The 49ers joined a select club last Sunday — the four-win club. They became just the third team to go from four wins one year to the Super Bowl the next, joining the 1988-89 Bengals and 1999-2000 Rams.

Below is a look at how those three teams went from bad to the Big Game:

On paper, the Bengals were a bad team in 1987, going 4-11. But there was talent. The players’ strike created friction, particularly between coach Sam Wyche and quarterback Boomer Esiason, and the team lost several games in the final quarter, including a crushing Week 2 loss to the 49ers on a Joe Montana touchdown pass in the final seconds.

The following year, with Wyche and Esiason patching things up, Cincinnati put its problems in the past, starting the year 7-1 and going undefeated at home. Rookie second-round pick Ickey Woods led the Bengals in rushing, and Esiason enjoyed one of his best seasons as a pro, throwing for 28 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, behind one of the best offensive lines in the game.

“There was a lot of crap we had to get over coming back [from 1987],” said Esiason, who is now an “NFL on CBS” analyst. “As the season wore on and the teams we beat were pretty good, the more confidence we gained.”

Nine consecutive losing seasons culminated in a 4-12 campaign in 1998. The following year the Rams didn’t lose four games the entire season, a stunning turnaround under coach Dick Vermeil and “The Greatest Show on Turf” offense.

During the preseason, quarterback Trent Green tore his ACL, leaving the job to Kurt Warner. An unknown at the time, Warner put up dazzling numbers en route to league MVP honors, throwing for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdown passes. The offense scored at least 30 points 12 times in the regular season (and once in the playoffs) and the defense produced seven pick-sixes, the third-most in NFL history.

Newcomer Marshall Faulk, acquired in an offseason trade with the Colts, averaged a career-best 5.5 yards per carry, running for 1,381 yards and producing 12 touchdowns to win the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award. Rookie wide receiver Torry Holt provided an immediate impact — teaming with Isaac Bruce, Ricky Proehl and Az-Zahir Hakim to form a potent receiving corps that helped the Rams go 13-3 and win their first Super Bowl.

After finishing the 2017 season strong, winning their final five games, there were high hopes in 2018 for the 49ers. But quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL in Week 3 and the year deteriorated from there.

There was a silver lining. Thanks to its 4-12 record, San Francisco wound up with the second pick in the draft, which it used to draft Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa. The 49ers also traded for disgruntled Chiefs defensive end Dee Ford and Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders in October.

Bosa and Ford combined for 15.5 regular-season sacks, leading a defense that produced 27 takeaways after managing just seven the year before. A healthy Garoppolo completed 69.1 percent of his passes and threw 27 touchdown passes, meshing well with a run-heavy attack as the 49ers began the year 8-0.

For more on the NFL playoffs, listen to the latest episode of the “Gang’s All Here” podcast: