The 1981 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 32nd season in the National Football League (NFL), their 36th overall and their third under head coach Bill Walsh. The team finished the regular season with a 13–3 record. (Their first winning season in 5 years (1976)) The season was one of the franchise's most successful seasons to that point and was considered to be "the birth of a dynasty", when the 49ers began a decade of dominance over much of the NFL. The 49ers drew an average home attendance of 54,398 in the 1981 NFL season.