Question: The 1981 NFL season was the 62nd regular season of the National Football League, that ended with a game between the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football Conference and what winner of the American Football Conference? 

Context articles: Super Bowl XVI
Super Bowl XLVII
2011 San Francisco 49ers season
Arrington Jones
The Catch (American football)
1981 San Francisco 49ers season
Lynn Thomas (American football)
List of San Francisco 49ers seasons
1981 NFL season
List of San Francisco 49ers head coaches

Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1981 season.
 The 49ers defeated the Bengals by the score of 26–21 to win their first Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2012 season.
 The Ravens defeated the 49ers by the score of 34–31, handing the 49ers their first Super Bowl loss in franchise history.
 The game was played on February 3, 2013, at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
 This was the tenth Super Bowl to be played in New Orleans, equaling Miami's record of ten in an individual city.
The 2011 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 66th season overall, and 62nd in the National Football League (NFL).
 It is the first season under head coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Trent Baalke.
 The 49ers rebounded from their disappointing 2010 season to end their streak of eight consecutive non-winning seasons.
 After defeating the St. Louis Rams in week 13 and attaining a 10–2 record, the team clinched the NFC West and made their first playoff appearance since 2002 (under head coach Steve Mariucci).
 The 49ers ended the regular season with a 13–3 record, their best since 1997 and earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
 In the Divisional Playoffs they defeated the New Orleans Saints 36–32 and were in the NFC Championship for the first time since 1997 where they lost against the New York Giants 20–17 in overtime, coming just short of returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1994.
 Despite their most successful season in years, the 49ers were 31st in the league in third down conversion percentage in the regular season (29.1) and were 17.9 percent in the playoffs.
Arrington Jones III (born February 16, 1959) is a former American football running back who played one season with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL).
 He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fifth round of the 1981 NFL Draft.
 He played college football at Winston-Salem State University and attended John Marshall High School in Richmond, Virginia.
 Jones was also a member of the Washington Federals of the United States Football League (USFL).
 He was a member of the San Francisco 49ers team that won Super Bowl XVI and has been a coach on several collegiate teams.
The Catch refers to the winning touchdown pass in the 1981 NFC Championship Game played between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park on January 10, 1982, as part of the 1981–82 NFL playoffs following the 1981 NFL season.
 With 58 seconds left in the game, San Francisco wide receiver Dwight Clark made a leaping grab in the back of the end zone to complete a 6-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Montana, enabling the 49ers to defeat the Cowboys, 28–27.
 "The Catch" is widely regarded as one of the most memorable events in National Football League (NFL) history.
 The game represented the end of the Cowboys' domination in the NFC since the conference's inception in 1970, and the beginning of the 49ers' rise as an NFL dynasty in the 1980s.
The 1981 San Francisco 49ers season was their 32nd season in the National Football League.
 Under third-year head coach Bill Walsh, the team finished the regular season with a 13–3 record.
 The season would be one of the franchise's most successful seasons to that point and would be 'the birth of a dynasty', when the 49ers began their decade of dominance.
 The 49ers drew an average home attendance of 54,399 in the 1981 NFL season.
Ronald Lynn Thomas (born July 9, 1959) is a former American football defensive back who played two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League.
 He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fifth round of the 1981 NFL Draft.
 He played college football at the University of Pittsburgh and attended Pascagoula High School in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
 Thomas was also a member of the Oakland Invaders of the United States Football League.
 He was a member of the San Francisco 49ers team that won Super Bowl XVI.
This article is a list of seasons completed by the San Francisco 49ers, an American football franchise representing the San Francisco Bay Area.
 The 49ers are members of the West division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL).
 The list documents the season-by-season records of the 49ers' franchise from to present, including postseason records, and league awards for individual players or head coaches.
 The San Francisco 49ers began play in 1946 as charter members of the All-America Football Conference.
The 1981 NFL season was the 62nd regular season of the National Football League.
 The season ended with Super Bowl XVI when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan.
There have been 19 head coaches in the history of the San Francisco 49ers professional football franchise.
 The San Francisco 49ers franchise was formed in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) before joining the National Football League (NFL) in 1950 after the AAFC merger with the NFL.
 Buck Shaw became the first head coach of the 49ers in 1946, serving for nine seasons—four in the AAFC and five in the NFL.
 He coached a number of future College and Pro Football Hall of Famers, such as Frankie Albert, Joe Perry, Leo Nomellini, Y. A. Tittle, Bob St. Clair and Hugh McElhenny.
 In terms of tenure, Bill Walsh has coached more games (152) and more complete seasons (10) than any other head coach in 49ers franchise history.
 He led the 49ers to playoff appearances in seven seasons, three of which led to the Super Bowl championship, in 1981, 1984 and 1988.
 Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Charles Haley, Ronnie Lott, Johnny Davis, Roger Craig, Fred Dean and Steve Young are among the players Walsh has coached in his career.