49ers grades, analysis from NFC Championship win vs. Packers

While the Green Bay Packers’ defensive line was being cut open by the San Francisco 49ers’ rushing offense, the Niners’ defensive line was enjoying a much better day at the office.

They had two of the three sacks, one of the two interceptions, one of the three fumbles, and also recovered one of those fumbles.

Their dominance in the trenches also held the much vaunted Aaron Jones to 56 yards from 12 carries and a touchdown, a performance that was aided by garbage time stats.

The front four was utterly dominant, with Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead leading the way with a sack each. Bosa now has three sacks for the playoffs.

The 49ers linebackers were rock solid in the first half. Aaron Rodgers had to settle for a lot of throws underneath due to the solid coverage, while Aaron Jones was unable to really get going.

It got a little trickier as Rodgers finally let loose. The Packers started going down the field a little easier, and when the margin was cut to only 14 points, you could be forgiven for sweating a little.

But the 49ers put the foot down once more, and Green Bay couldn’t get any miracle going.

Rookie Dre Greenlaw was the pick of the linebackers. He had six tackles and was a heat seeking missile on the short little dinky screens. He blew up more than his fair share of those.

Why couldn’t Aaron Rodgers let loose on the 49ers defense until it was too late? Absolutely rock solid coverage.

Emmanuel Moseley and Richard Sherman both recorded interceptions on poorly thrown balls, while K’Waun Williams also had a sack and a forced a fumble from it.

Davante Adams had nice stats at first glance, but this was a result of garbage time. He was brilliantly blanketed otherwise.

This was an excellent performance by the 49ers, who will now face the high-octane passing offense of the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.