49ers have owned Packers QB Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs

Despite plenty of regular-season success, Aaron Rodgers hasn’t been able to beat the 49ers in postseason action over his otherwise storied career.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer once his career comes to a close, and he’ll probably wind up in the top 10 of all those Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time lists, too.

Rodgers already has a Super Bowl ring, so at least he won’t fall into the cavalcade of great signal-callers who never won a championship, highlighted by Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, of course.

But, with so many playoff appearances under his belt, it’s not surprising why Rodgers’ legacy will still be criticized, fairly or not, if he only winds up with that lone Super Bowl.

A major reason why Rodgers has just the one ring is the San Francisco 49ers, his boyhood team that somehow has managed to stump his postseason prospects multiple times over his otherwise exceptional career.

Now, with the Niners and Packers poised to do battle in the 2022 NFC divisional-round showdown at Lambeau Field on Saturday, San Francisco fans will hope Rodgers’ history of struggles against the 49ers will continue at least one more time.

Aaron Rodgers is winless in NFL playoffs vs. 49ers

Three times, Rodgers has faced off against the Niners in the postseason.

Three losses for Green Bay.

Yes, it’s a team game (we’ll get into that in a second), and Rodgers’ actual numbers in those games against San Francisco haven’t been terrible. But, when one factors in the net importance of a quarterback, especially of Rodgers’ ilk, it’s noticeable when he’s failed to achieve playoff success over multiple outings against one team.

Sure, Rodgers’ regular-season success against the 49ers is commendable, a 6-3 record with 20 touchdowns thrown against two interceptions, all for a career 107.5 passer rating, also including Rodgers’ notable comeback in Week 3 of the 2021 regular season, which led to a stunning 30-28 victory after the Niners retook the lead late.

In the playoffs, however, it’s been another matter.

Rodgers’ early postseason struggles versus San Francisco happened at the tail end of the 2012 and 2013 seasons, where then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and former head coach Jim Harbaugh were responsible for back-to-back Niners wins over Green Bay in the NFC divisional round and Wild Card round, respectively.

Then, of course, San Francisco ran rampant over the Packers in the 2020 NFC Championship game, leaving Rodgers to post mere garbage-time numbers in a fruitless catch-up performance, ultimately losing 37-20.

0-3 against the 49ers in the postseason. Potentially 0-4, depending on what happens Saturday between these two teams.

Aaron Rodgers performed OK vs. 49ers in postseason, just not good enough

Let’s take a quick look at Rodgers’ stat lines from each of those postseason games.

• 2013 divisional round: 26-of-39 for 257 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 1 sack, 91.5 passer rating
• 2014 Wild Card round: 17-of-26 for 177 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, 4 sacks, 97.8 passer rating
• 2020 NFC Championship: 31-of-39 for 326 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 3 sacks, 97.2 passer rating

Those numbers certainly aren’t horrible, definitely not completely outdone by the two Niners quarterbacks he faced off against, Kaepernick and Jimmy Garoppolo.

Related Story: What if 49ers drafted Aaron Rodgers, not Alex Smith in 2005?

Yet Rodgers is so much more intertwined with any Green Bay success, and the fact San Francisco held him to a stretch of merely “good” performances and not exceptional ones speaks measures.

Simply put, Rodgers wasn’t impressive enough to ensure the Packers got by the 49ers in the postseason. Thrice.

Perhaps that changes in 2022, as Rodgers is poised to earn his second consecutive MVP award.

But, if the Niners are somehow able to make Rodgers’ playoff record against them 0-4, there’ll be no shortage of talk about how San Francisco has been the bane of his postseason career.