page_title: San Francisco 49ers
section_title: 2003–2010: Struggles
hierarchical_section_title: San Francisco 49ers / Franchise history / 2003–2010: Struggles
caption_attribution_description: English: Frank Gore breaking through tackles and sprinting past the St. Louis Rams Defense for a touchdown on a 4th down and short play.
context_page_description: The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. They compete in the National Football League as a member of the league's National Football Conference West division. The team plays its home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, located 38 miles southeast of San Francisco in the heart of Silicon Valley. Since 1988, the 49ers have been headquartered in Santa Clara.
  The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and joined the NFL in 1949 when the leagues merged. The 49ers were the first major league professional sports franchise based in San Francisco and is the 10th oldest franchise in the NFL. The name "49ers" comes from the prospectors who arrived in Northern California in the 1849 Gold Rush. The team is legally and corporately registered as San Francisco Forty Niners. The team began play at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco before moving across town to Candlestick Park in 1970 and then to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara in 2014.
  The 49ers won five Super Bowl championships between 1981 and 1994.
context_section_description: Then-Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson was signed to a five-year contract to replace Mariucci. The hiring of Erickson was highly criticized by the fans and the media, as Erickson's offensive philosophy was very different from the West Coast offense. The 2003 season was one of turmoil for the 49ers. While the Niners started the season with a 49–7 demolishing of Chicago, the team quickly began to unravel afterwards, as the relationship between Garcia and Owens turned sour upon Garcia taking issue with Owens's public praise for the play of backup quarterback Tim Rattay. Garcia responded with a cryptic remark of "we cannot let the sickness spread"; in response, Owens wore a surgeon's mask at the following practice. The team was also ravaged by injuries to key players on both sides of the ball; the often reckless play of Jeff Garcia started to take a toll on him, as he was forced to miss 3 games during the season. The 49ers finished 7–9 and missed the playoffs. Despite this disappointing result, Erickson was retained as coach for the 2004 season. Owens' on- and off-field antics led to the 49ers trading him to the Philadelphia Eagles during the offseason. Several other key 49er players were released due to salary cap concerns, including Garcia and Hearst. The team finished the 2004 season with a 2–14 record, tying a franchise worst and finishing last in the NFC West for the first time since 1979, ending what had been the NFL's longest active streak for not finishing last in a division. With the worst record in the NFL the team secured the rights to the first pick in the NFL Draft. Dennis Erickson and general manager Terry Donahue were fired.
  After an extensive coaching search, the 49ers hired the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens Mike Nolan as their head coach. Nolan was the son of Dick Nolan, who had led the team to three consecutive playoff appearances from 1970 to 1972. The 49ers did not hire a general manager. In Mike Nolan's first draft as head coach, he selected quarterback Alex Smith from the University of Utah with the first overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft. It was a pick predicted by most, though many thought the 49ers might select local product Aaron Rodgers of the University of California. Alex Smith's rookie season was a disaster, producing only one touchdown against eleven interceptions. The team finished 4th in the NFC West for the second consecutive year, with a 4–12 record. This earned the 49ers the 6th pick in the 2006 NFL Draft which they used to draft tight end Vernon Davis. Alex Smith and the team improved greatly in 2006, led by second year player Frank Gore from the University of Miami. Gore ran for a franchise record of 1,695 rushing yards, which led the NFC, along with 8 touchdowns. He was awarded his first Pro Bowl appearance. They also swept division rival and defending NFC Champion, Seattle Seahawks, and kept the Denver Broncos from a playoff berth in the last game of the season. However, the team finished 7–9, their fourth consecutive losing season.
  In the off-season, the 49ers signed cornerback Nate Clements and safety Michael Lewis to improve their secondary. Clement's contract was worth $80 million for eight years, the largest contract given to a defensive player in NFL history at the time. In the NFL Draft, the 49ers made another key addition to their defense, selecting middle linebacker Patrick Willis with the 11th overall pick. Willis would eventually be named the 2007 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Before the beginning of the 2007 season, Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh died of complications from leukemia. The 49ers started the season 2–0, for the first time since 1998. In the fourth game of the season, against the Seattle Seahawks, Alex Smith suffered a separated shoulder on the third play of the game, an injury that severely hampered his play and ultimately led to an early end to his 2008 campaign after having shoulder surgery. Chiefly due to back up quarterback Trent Dilfer's struggles and Alex Smith's injury, the 49ers lost eight straight consecutive games from wee
caption: 49ers' former running back Frank Gore in action against the St. Louis Rams in 2007
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