The 49ers first went out and signed left guard Ray Brown from the Washington Redskins. This huge man, part of the group of offensive linemen known as the "Hogs", was part of a rebuilding process of the offensive line. While he was a savvy veteran, he was a definite upgrade over the other option, which was to platoon guard Rod Milstead. Jessie Suppolu was the new center, following Bart Oates' retirement. He had made his second consecutive Pro Bowl, and was known as the anchor of the 49ers' offensive line.

The new line would feature Suppolu, Brown, Dalman, Harris Barton, and Kirk Scrafford. When Barton went down to a knee injury which would later claim his career, it sent extreme fear throughout the organization. Luckily, they had signed Steve Wallace, earlier released (more on that in a moment) from the waver wire (Eagles). The 49ers finally worked out the contract with Doleman, and it was a bargain (4.5 million average/year) for the production he would later bring in.

But the 49ers had many more questions. Still, the team desired a runningback, and William Floyd, who blew out his knee in a home game against Carolina, would be out for the first half of the season. The team had signed Johnny Johnson, who had run for over 900 yards for the New York Jets, as a possible addition to the RB corps. But he was coming off of a major knee injury. Still, the team wanted another back. They signed Tommy Vardell, who had been a long-time back as a Cleveland Brown, to fill in for Floyd. Not a real good blocker, Vardell got the nickname "Touchdown Tommy" for taking it in at the goal line. Yet the 49ers, who had absolutely no running game in 1995, decided to pursue RB Rodney Hampton of the Giants. Hampton was coming off of a 1,000-yard season, and was one of the best feature backs in the league at the time. The 49ers signed him to an offer sheet, and 49er fans throughout the Bay Area were temporarily overcome with joy. But then, during a Knicks game, it was announced by a member of the Giants' front office that they had matched the 49ers' offer on Hampton, ending the possibility for a running game, and for Hampton to make the playoffs.

The 49ers had made some cap concerning cuts prior to the offer sheet signing. DE Dennis Brown and OT Steve Wallace were cut in order to make room. With the empty cap room, the 49ers could see nothing else to do but bring back two decent players who had helped them in the past. As the season began, the 49ers had also added another DE, former Viking Roy Barker. He was a teammate of Doleman's at Minnesota, where the two were the most feared duo in the league at the time. The 49ers hoped to bring back some of the Minnesota magic, and also loved Barker's strength and run stuffing ability on the outside.

The 49ers started off on a rampage. They easily manhandled the Saints and Rams, setting the early tone that they simply owned the division. But then disaster struck. For the third game of the season, the 2-0 Niners headed into Carolina, to face the 2-0 Panthers, a 2nd year franchise. Before this game, a Panthers fan popped out of nowhere and told me, as I was wearing my 49ers cap, "Your team's gonna lose!" Of course, I shrugged it off, figuring this guy was nuts. But come Sunday, the 49ers were stumped by something they'd never seen before. Something called a "Zone Blitz" defense was eating them alive, dumping Steve Young on the grass, and causing passes to be thrown into the ground. The Panthers manhandled the 49ers 23-7, and that was when many Super Bowl hopes were crushed.

The team went on to a steady pace, but always fell short in the big games. They lost to Green Bay, because of unfair calls such as one where Packer WR Don Beebe picked up the ball after clearly being touched and down, and ran 38 yards for a TD to cut the lead to 17-14. The 49ers lost a 50-yard field goal in overtime by Chris Jackie that hit the bottom of the pole goalpost, and bounced over. They also dropped a game at home against Dallas, in which it went into overtime yet again. Steve Young*** threw a costly interception right after a Cowboy turnover late in the 4th quarter allowing Dallas to tie the game up. The 49ers, however, put on a late season explosion. It started against the Baltimore Ravens. The most noticeable improvement, was Brent Jones' play. The man had been completely shut down all season long in the passing game, but he went on a receiving tear late in the season. Steve Young was throwing bullets again, and Rice was back to his normal self. J.J Stokes had been injured after only 8 games, and Terrell Owens, a super-impressive rookie, moved into the starting lineup. Owens was a big-play machine, and showed only glimpses of the awesome superstar he would later become.

The offense rolled against Baltimore after being down at one point 20-17. They ended up winning 38-20, as they should've against a poor football team. They headed into Washington, and ended their overtime drout with a win. They even gave Carolina a major scare, where Steve Young hooked up late in the game with a TD pass to Jerry Rice to make it 30-24. But the 49ers weren't going to win the division, and had to settle for something they had never counted on. A Wildcard birth. As the 4th seed, the Niners went into the playoffs and started out against Ray Rhodes and the Philadelphia Eagles. The 49ers had problems early on handling the Eagles offense, but were able to keep them out of the endzone, and off the scoreboard. And when Young came up with two big plays (long passes to Jerry Rice), the 49ers were able to blank the Eagles 14-0.

They moved into the divisional playoffs against Green Bay. It was rainy, and ugly, and Steve Young had a terrible rib injury. Young played only the first series, and he had so much trouble even breathing in the huddle, he was taken out and replaced by Grbac, despite the 49ers' plans. Grbac did an excellent job of leading the team down the field, and coming back from a 21-0 start to cut the lead to 21-14. But despite several long drives, nearly every one of them ended in a fumble. The rain killed the 49ers' chances at pulling off a major upset, and their season ended in ugly fashion-35-14 Packers.

Many felt the Niners needed to completely tear down the organization, and rebuild. But President Carmon Policy and Dwight Clark had something else in mind. They had watched the team suffer without a running game for long enough, and they were about to give 49ers fans some of the best moments of their lives as fans with a new back, one who they would take extreme pride in.