Packers vs. 49ers: History behind the rivalry ahead of NFC Championship

With the San Francisco 49ers hosting the Green Bay Packers for the 2020 NFC Championship game, Niner Noise goes back and looks at the rivalry and history between these two teams.

The San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers are poised to write the next chapter in a long, storied rivalry that has included many a playoff moment.

This, of course, with the Niners hosting the Packers in the 2020 NFC Championship game on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. This clash of rivals will feature two 13-3 squads, and the top two seeds in the conference, battling it out for the right to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIV.

While San Francisco’s own NFC West rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, may have dominated rivalry talk this decade, one could make the argument that Green Bay is actually a more significant foe.

Especially for those fans who witnessed these two teams battle it out back in the 1990s and early 2010s.

The 49ers and Packers have played each other 61 times, dating back to the 49ers merging into the NFL back in 1950. That’s the sixth-most inter-team matchups the Niners have had in their franchise history.

During that stretch, San Francisco’s record is 28-32-1 during the regular season against the Packers, with the team’s most recent victory coming in Week 12 during a 37-8 beatdown of Green Bay on Sunday Night Football.

Sunday’s bout is a playoff matchup, however, and the 49ers have gone 3-4 against the Packers in the postseason.

There are no shortage of great postseason moments from those contests.

In the most recent playoff bout between San Francisco and Green Bay, back on Jan. 5, 2014 in the Wild Card round, the Niners upended the Packers on a game-winning field goal for a 23-20 victory in the ice-filled confines of Lambeau Field.

Then wide receiver Michael Crabtree was a star in that game, hauling in eight catches for 125 yards. The defense sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers four times en route to the victory.

The year before, on Jan. 12 in the divisional round, quarterback Colin Kaepernick literally ran circles around Green Bay’s defense, rushing to the tune of 181 yards while also throwing for 263 yards and two touchdowns in the 45-31 victory.

Just over 10 years before, however, Green Bay got the last laugh, beating the 49ers 25-15 in the Wild Card round at Lambeau Field. The Niners tied things up at 15 apiece in the fourth quarter, before the Packers tacked on 10 points to come away with the victory.

And then, of course, there were the 1990s.

In three straight seasons, from 1995 through 1997, Green Bay ended San Francisco’s Super Bowl hopes in the playoffs. These were some of the high-profile bouts between Hall of Fame quarterbacks Steve Young and Brett Favre.

Favre became the bane of the 49ers and their fans, much like the Dallas Cowboys were back in the 1970s.

Thankfully, the 49ers got some vengeance in the 1999 Wild Card game, which concluded with one of the most memorable plays in 49ers history:

Yes, “The Catch II.”

Interestingly enough, the 30-27 win for San Francisco in that game marked the franchise’s first ever playoff win against its Green Bay rivals, culminating in one of the most historic plays in the team’s history.

This weekend, two other quarterbacks, Rodgers and Jimmy Garoppolo, have a chance to cement the next phase in this longtime rivalry between two historic franchises with a trip to Super Bowl LIV on the line.