop that would draw the receivers offside. They banned that but I loved it.

1997 Defense was tough ...but could be attacked with a deep passing game , Walker and Pope were decent defensive backs ...but they got picked on a lot , the 97 run defense was pretty tough ...plus Doleman and Barker were solid pass rushers


the 2012 Defense doesnt have many holes to exploit , Tarrell Brown tends to be picked on , but fights back by picking off passes now and then , and this defense is almost impossible to run against at times , two pro bowl inside linebackers , a pro bowl OLB , a Pro Bowl DE , and two other TOUGH D-Lineman in Soap & Ray Mac ...Damn !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 1997 season was great for stats. But didn't Kansas City hang 44 on us that year? I remember after losing to Tampa Bay in Week 1, we got on a little run, then got smacked by KC in mid-season. That would've never happened to the 2011 team. The 1994 defense is interesting. They are the equivalent in pass defense that the 2011 team was in run defense it seemed. The 2011 defense gave up A LOT of pass yards, but teams just didn't seem to score on us. We may yield a FG, create a turnover, or a key stop. It just seemed that defense couldn't lose a game. Something had to go really wrong with offense or special teams in order for the 49ers to lose. That happened in Baltimore. It happened against Arizona. It happened against in the NFC Championship game last year as well.

You have to throw in the 1990 defense as well.

I kinda think we can combine 2011 and 2012 since all the players returned and the only change was Aldon wen to full time starter. I think this group has the edge because they are playing in an era with more explosive offenses and they still are very dominant.

How young is everyone on the zone?

I'm thinking the '84, '89, '90 defenses were more special than the best of the '90s. Clearly overshadowed by Joe and the offense but no 4 rings in the '80s without that caliber D.

And given how good Steve Young was, a top 5 all time D would have gotten us past Green Bay and into
A super bowl.

2011 was the most "special" D we ever had given the identity of it, particularly the front 7 storming to the ball, dropping the QB, and the turnovers caused by our secondary.

'84 had the best secondary ever in SF, and maybe even all time NFL...who knows .

Originally posted by kelson49er:

Originally posted by Ballistic:
2011.

That was my thought when I saw the thread too. That defense was possibly a top-5 of all time in my book, especially accounting for the era in which they played.

I'd say so too until they laid down against the Rams to finish the season.

Dana Stubblefield was such a stud

The 1989 Defense was my favorite, really bad ass group.

our 1997 Defense was SLOW. Big, strong but SLOW SLOW. Woodson Rod had a knee from the 95' season and wasn't quite himself. Doleman got his sacks but disappeared vs the Packers and same goes for the whole defense in 1997. They were staunch but not gamechanging. They could sack Favre or even int him. The best 49ers defense easily without question are in no particular order, 88 89 84 90. dont even think about any other 49er defense. the 2011 and 2012 defenses will be up there too but ONLY after they get it done this week and in the SB.

2011 special teams was amazing

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Originally posted by DonnieDarko:
i love steve but montana woulda beaten those packer teams of the 90s easily

1995: maybe but not having a rushing attack and the FB spotting them 7 points is difficult even for Joe
1996: nope. No chance Joe beats the 1996 Packers with our roster compared to theirs
1997: Possibly. Young up to that point was completing 69% with 20 TD's and 6 INTs (1 pick vs Packers)

So no, not really.


What people are ignoring is that Young vs Cowboys & Packers.....we were always the underdog. Joe was playing on the roster full of 'At Their Peak HOFs' like the 90's Cowboys. Young got 80's leftovers, Watters for 2 years/Hearst for 2 years, and then end of career rentals like Deion, Rod Woodson, and Ricky Jackson.

How many defensive HOFs at their peak did Young play with?

By the early 90's, having Jerry Rice was no where near the advantage as 1985 folks. The rest of the league had caught on. How did Joe have Jerry Rice, Dwight Clark, Roger Craig & Russ Francis for two seasons and managed to win a grand total of 0 playoff games?

2011 & 2012 Defenses are the best in Franchise history and by a significant margin. Larger than the gap between our '94 offense and any of Joe's offenses

IMO, this defense is the best the NFL has seen since the 2000 Ravens

1. 2000 Ravens
2. 2012 49ers
3. 2008 Steelers
4. 2002 Bucs
5. 2006 Ravens


Honestly, I think our defense might be better than those Ravens but we need the hardware to back it up.

Originally posted by JTsBiggestFan:
How young is everyone on the zone?

I'm thinking the '84, '89, '90 defenses were more special than the best of the '90s. Clearly overshadowed by Joe and the offense but no 4 rings in the '80s without that caliber D.

And given how good Steve Young was, a top 5 all time D would have gotten us past Green Bay and into
A super bowl.

2011 was the most "special" D we ever had given the identity of it, particularly the front 7 storming to the ball, dropping the QB, and the turnovers caused by our secondary.

'84 had the best secondary ever in SF, and maybe even all time NFL...who knows .

Yes. Completely agreed. In the 90's, the only year we had the superior defense was 1994 and look what happened. Maybe 1998 over the Falcons because I am not that familiar with their defense that season. But they won 11 straight games and R.W McQuarters & Winfred Tubbs were big time players on our defense. So I'm gonna stick with 1994 being the only year in the entire decade we had the superior Defense than the team that eliminated us.

Some guy admitted earlier he never knew the Niners were in the NFC West, so yeah pretty young core of posters on here.

Originally posted by barako:
The 1997 defense is rank number 1 but somehow it is missing something - to me they looked slow and tires. It don't look dominant at all. I can't explain it. I love the 2011 defense, that defense and the team as a whole was special.

Because it was old

Doleman - 36
Stubblefield - 27
Young - 25
Barker - 28

Norton - 31
Plummer - 37
Woodal - 28

Woodson - 32
Walker - 27
McDonald - 32
Hanks - 29

AVG: 30.18




Justin - 33
Sopoaga - 31
McDonald - 28
Aldon - 23

Patrick - 27
Bowman - 24
Brooks - 28

Rogers - 31
Brown - 27
Whitner - 27
Goldson - 28


AVG: 27.9