SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is something of a football historian, well-schooled in great teams and players of the past.

One of Shanahan's favorite pastimes is quizzing players on various legends who played their position. For example, he's asked some of his recent running backs about Marcus Allen, only to get confused looks and incorrect answers in return.

At 37, Shanahan's historical knowledge only goes so far. So, as the Niners dropped to 0-7 Sunday on the same day that more than 30 members of San Francisco's first Super Bowl championship team were in attendance, it was up to an outside voice to offer some encouragement in the form of a history lesson.

Shanahan grew up around the Niners organization and knew some of the basics of how the franchise's dynasty of the 1980s began, but he didn't know all the details. More to the point, he didn't know that before Bill Walsh and the Niners broke through and triumphed in Super Bowl XVI in January 1982, they first had to endure one of the worst seasons in franchise history, a season that started very much like this one for the 49ers.

“I know they won the Super Bowl," Shanahan said. "I knew they weren't very good when Bill got here. I knew that. I didn't know those exact records and stuff. That was definitely told to me by someone trying to give me some encouragement. I used it. I appreciated it. I don't use it just to say it. I'm not telling you guys just to make you guys feel better. I just thought it was neat for our players to hear.

“I think people do get down and the whole world's caving in, and I understand that because it does feel that way. But also don't lose perspective. To me, it's part of a process that is very important. And I wish it could be another way, but this is the way it is. And I feel I can handle anything. I really believe that. And I believe I'm hoping we've got the right guys in the room that can handle anything, too.”

With so many former Niners greats in town for ceremonies honoring Dwight Clark, who provided Shanahan with that insight? None other than Shanahan's father, Mike Shanahan, the former Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins coach who also worked for the Niners and knows plenty about the organization's rise to prominence.

The elder Shanahan also was in town for Sunday's game against Dallas, and though Kyle didn't have a chance to plan something special between the Niners alumni and his current team, he did get a chance to say hello.

Kyle Shanahan recounted seeing former Niners cornerback Eric Wright, whom Shanahan fondly recalled used to throw him in an ice tub on a regular basis. He said hello to former Niners owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. for the first time since Shanahan was a young ball boy for the team. Along the way, the coach stopped to see his parents, and when he did, he also saw Clark and many of the other former players.

"I didn't get a chance to hang out with people much," Shanahan said. "[But] it was cool."

But before any of that, Shanahan and his father took a walk down the 49ers' memory lane. Mike Shanahan pointed out that the last time the Niners opened the season with seven straight losses was in 1979. That was Walsh's first season in charge of the team. San Francisco, which finished 2-14 that year, was embarking on a rebuild that figured to take some time.

The next year, the 49ers made a jump to 6-10, and then it clicked in Year 3. That was the 1981 season, which featured the magic of "The Catch," which the Niners rode to a win in Super Bowl XVI.

On Saturday night, Shanahan relayed that history lesson to his team.

"[We've] got a lot of young guys in there, so you've got to tell them a lot of stuff sometimes," Shanahan said. "But I was telling them how big of a team that was because they were the first team to win a Super Bowl here … and I kind of talked to them a little bit about the '79 season, when they were 2-14. Talked to them about the '80 season when they were 6-10. And I told them how the '81 season was what started it all, and talked to them about how I don't think they just got to that '81 season.

"I think they went through a lot of stuff in those two years prior to that, and some hard work. And they had to grind out and find out the types of people that Coach Walsh wanted on that team. And I think they went through a lot of adversity to get to that '81 team. I kind of made some comparisons to what we're going through right now."

At 0-7, the 49ers certainly are going through the adverse steps that a dramatic rebuild often requires. Although Shanahan admits to not having seen much of the 1979 team, he said he would like to believe his current team is further along than Walsh's squad. Only time will tell if that proves to be true.

For now, consider it an opportunity for Shanahan to point to a significant piece of franchise lore as an example of what goes into attaining, then sustaining success.

"I know we don't have that record to show for it, but I just try to put it in perspective to people that no matter how tough things are, no matter how bad people can say they are, that you've got to be strong-minded," Shanahan said. "You've got to know where you're going and what it's going to take to get there. Just because it's hard on your way there doesn't mean that you can stop believing in what you think is important and working at it every day, and I think they're a perfect example of a team that did that.”