It wasn’t a move made out of desperation as much as it was common sense.

The last time anyone wearing a 49ers returned a punt for a touchdown was on Sept. 11, 2011, when Ted Ginn Jr., who already had a kickoff return for a touchdown, closed out scoring against the Seahawks with a 55-yard punt return. The 49ers won 33-17.

In the ensuing 246 games, including the playoffs, the 49ers haven’t done it since. It’s a span of 500 returns by 25 different return specialists.

Enter Junior Bergen.

With their 11th and final pick in the NFL Draft, the 49ers selected Bergen out of Montana at No. 252 overall. Bergen, at 5-foot-10, 184 pounds, had many roles with the Grizzlies, but the one that caught the 49ers’ collective eye was a record eight punt returns for touchdowns, an all-time record in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision.

“We’ll throw him in with the receivers and see how that goes,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said at the conclusion of the draft. “But we brought him here to be a returner and try to make the team that way.”

Bergen also has a kickoff return touchdown, and he’s arriving for a season in which the NFL has altered the rules for touchbacks to be brought back to the 35-yard line, which will make teams less inclined to hammer kickoffs deep and instead play coverage.

It’s an interesting move in that the 49ers tend to keep special teams on the down low, with a philosophy of holding their own rather than being a deciding factor in winning and losing.

Although Bergen is not blindingly fast (a 4.52 40-yard dash time at his pro day), Bobby Hauck, his coach at Montana, explained his success this way in a phone interview:

“He’s not going to be the fastest guy on the field. He wasn’t in college, but he’s fast enough and it didn’t stop him from getting into the end zone. He’s got a good feel for what’s going on around him. I would call it point guard ability. He just instinctively knows where everybody is.”

Hauck, who has been a special teams coordinator and handles that duty as the Montana head coach, said he can’t ever remember Bergen fumbling a return — even while playing in the severe weather elements the state has to offer.

“He’s not going to be afraid of a little rain or snow,” Hauck said. “He can catch them in Green Bay. Catching punts with all those people storming on you is a personality trait as well as a skill. You’ve got to be tough-minded.”

According to 49ers general manager John Lynch, new special teams coordinator Brant Boyer and assistant Colt Anderson, both with Montana ties, campaigned for Bergen before the final pick. Boyer’s son Brayton is a kicker at Montana and Anderson is a Grizzlies alum.