Why 49ers can buck trend of 30-point streak ending in playoff loss

Why 49ers can buck trend of 30-point streak ending in playoff loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The 49ers joined elite company with their 42-10 thumping of the Dallas Cowboys, becoming just the sixth team in NFL history to score at least 30 points in each of their first five games to start a season.

The only other teams to ever accomplish this feat are the 2000 St. Louis Rams, 2007 New England Patriots, 2011 New England Patriots, 2013 Denver Broncos, and 2018 Los Angeles Rams.

After joining this prestigious list, the good news for the 49ers is that all five of these teams qualified for the postseason, with four of the five reaching the Super Bowl that same season.

However, the bad news is that none of the four teams who made it to the Super Bowl won it.

All five of the previous teams to accomplish this feat finished the season ranked in the top three of both points scored and offensive yardage, with three of those five finishing their respective seasons as the league's top-ranked unit in both categories.

But one area where the 2023 49ers have set themselves apart from most of the other teams on this exclusive list is an elite defense to pair with their high-flying offense.

San Francisco currently boasts the league's number-one scoring defense, allowing just 13.6 points per game, while their explosive offense averages 33.4 points per game.

The other five teams on this list combined to allow an average of 23.34 points per game, with the 2007 Patriots being the only one to allow less than 20 points per game (17.1).

With the exception of those 2007 Patriots, the rest of these teams pale in comparison to the 2023 49ers when it comes to being elite on both sides of the ball.

In fact, those 2007 Patriots who famously went undefeated in the regular season are by far the closest parallel to this year's version of the 49ers among those teams.

New England finished that season with a top-five offense and defense, which the 49ers currently are on pace to do themselves.

The 49ers will look to emulate that dominant style of football while eluding the heartbreaking Super Bowl loss that left that New England team just shy of a perfect season over fifteen years ago.

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