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You don’t get a Dolphins vs 49ers matchup very often – Miami and San Francisco sit in separate conferences, so the schedule rotation used to pair them up every four years or so. Lately that has tightened to every other season, and the latest one went down on Sunday, September 20, 2026, with the Dolphins making the long trip west to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

The 49ers walked in as one of the NFC’s real contenders, still riding Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and a fresh 27-7 win over the Rams in Australia. The Dolphins were somewhere else entirely – first-year head coach Jeff Hafley is trying to jump-start a rebuild around new quarterback Malik Willis. Calling this a “rivalry” is a stretch, honestly – just 17 meetings total since 1973 – but a Miami Dolphins vs San Francisco 49ers game comes with one giant piece of history attached, and that’s Super Bowl XIX.

It finished 35-13, and it was every bit as lopsided as the score looks. The Niners scored touchdowns on their first five possessions, Purdy missed exactly two throws all afternoon, and Miami’s best moment came with under three minutes left, long after the game was decided.

So here’s what matters: where each team stands right now, how the series has actually played out over the decades, a full look at Sunday’s game with player stats, how to catch these teams next, and some quick FAQs to wrap things up.

San Francisco 49ers: Chasing Ring No. 6 With Brock Purdy

San Francisco hasn’t gotten to this point by blowing things up every couple of years. John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan are ten seasons into working together, and they’ve leaned on the same recipe for a long time now – a zone run game that’s a pain to defend, a quarterback who throws on time, and a defense built around Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. The frustrating part is how close it keeps getting. Two Super Bowl trips under Shanahan, two losses, and Super Bowl XXIX is still the last title on the wall.

Last season looked cleaner on paper than it felt. The Niners went 12-5 despite one of the ugliest injury lists in the league (only two teams lost more man games), grabbed the No. 6 seed, and won a wild-card game in Philadelphia, 23-19. Then Seattle blew them out 41-6 in the divisional round and went on to win the whole thing. That kind of loss sticks around.

The front office spent money again this offseason. Mike Evans came over from Tampa Bay, linebacker Dre Greenlaw was added, and Jauan Jennings left for Minnesota. Week 1 then sent the team about as far from home as the league can – a Thursday-night game in Melbourne, Australia – and it flew back with a 27-7 win over the Rams.

What Makes San Francisco’s Offense Tick

• Purdy on time and on schedule – he makes quick decisions, throws with rhythm, and can still make something happen with his feet when a play breaks down
• McCaffrey is still the engine – 1,202 rushing yards and 102 catches last year, good enough for Comeback Player of the Year
• George Kittle is back from the Achilles tear he suffered in January, and Kyle Juszczyk is still one of the best fullbacks in the game
• Evans gives Shanahan the deep threat on the outside that the offense lacked last fall, with Deebo Samuel working underneath
• Trent Williams anchoring the left side of a line that’s good in some spots and shaky in others

San Francisco 49ers Snapshot

Detail
Division	NFC West
Franchise QB	Brock Purdy (5th season)
Head coach	Kyle Shanahan (10th season)
GM	John Lynch
Identity	Zone run game + Purdy’s timing + a star-heavy defense
Recent form	12-5 in 2025, won a road playoff game, lost in the divisional round
2026 season start	1-0 after a 27-7 win over the Rams in Week 1 (now 2-0)

The Melbourne opener went well. Purdy was 25 of 34 for 205 yards and three touchdowns (with one interception), McCaffrey carried 10 times for 68 yards, and Warner made 11 tackles. The offense gained 379 yards and moved the chains on better than 58% of its third downs. Then came the home opener in Santa Clara, which looked, at least on paper, like a pretty big mismatch between a contender and a team still trying to figure out who it is.

Miami Dolphins: A Fresh Start Under Jeff Hafley

Miami’s not telling anything close to the same story. The Dolphins went 7-10 in 2025, and a lot of people paid for it – general manager Chris Grier was let go in October, and Mike McDaniel was fired on January 8. Both replacements came over from Green Bay: general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, and head coach Jeff Hafley, the Packers’ defensive coordinator, who was hired on January 19.

Then came the housecleaning. Tua Tagovailoa was released and landed in Atlanta. Tyreek Hill was cut, Jaylen Waddle was traded to Denver, and Minkah Fitzpatrick was sent out too. All of that left a pile of dead money on the cap, so a big share of this year’s budget belongs to players who aren’t even on the roster. The plan now is to build through the draft and play a tougher brand of football than the speed-and-finesse McDaniel teams did. Most preseason projections had Miami somewhere around four or five wins.

Malik Willis is really what this whole thing is built around. He followed Sullivan and Hafley from Green Bay after two years behind Jordan Love, and this is his first real shot at a starting job. Next to him is De’Von Achane, who ran for 1,350 yards last season and signed an extension this summer, and after that the roster gets young in a hurry – rookie receiver Caleb Douglas, rookie guard Kadyn Proctor and rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez are all playing real roles.

What Makes Miami’s Offense Tick

• Achane is the offense – he runs, he catches, and defenses have to find him on every snap
• Willis brings a big arm and real speed, with consistency the open question
• Fresh faces at receiver – Douglas, Malik Washington, Chris Bell and Ryan Miller are all still working out where they fit
• Center Aaron Brewer and left tackle Patrick Paul leading an offensive line that’s still being put together
• A young defense with Rodriguez in the middle that hasn’t found a way to get to the quarterback yet

Miami Dolphins Snapshot

Detail
Division	AFC East
Franchise QB	Malik Willis (1st season in Miami)
Head coach	Jeff Hafley (1st season)
GM	Jon-Eric Sullivan
Identity	Rebuilding around a dynamic back and a first-year staff
Recent form	7-10 in 2025, missed the playoffs
2026 season start	0-1 after a 27-13 loss at Las Vegas in Week 1 (now 0-2)

Not the debut Hafley wanted. Miami dropped its opener to the Raiders, 27-13, and special teams did a lot of the damage by giving up two kickoff returns of 40-plus yards. Willis ran in a touchdown and hit Douglas five times for 94 yards, but he never threw a touchdown pass and did throw an interception. Achane touched the ball only 15 times for 66 yards, and the offense finished with 259 yards while converting just 20% of its third downs. Everybody has bad openers. This one just happened to be followed by a cross-country trip to one of the best teams in the NFC.

NFL Schedule This Week (Week 3, 2026)

Kickoff for the Dolphins vs 49ers game came at 4:25 p.m. ET from Levi’s Stadium, with FOX carrying the national broadcast. These two barely cross paths as it is, so a game like this stands out on an otherwise ordinary slate.

Team	Next Matchup	Date	Location
San Francisco 49ers	vs Arizona Cardinals	Sun, Sept 27	Home
Miami Dolphins	vs Kansas City Chiefs	Sun, Sept 27	Home

Both teams are back home next week – San Francisco hosts a division opponent before a trip to Seattle in Week 5, while Miami opens at Hard Rock Stadium against the Chiefs, which is a tough way to try to recover from 0-2.

Head-to-Head History: The Full Timeline

This series goes back further than most people probably realize – all the way to 1973, when Miami was the defending champion and San Francisco wasn’t close to being a dynasty yet. The Dolphins won the early games, the Niners took over in the Bill Walsh years and most of the 90s, and Miami has come out ahead more often over the last twenty years. Every meeting is below, newest first (location is from the winner’s point of view):

Date	Winner	Location	Score	Notes
09/20/2026	49ers	Home	35-13	McCaffrey scores his 100th career touchdown
12/22/2024	Dolphins	Home	29-17	Achane runs for 120 yards and a score
12/04/2022	49ers	Home	33-17	Purdy’s first NFL snaps after Garoppolo’s injury
10/11/2020	Dolphins	Away	43-17	Largest margin in series history (26 pts)
11/27/2016	Dolphins	Home	31-24	Seven-point Miami win
12/09/2012	49ers	Home	27-13	Comfortable Niners win in the Bay Area
12/14/2008	Dolphins	Home	14-9	Low-scoring grinder in Miami
11/28/2004	Dolphins	Away	24-17	Miami wins in San Francisco
12/16/2001	49ers	Home	21-0	Only shutout in the series
11/20/1995	49ers	Away	44-20	Monday night blowout (24-point margin)
12/06/1992	49ers	Home	27-3	Another 24-point Niners win
09/28/1986	49ers	Away	31-16	Niners win in Miami
01/20/1985	49ers	Neutral	38-16	Super Bowl XIX – Montana vs. Marino
11/06/1983	Dolphins	Away	20-17	Three-point Miami win
11/16/1980	Dolphins	Home	17-13	Miami holds on
09/25/1977	Dolphins	Away	19-15	Four-point Miami win
09/16/1973	Dolphins	Home	21-13	Their very first game

Miami Dolphins lead the all-time series 9-8, including the Super Bowl. Total points across the series: 49ers 398, Dolphins 316.

A Few Things Worth Pointing Out

• Just one playoff meeting between these two – Super Bowl XIX, a 38-16 Niners win at Stanford Stadium
• San Francisco’s best run was five wins in a row, from that Super Bowl through 2001, while Miami’s was four straight, from 1973 through 1983
• The biggest margin belongs to Miami (26 points in 2020), and the Niners’ best is 24, done twice
• Sunday’s 22-point win ties Super Bowl XIX as the third-biggest 49ers win in the series
• Miami has won five of the last eight meetings, though the Niners have taken two of the last three

Three Eras of the Rivalry

Break it down and this series really falls into three distinct stretches.

Era 1: Miami’s Early Edge (1973-1986) The Dolphins won the first four meetings, none by more than eight points, and none of them are games anybody remembers fondly. Then Bill Walsh’s team showed up in January 1985 and everything changed. San Francisco won Super Bowl XIX and followed it with a 31-16 win in Miami the next season.

Era 2: The 49ers Take Over (1992-2001) This is where the series got one-sided. The Niners won 27-3, 44-20 and 21-0 in three straight meetings, and the closest of them was a 21-point game. Neither team has had a stretch as lopsided as that before or since.

Era 3: The Modern Matchups (2004-Present) The good stuff. Miami won four of the first five, including a 43-17 statement in 2020. Then came 2022, remembered mostly because Purdy took his first NFL snaps that day after Jimmy Garoppolo got hurt. Miami took 2024, and Sunday just adds to this chapter, though the two sides are walking in from opposite ends now – a contender on one side, a rebuild on the other.

The Latest Meeting: 49ers 35, Dolphins 13 (Sept. 20, 2026)

For about a quarter and a half, this looked like a real game. Miami’s opening drive went nine plays before Riley Patterson missed a 51-yard field goal. San Francisco answered with a 12-play, 59-yard drive that McCaffrey finished from a yard out. Miami came right back with a 17-play, 63-yard march that ate up more than nine minutes, but it stalled inside the 10 and had to settle for a field goal. That’s around when the momentum started to tip.

On the next Niners possession, Purdy scrambled for 10 and then 18 yards, hit Demarcus Robinson for 19, and finished the drive himself with a two-yard run to make it 14-3. Patterson kicked another field goal right before halftime, and the score sat at 14-6. Here’s the strange part – Miami actually out-gained San Francisco 165-125 in the first half and held the ball almost twice as long. The Niners got only two possessions and scored a touchdown on both.

With under three minutes left, Willis hit Ryan Miller for a 77-yard touchdown, the Dolphins’ only touchdown pass of the season so far. Afterward, Hafley took the blame, saying the team wasn’t coached well enough in the second half.

Passing Leaders

• Brock Purdy (SF): 20 of 22, 287 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 149.1 rating
• Malik Willis (MIA): 14 of 23, 197 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, sacked four times

Rushing Leaders

• De’Von Achane (MIA): 20 carries, 74 yards
• Brock Purdy (SF): 3 carries, 30 yards, 1 TD
• Christian McCaffrey (SF): 10 carries, 23 yards, 2 TD

Receiving Leaders

• George Kittle (SF): 4 catches, 80 yards, 1 TD
• Ryan Miller (MIA): 1 catch, 77 yards, 1 TD
• Mike Evans (SF): 3 catches, 54 yards

Purdy completed 18 passes in a row at one point and was never sacked. McCaffrey’s two touchdowns pushed his career total to 100 in just 114 games – only LaDainian Tomlinson, Emmitt Smith and Shaun Alexander got there faster in the Super Bowl era – and he joined Marshall Faulk and Randy Moss as the only players with 50 touchdowns for two different franchises. It was also a little payback for San Francisco, since Miami beat the Niners 29-17 in December 2024, in a game where Achane ran for 120 yards.

Miami Dolphins vs 49ers Match Player Stats

Here are the individual lines from Sunday’s game, side by side.

San Francisco 49ers

• Brock Purdy, QB: 20/22, 287 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT; 3 carries for 30 yards and a touchdown
• Christian McCaffrey, RB: 10 carries, 23 yards, 2 TD; 4 catches for 43 yards
• George Kittle, TE: 4 catches, 80 yards, 1 TD
• Mike Evans, WR: 3 catches, 54 yards
• Kyle Juszczyk, FB: 2 catches, 27 yards, 1 TD
• Defense: four sacks as a team (Marques Sigle and Keion White among them), with Bosa and Warner both getting after the quarterback

Miami Dolphins

• Malik Willis, QB: 14/23, 197 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT; 2 carries for 6 yards
• De’Von Achane, RB: 20 carries, 74 yards; 3 catches for 19 yards
• Ryan Miller, WR: 1 catch, 77 yards, 1 TD
• Malik Washington, WR: 4 catches, 43 yards
• Caleb Douglas, WR: 2 catches, 19 yards (left with an ankle injury)
• Michael Taaffe, DB: 9 tackles (team high); Jacob Rodriguez, LB: 8 tackles
• Riley Patterson, K: 2 of 3 on field goals (made from 28 and 24, missed from 51)

A few things stand out. Take away Miller’s late touchdown and Willis was 13 of 22 for 120 yards. Douglas looked like a breakout guy in Week 1 and then barely showed up here. And Miami’s defense finished with no sacks and just one tackle for loss, which goes a long way toward explaining why Purdy looked so comfortable.

Where Both Teams Stand After Week 2

Two weeks in, and the gap between these rosters is already there in black and white. San Francisco is averaging about 31 points and 381 yards a game, while Miami sits at 13 points and roughly 272 yards. Third down’s been another story too – the Niners converted better than 58% in Week 1 and went five for seven on Sunday, while the Dolphins were stuck at 20% in their opener. Here’s how Sunday’s game looked on the box score:

Stat	San Francisco 49ers	Miami Dolphins
Points	35	13
Total Yards	382	284
Time of Possession	29:47	30:13
Total Defensive Sacks	4	0
Turnover Differential	+0	+0

Purdy has been about as clean as it gets lately – 20 of 22 for 287 yards and three total touchdowns on Sunday, after three touchdowns in the opener too. Willis has shown some upside, but the consistency isn’t quite there yet – 14 of 23 for 197 yards and a touchdown against the Niners, with most of that yardage coming on one late bomb. Then there’s McCaffrey, who is already at 100 career touchdowns, against Achane, who carried 20 times for 74 yards. Worth noting on turnovers, too: neither team was officially charged with one on Sunday, though Pinion’s dropped punt sure felt like a giveaway.

Coaching Matchup: Shanahan vs. Hafley

These two coaches know each other, and it’s really a matchup of two very different career moments. Hafley was on Shanahan’s first 49ers staff back in 2017 and 2018, and afterward he pointed out how much the veterans from that time, like Kittle and Juszczyk, are still doing what they were doing then. Shanahan’s in year ten with two Super Bowl trips behind him and an offense built from the ground up around what Purdy and McCaffrey do best.

Hafley’s basically starting over. He came from Green Bay’s defense this January, and Miami brought him in with one job in mind – fix a franchise that had just cleared out its coach, its front office and a big chunk of its roster. He didn’t come alone – Sullivan and Willis both followed him from Green Bay, and Bobby Slowik is running the offense.

Factor	San Francisco (Shanahan)	Miami (Hafley)
Experience level	10th season, two Super Bowl trips	1st season as an NFL head coach
Offensive identity	Zone run game + play-action built around Purdy	Run-first around Achane, still developing around Willis
Staff pedigree	Klay Kubiak (OC), Raheem Morris (DC)	Bobby Slowik (OC), Green Bay-built front office
Program status	Established contender	Ground-up rebuild

At the end of the day, Sunday tells you more about where each franchise sits right now than it does about Xs and Os – a team with a steady staff and a proven quarterback against a team trying to figure out its identity under a whole new group.

Betting Angle: What the Odds Said

No surprise, given everything above, that San Francisco was a big favorite. Lines heading into kickoff had the Niners around -13.5 on the spread, with the moneyline sitting between -900 and -1100 depending on the book, and the total hovering between 44.5 and 46. Miami was a +610 to +660 underdog.

The Niners covered with room to spare. A 22-point win beat the spread by more than eight, and the 48 total points cleared every number that was posted. The trends leaned San Francisco’s way going in, too – the 49ers were 4-2 against the spread in their last six meetings with Miami, and the Over had hit in five of those six. Purdy was also sitting sixth on the MVP board at +1500 before the game, and a 149.1 passer rating won’t hurt him there.

Where to Watch NFL Games (Dolphins & 49ers Included)

• National broadcast: FOX had Sunday’s game at 4:25 p.m. ET / 1:25 p.m. PT
• Streaming: FOX One carried it live; NFL+ and NFL Sunday Ticket (exclusive to DirecTV) cover the out-of-market crowd
• Location: Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California (70,878 in attendance)
• Miami’s local coverage: WQAM 560 AM and 104.3 FM for Dolphins radio broadcasts
• San Francisco’s local coverage: the KNBR network for Niners radio broadcasts

The game itself ran two hours and 46 minutes, which is about right when one team scores five touchdowns on eight possessions. Given the rarity of these matchups, this probably isn’t a game you’ll see again for a while.

What’s Next for Both Teams

San Francisco is 2-0 and looking a lot healthier than many people expected this summer. Purdy is playing well enough to sit in the MVP conversation, Kittle looks like himself again, and Evans has already made a difference. The one real worry is at receiver – Stribling was out, Robinson got hurt during the game, and the run game still has work to do. Arizona comes to town next, then it’s a road trip to Seattle.

Miami’s got smaller, more immediate goals: figure out who this team is under Hafley after a rough start. The Chiefs come to Hard Rock Stadium next, with Willis and a retooled young roster still very much a work in progress. Some fans have already started talking about the No. 1 pick, which shows how quickly the mood has changed. There are bright spots, though – Achane finally got his touches, and Willis has the arm and legs to grow into the job.

Neither team’s season hinges on this one game. But for San Francisco, it showed the win in Australia wasn’t a fluke, and for Miami it was another reminder that this rebuild is going to take a while.

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Source: ESPN