The Niners send Green Bay packing and advance to the NFC championship

By Faith Pinnow, WEBN

BOSTON – The San Francisco 49ers knocked the Green Bay Packers out of the playoffs
Saturday night, handing them a 24-21 loss in the NFC divisional round.

Despite the Northern California rain, the Packers started the first half at Levi’s Stadium
with three straight drives to the red zone; however, they failed to score a touchdown
each time. Instead, they settled for two field goals and were stopped on a fourth-and-1
sneak. The Packers became the first playoff team in 20 years to make it to the endzone
on three straight drives without scoring a touchdown.

The 49ers offense also struggled through the first three quarters, and Brock Purdy was
uncharacteristically off for the duration of the game. Purdy only completed 59 percent of
his targets, throwing for 252 yards and one TD.

“There was times that we were all off at times,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said
following the win. “What was cool: I thought everyone who had a few plays that stuck
out, that either ended a drive or it was why we didn’t get a first down — same thing on
defense, even on special teams — but everyone who did do that stuff made a huge play at
the end in all three phases to get us back into it.”

While they seemed rusty from kickoff, the Niners did have a stellar fourth quarter,
coming back late from behind – something the team hasn’t had to do all season. The
49ers were the first team in 13 seasons to make it to the playoffs without having
overcome a second-half deficit to win a game.

The Packers opened the fourth quarter leading 21-14, however, the combination of a
Jordan Love interception and a missed field goal by rookie Anders Carlson halted their
momentum.

“I felt like we had plenty of opportunities to kind of put the game out of reach and
unfortunately just didn’t do enough,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said. “And it’s
never one play, ’cause I’m sure a lot of it’s going to come down to the missed field goal,
but there were plenty of opportunities.”

The 41-yarder was Carlson’s 13th missed field goal of the season. And when it looked
like there could be another opportunity for him to secure an extra three points for his
team late in the fourth quarter, Love threw the interception that would seal Green Bay’s
fate.

The deep downfield pass, intended for Christian Watson, was swooped by San
Francisco’s Dre Greenlaw.

“Looking back on it, yeah, throw it away. I don’t know if I had an opportunity to be able
to run, maybe get out of bounds but, you know, force it across the middle late, which is a
mortal sin and it cost us,” Love said about his last pass. The interception was Love’s
second of the night, an uncharacteristic slip-up since he had only thrown one in the past
nine games.

Love ended the night with 194 yards and two touchdowns. This season marks the
quarterback’s first year starting since the departure of Aaron Rodgers during the
offseason.

The 49ers move on to the NFC championship next weekend and will play the winner of
Sunday afternoon’s divisional matchup between the Buccaneers and the Lions.