The San Francisco 49ers are in the NFC Championship Game with a 24:21 win over the Green Bay Packers. After an overall weak performance, superstar Christian McCaffrey finally pulled the coals out of the fire again.
Packers @ 49ers: At a glance
- Like last year, the 49ers are in the NFC Championship Game and have home advantage there, against either the Lions or the Buccaneers.
- The Niners were weak on offense for long stretches and only reached the red zone for the first time in the final minutes – where they scored the touchdown to win.
- A Jordan Love, who was actually in a good mood, sealed the Packers’ defeat with an interception seconds before the end.
Packers @ 49ers: The analysis
With about half a minute left, an exciting and at times completely crazy playoff game in the pouring rain ended with a late pass from Jordan Love across the field – right into the arms of Niners linebacker Dre Greenlaw. Interception. Game over!
The Packers, who took the lead on their first drive after winning the coin toss with a field goal by Anders Carlson (29 YDS), moved the ball quite a bit before halftime. However, the bottom line was that they only had two field goals in the first half. They were also stopped once in the red zone on a fourth attempt.
The Niners, on the other hand, got lucky early on when a pass from Brock Purdy was dropped by Packers safety Darnell Savage. However, they still had to punt after an early injury to Deebo Samuel (concussion check). He came back, but then had to leave for good with a shoulder injury.
After the aforementioned turnover on downs, the home team made their first good drive. The end result was a 32-yard touchdown pass from Purdy to George Kittle, who ran away from his direct opponent Savage in man coverage and who got no help because the other safety, Anthony Johnson, moved aside to help Brandon Aiyuk .
It should also be mentioned that the Niners were very lucky right before that a pass that Purdy unnecessarily heaved out of the pocket far into the sideline without a receiver in sight was not punished as intentional grounding. In the final minutes, the Niners got the ball back again after the Packers’ second field goal, but then wasted time and their timeouts and settled for a field goal attempt, which was blocked. 7-6 Niners at halftime.
Packers @ 49ers: Game thaws out after halftime
The game picked up pace in the second half. The Niners had to punt and a memorable and chaotic drive ensued. Jordan Love missed a toss to Aaron Jones, who was not where he should have been, resulting in a large loss of space. The result was a shot at 3rd & 15 and Niners cornerback Ambry Thomas ran over receiver Bo Melton for a pass interference that gave the Packers 41 yards.
Love then threw a 19-yard touchdown to Melton, who took advantage of the Niners’ weak coverage. The Packers were in 12-personnel, the Packers countered with their base defense, which meant that linebacker Oren Burks was in the slot on Melton and the latter took advantage of the match.
The Niners struck back with a chunk play by Kittle and a 39-yard touchdown by Christian McCaffrey up the middle. But the home side’s 14:13 lead didn’t last long, because Keisean Nixon returned the kickoff to the 27 and then lost the ball, which his teammate Eric Wilson captured at the 20. Shortly after, Love found Tucker Kraft for another touchdown and shortly after Aaron Jones for a two-point conversion.
As a result, the Niners only managed a 52-yard field goal. After punts on both sides, the guests found themselves within field goal range after a long run from Jones. But with 6:18 minutes on the clock in the final quarter, Carlson missed the attempt from 41 yards left, leaving the door wide open for the Niners.
The Niners took this assist and had their best drive of the entire game. After twelve plays, which mainly included precise passes from Purdy, not only were they in the red zone for the first time, but McCaffrey also ran for his second touchdown of the game over six yards. But there were 1:07 minutes left on the clock and the Packers still had all their timeouts.
The Love interception ended this game and, like last year, sent the Niners into the NFC Championship Game, in which they will again have home advantage. The opponent will be the winner of the game between the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Sunday, 9 p.m. live on RTL).
Green Bay Packers (#7) @ San Francisco 49ers (#1)
Result: 21:24 (3:0, 3:7, 15:7, 0:10) BOXSCORE
Packers @ 49ers: Key stats
- With this game, Aaron Jones has now achieved at least 100 rushing yards five times in a row. No Green Bay Packers player had ever achieved this before him.
- Jones is also the first 100-yard rusher the Niners have allowed in 51 games in a row. That was the longest active such streak in the NFL.
- The Packers were in the red zone five times and were 2-5 in it. The Packers, on the other hand, only made it into the red zone at the very end and scored the touchdown to win.
The star of the game: Christian McCaffrey (running back, 49ers)
In the end, 128 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns on just 24 touchdowns were enough to get the Niners into the championship game once again. And that in a game that was particularly slow offensively. However, the team’s best man was there when he was needed – especially in a phase in which the other big playmaker, Deebo Samuel, was missing.
The flop of the game: Secondary (Packers)
Overall, the Packers defense did a good job. But she also dropped at least two possible interceptions from Purdy that could have given the game a completely different turn. In addition, the assignment for the Kittle touchdown didn’t fit at all. Particularly worth mentioning here is Darnell Savage, who suffered a drop and lost a duel with Kittle.
Analysis: Packers @ 49ers – that stood out tactically
- The Packers played mostly zone coverage. In one of the few times they switched to man, the Niners punished it with the Kittle touchdown, but that was due to a miscommunication in the secondary.
- What was noticeable about the 49ers was that they almost never relied on play action. Although less than 25 percent of Purdy’s dropbacks this season were with PA, in this game the percentage dropped to less than ten percent. In addition, despite his good plays, McCaffrey and the run game were relied on relatively rarely, for no clear reason.
- The Niners tried to attack the Packers’ linebackers in the passing game. However, this rarely led to success because Purdy ultimately threw passes that were too imprecise in order to find receivers who were completely free. One reason for this was that the Packers repeatedly managed to put the QB under pressure.
- What was noticeable about the Niners was that they almost completely forewent blitzes against Love. The front alone was supposed to provide the pressure, but this usually didn’t work, especially on 3rd down.