Recalling the 1970 San Francisco 49ers

45 plus years later, a Super Bowl in the San Francisco area complete, it is a good time to remember the first 49ers team to win a division title.

That team is the 1970 team, with John Brodie at quarterback and Dick Nolan as head coach.

A pass to Bill Tucker helped clinch the playoff spot and one heard either of two great announcers, Lon Simmons on 49ers radio or Ray Scott on CBS television, call the plays.

Later Niners’ teams were far more prolific winning 5 Super Bowls and an earlier one in 1957, had dissipated a big lead to the Detroit Lions and Tom “The Bomb” Tracy, in the Western Conference playoff.

Yet it is the 1970 team that finally got the Niners to the promised land of a division title.

Playing for the eventual NFL champion Detroit Lions of 1957 (the last time the Lions even played for the crown), Tracy scored two second half touchdowns to help the Lions overcome a (27-7) deficit in the Western Conference playoff game, at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.