The San Francisco 49ers spent the aughts living in the shadow of their success of the eighties and nineties and failing badly along the way. The 49ers finally returned to the playoffs in 2011 and are seemingly in good hands now under general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Jim Harbaugh.

RealGM has been using a statistic called the Trench Counter to rank NFL teams since the 2007 season.

The Trench Counter accounts for average yards per pass, yards per carry, penalty yards, first downs and turnovers to determine how well teams control the game in the most meaningful ways.

The 49ers rank 17th in Trench Counter from the 2007 season through 2011.

Below are their season-by-season rankings, Trench Counter totals and actual record in parentheses.

2007: 32nd, -8.0 (5-11)
2008: 22nd, -1.1 (7-9)
2009: 13th, +2.3 (8-8)
2010: 20th, -1.2 (6-10)
2011: 6th, +5.4 (13-3)