By DJ Harding
The Green Bay Packers traveled into San Francisco facing the 49ers in divisional round action. Green Bay was the first seventh seed in NFL History to reach the divisional round. San Francisco meanwhile played their first game of the postseason after clinching the first seed during the regular season.
The Packers after upsetting the two seed Dallas Cowboys looked to have lightning strike twice by upsetting the one seed.
Green Bay looked like they were on their way to advancing to the NFC Championship scoring a field goal which put the first points on the board.
San Francisco in the first quarter couldn’t get the offense going having only one possession which lasted seven plays only having the ball for 3 minutes and 13 seconds. The Packers in comparison had the football for 11 minutes and 47 minutes.
The 49ers finally got on the scoreboard during their first second quarter drive. George Kittle caught the touchdown which put the 49ers ahead. The play was a 32 yard pass from Brock Purdy to Kittle giving the 49ers a 7-3 lead.
Green Bay then went down to score another field goal bringing the Packers within a point. San Francisco held a 7-6 lead going into halftime.
The Packers took the lead after halftime with Jordan Love leading his team down the field and throwing a 19 yard touchdown to Bo Melton.
Green Bay didn’t hold the lead for long as four plays and 75 yards later San Francisco saw Christian McCaffrey finish off the drive with a 32 yard rushing touchdown putting the 49ers back up by one point.
Love and the Packers answered right back, scoring what was the third straight touchdown drive between both teams. Love threw a two yard touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft, Green Bay also went for two with Love converting the two point conversion with a pass to Aaron Jones.
The 49ers found themselves down 21-14 going into the fourth quarter. San Francisco quickly shortened the lead to four points with Jake Moody hitting a 52 yard field goal early in the fourth quarter bringing the score to 21-17.
Anders Carlson got the chance to push Green Bay back to a seven point lead but couldn’t convert on a 41 yard field goal.
The 49ers then got the ball with a chance to take the lead. San Francisco then executed a 12 play 69 yard drive ending in another Christian McCaffery rushing touchdown.
McCaffrey’s second rushing touchdown gave the 49ers a 24-21 lead. The Packers had the chance to tie the game up but with the game on the line Jordan Love threw an interception sealing the game.
Postgame speaking on the interception, Love said “The play broke down. I was scrambling to the right. I saw Christian Watson over the middle and tried forcing one into him. I thought I could make the play. I didn’t see the backside linebacker. They made a great play.”
49ers linebacker Dre Greelaw who intercepted Love’s pass ran around for a bit which had the fans yelling at Greenlaw to get down to end the game. Greenlaw postgame commented on the fans yelling and said “Oh yeah. I heard them, but Fred Warner told me I was supposed to get a pick six, so it was kind of his fault.”
The 49ers won the game 24-21 booking their ticket to the NFC Championship. The 49ers hosting the one seed will have home field advantage.
Coach Kyle Shanahan told his team postgame “I just told them how proud I was of them. They knew the deal. I didn’t have to say much. We knew that it didn’t go as clean as we wanted it to in all three phases.”
San Francisco will get a chance to make up for the mistakes when they host the NFC Championship game on Sunday January 28 at 6:30PM EST.