... thing, but the blood-red 49ers of 2010 are going to be a different creature entirely.

In the 80's, the 49ers knew this: their offense was a pass-based approach more ahead of its time than the personal computer, and their defense would sting you like angry hornets. Their special teams, however, were never much beyond average for the NFL.

In the 90's, the balance stayed the same. Steve Young and Jerry Rice would run wild on teams, and the defense would beat them senseless, but the special teams would never yield much more than returns to the 25 yard-line and solid punt and kickoff coverage.

Then the dark ages came, but I'm not here to talk about those. This article is about the return of returning.

I looked back on arti...

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