1968 San Francisco 49ers season

The 1968 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 19th season in the National Football League, their 23rd overall, and the first with new head coach Dick Nolan.

1968 San Francisco 49ers season
Owner	Josephine Morabito Jane Morabito
General manager	Louis Spadia
Head coach	Dick Nolan
Offensive coordinator	Ed Hughes
Home stadium	Kezar Stadium
Results
Record	7–6–1
Division place	3rd NFL Coastal
Playoffs	Did not qualify
← 1967 49ers seasons 1969 →

The 49ers attempted to improve on their 7–7 record from the previous season. Ultimately, the 49ers consistently switched between winning record and losing record and ended their season with a 7–6–1 record, missing the playoffs for the 11th straight year.

Offseason

NFL draft

1968 San Francisco 49ers draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College	Note
1	15	Forrest Blue	C	Auburn
4	98	Johnny Fuller	DB	Lamar

Personnel

Staff / Coaches

1968 San Francisco 49ers staff

Front office Team Owner(s) - Josephine Morabito & Jane Morabito General manager / Team President – Louis Spadia Personnel Scout - Dick Gallagher Head coaches Head coach - Dick Nolan Offensive coaches Chief of Offense / Offensive Coordinator - Ed Hughes Offensive Consultant – Y.A. Tittle Offensive Backfied – Mike Holovak Offensive Line / Blocking – Ernie Zwahlen

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator / Defensive Line – Paul Wiggin Linebackers – Mike Giddings Defensive Backfield / Secondary – Jim Shofner

Roster

1968 San Francisco 49ers roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 12 John Brodie 10 George Mira Running backs (RB) 42 Doug Cunningham 33 Clem Daniels 22 Gary Lewis 45 Bill Tucker 40 Ken Willard Wide receivers (WR) 26 Kay McFarland 85 Clifton McNeil 88 Dick Witcher Tight ends (TE) 44 John David Crow 84 Dave Olerich 89 Bob Windsor

Offensive linemen (OL) 79 Cas Banaszek T 75 Forrest Blue C 77 Bruce Bosley C 66 Elmer Collett G 68 Howard Mudd G 69 Woody Peoples G 76 Len Rohde T Defensive linemen (DL) 72 Bill Belk DE 86 Kevin Hardy DE/DT 80 Stan Hindman DE 70 Charlie Krueger DT 60 Roland Lakes DT 74 Clark Miller DE

Linebackers (LB) 50 Ed Beard MLB 53 Tommy Hart OLB 54 Harold Hays OLB 55 Matt Hazeltine OLB 57 Frank Nunley MLB 64 Dave Wilcox OLB Defensive backs (DB) 39 Kermit Alexander CB 30 Johnny Fuller FS 37 Jimmy Johnson CB 32 Mel Phillips FS 27 Al Randolph SS 48 John Woitt CB Special teams (ST) 36 Tommy Davis K 11 Steve Spurrier P

Practice squad 87 Tom Holzer DE 81 Leo Johnson WR 73 Lance Olssen T 14 Dennis Patera K 52 Skip Vanderbundt LB Reserve 63 Don Parker G (IR) -- George Rose CB (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 15	at Baltimore Colts	L 10–27	0–1	Memorial Stadium	56,864
2	September 22	St. Louis Cardinals	W 35–17	1–1	Kezar Stadium	27,557
3	September 29	Atlanta Falcons	W 28–13	2–1	Kezar Stadium	27,477
4	October 6	at Los Angeles Rams	L 10–24	2–2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	69,520
5	October 13	Baltimore Colts	L 14–42	2–3	Kezar Stadium	32,822
6	October 20	at New York Giants	W 26–10	3–3	Yankee Stadium	62,958
7	October 27	at Detroit Lions	W 14–7	4–3	Tiger Stadium	53,555
8	November 3	Cleveland Browns	L 21–33	4–4	Kezar Stadium	31,359
9	November 10	at Chicago Bears	L 19–27	4–5	Wrigley Field	46,978
10	November 17	Los Angeles Rams	T 20–20	4–5–1	Kezar Stadium	41,815
11	November 24	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 45–28	5–5–1	Pitt Stadium	21,408
12	December 1	Green Bay Packers	W 27–20	6–5–1	Kezar Stadium	47,218
13	December 8	Minnesota Vikings	L 20–30	6–6–1	Kezar Stadium	29,049
14	December 15	at Atlanta Falcons	W 14–12	7–6–1	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	44,977
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFL Coastal
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts	13	1	0	.929	6–0	10–0	402	144	W8
Los Angeles Rams	10	3	1	.769	3–2–1	6–3–1	312	200	L2
San Francisco 49ers	7	6	1	.538	2–3–1	4–5–1	303	310	W1
Atlanta Falcons	2	12	0	.143	0–6	1–9	170	389	L4

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.