2020 San Francisco 49ers season

The 2020 season was the San Francisco 49ers' 71st in the National Football League (NFL), their 75th overall, and their fourth under the head coach/general manager tandem of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. The 49ers entered the season as the defending NFC champions; however, the 49ers failed to improve on their 13–3 season after a Week 8 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and were eliminated from playoff contention after a Week 15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

The season saw many key players missing significant time due to injuries, including starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, starting tight-end George Kittle, starting cornerback Richard Sherman, starting wide receiver Deebo Samuel, and 2019 Defensive Rookie of the Year Nick Bosa. The 49ers season ended with a league-high 18 players on injured reserve. Another notable event was the suspension of home games in Santa Clara County due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the 49ers to play their final three home games at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

As of 2023, this is the last time the 49ers failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Free agency
The 49ers entered free agency with the following:

Trades

 * On October 27, the 49ers traded their 2022 sixth-round selection to the New York Jets for defensive end Jordan Willis and 2021 seventh-round selection.
 * On November 2, the 49ers traded Kwon Alexander to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for a fifth-round conditional pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and LB Kiko Alonso.

Draft
Notes
 * The 49ers traded LB Eli Harold to the Detroit Lions in exchange for a conditional seventh-round selection.
 * The 49ers traded their second-round selection to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for DE Dee Ford.
 * The 49ers traded their third- and fourth-round selections to the Denver Broncos in exchange for WR Emmanuel Sanders and Denver's fifth-round selection.
 * The 49ers traded DT DeForest Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a first-round selection (No. 13th overall).
 * The 49ers traded their first- and a seventh-round selection (13th and 245th overall) to Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for a first- and a fourth-round pick (14th and 117th overall).
 * The 49ers traded their first-, fourth- and fifth-round selections (31st, 117th and 176th overall) to Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a first-round pick (No. 25th overall).
 * The 49ers traded their RB Matt Breida to Miami Dolphins in exchange for a fifth-round pick (No. 153rd overall).
 * The 49ers traded their fifth-round selection (No. 156th overall) and a 2021 third-round selection to Washington Redskins in exchange for OT Trent Williams.
 * The 49ers traded their WR Marquise Goodwin and a sixth-round selection (No. 210th overall) to Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a sixth-round selection (No. 190th overall).

Preseason
The 49ers' preseason schedule was announced on May 7, but was later canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schedule
The 49ers' 2020 schedule was announced on May 7.

Week 1: vs. Arizona Cardinals
With this loss, The defending NFC Champions started off 0-1

Week 2: at New York Jets
Although the 49ers won easily over the struggling Jets, they suffered devastating injuries on both sides of the ball to Jimmy Garoppolo, Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman, Nick Bosa, and Solomon Thomas. It got so bad the team's MRI truck broke down. The win brought the 49ers to 1-1 on the season.

Week 3: at New York Giants
With Jimmy Garoppolo sidelined, Nick Mullens made his first start since 2018. He threw for 343 yards and a touchdown in a blowout win over the Giants, bringing the 49ers up to 2-1 for the season.

Week 4: vs. Philadelphia Eagles
With this loss, the 49ers dropped to 2–2. Nick Mullens struggled mightily in the game with two interceptions, one of which was returned by Alex Singleton for a touchdown, and was benched afterwards for C. J. Beathard. The 49ers drove all the way to within field goal range down by 5, but the clock ran out.

Week 5: vs. Miami Dolphins
With this embarrassing loss, the 49ers dropped to 2–3, already matching last season's loss total. Jimmy Garoppolo returned from injury but struggled mightily with 2 interceptions, leading to him being benched at halftime for C. J. Beathard.

Week 6: vs. Los Angeles Rams
The 49ers bounced back from the previous week. Jimmy Garoppolo threw 3 touchdowns and 268 yards and the 49ers defense was able to hold a red-hot Rams offense in check. With this win, they improved to 3–3, and won their third straight meeting against the Rams.

Week 7: at New England Patriots
This was quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo's first return to New England since the Patriots traded him to the 49ers in October 2017. Garoppolo played for the Patriots from 2014 to 2017, and was part of their 2014 and 2016 Super Bowl-winning teams. Jimmy's victorious return brought the 49ers up to 4-3 on the season.

Week 8: at Seattle Seahawks
At one point, the 49ers were down 7-30. Despite outscoring the Seahawks 20-7 for the rest of the game, the 49ers dropped to 4-4.

Week 9: vs. Green Bay Packers
In a rematch of the NFC Championship the previous season. Aaron Rodgers threw for 305 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Packers went up 34–3 before the 49ers scored two meaningless touchdowns to make the final score 34–17 and dropping the 49ers to 4–5. As of week 9, the 49ers have a league high 24 players on the reserve lists. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic restrictions, this would be the final game at Levi's for the season.

Week 10: at New Orleans Saints
With the loss, the 49ers dropped to 4-6

Week 12: at Los Angeles Rams
The 49ers returned from their bye week with some much-needed reinforcement returning from injury: on offense, Raheem Mostert scored a touchdown and 43 yards rushing and Deebo Samuel had 133 receiving yards; on defense, Richard Sherman contributed by grabbing his first interception of the season. The game was largely a defensive struggle. The two teams had four combined turnovers in the first quarter, and the only points scored in the first half came on a Raheem Mostert touchdown and a Matt Gay field goal. Early in the third quarter, the 49ers padded their lead to fourteen points with Javon Kinlaw's pick six and a Robbie Gould field goal. However, the momentum changed quickly as Aaron Donald forced a fumble on Raheem Mostert and it was returned for a touchdown by Troy Hill. The Rams soon scored again on a touchdown run from Cam Akers to take a three-point lead. The Rams' final drives quickly turned to punts while Nick Mullens led the 49ers on two drives resulting in field goals, including the 42-yard game winner by Robbie Gould with no time on the clock.

With the win, the 49ers swept the Rams for the second straight year and bringing their record to 5-6

Week 13: vs. Buffalo Bills
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Santa Clara County halting all contact sports the 49ers decided to use State Farm Stadium for 2 games. However, the result dropped the 49ers to 5-7 on the season

Week 14: vs. Washington Football Team
In a game that saw a returning Alex Smith to face the team that drafted him for the final time and Smith's revenge dropped the 49ers to 5-8 on the season.

Week 15: at Dallas Cowboys
The 49ers traveled to Dallas hoping to keep their season alive, but struggled throughout the game. The 49ers immediately trailed 17–7, and turned the ball over 4 times against one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Despite fighting back and forth after tying the game, the 49ers never had the lead. San Francisco also allowed Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to return a kickoff for a touchdown, which sealed the 49ers' loss. This loss, combined with the Cardinals' victory over the Eagles, the 49ers were eliminated from playoff contention. The 49ers would also clinched a losing season for the 7th time in 10 years

Week 16: at Arizona Cardinals
With this win, the San Francisco 49ers finished 5-3 in away games and brought their record up to 6-9 on the season.

Week 17: vs. Seattle Seahawks
With this loss, the 49ers finished 1-7 at home and are 1-5 in their last 6 games against Seattle. The Defending NFC Champions would finish their season in dismissal 6-10 record.