The San Francisco 49ers chances of waltzing into the backyard of the Green Bay Packers and walking out of there with a victory were extremely slim. All season long, Aaron Rodgers was the league’s best quarterback, wide receiver Davante Adams was the most dominant at his position and their once poor defense was now one of their strengths.
Yet, despite the overwhelming task, the 49ers forced fans who braved the unbearable cold, to leave Lambeau Field with their hands over their mouths.
In what turned out to be a defensive game of the highest order, the 49ers eked out a close three-point win and punched their ticket to the NFC Championship Game.
Rodgers was visibly dejected as he made his way off the field and bemused as he discussed what went wrong immediately after.
Everyone in the 49ers locker room was exuberant but who should be praised and hoisted onto the shoulders of their teammates due to their contributions in last night’s win? We’ll give you the five reasons why the 49ers magical run is now being extended.
Reason No. 1: Jimmy Garoppolo comes up clutch
Jimmy Garoppolo constantly finds himself on the bitter end of criticism. While the San Francisco 49ers were struggling during their divisional round showdown against the Green Bay Packers last night, fans of the franchise were writing Garoppolo’s epitaph.
Although the weather conditions were brutal all game long and receivers dropped a ton of well-thrown balls, no one wanted to hear it. Once a team is horrific on offense, the starting QB is going to shoulder most of the blame.
In the end, of course, Garoppolo managed to put the 49ers in position to kick the game-winning field goal and dusted himself off time and time again while facing a relentless pass rush. For the game, he completed 11 of his 19 passes for 131 yards and was sacked four times.
While it wasn’t pretty, Garoppolo has to be given credit for staying cool in the pocket, despite those four sacks. With the overall weather reaching below freezing, it was unknown territory for their starting QB. In fact, the coldest game that Garoppolo participated in took place in college. The weather for that game was in the low 30s.
Garoppolo’s game wasn’t pretty and if they lost, he would’ve been ripped and ran out of town. But, with the 49ers picking up the victory and with Garoppolo setting up the final kick, including connecting with wide receiver Deebo Samuel on a crucial second down for 14 yards, we have to give him a ton of credit for getting the job done.
Reason No. 2: George Kittle established himself down the stretch
George Kittle had some uncharacteristic drops. But, despite a few pedestrian moments, Kittle came up huge time and time again.
With the snow falling heavily and the wind swirling, the 49ers offense trudged onto the field during a tied football game with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth. There was little to no doubt that the 49ers were going to run the ball but if they wanted to march down the field, Kittle knew that he was going to need to come up big.
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is seldom given many chances to throw the ball. Last night was no different as he threw the rock only 19 times, 11 of which were completed. His biggest, took place on the first play of their final possession.
Garoppolo calmly took the ball from under center and carefully surveyed the field. A streaking George Kittle was spotted immediately. From there, Garoppolo flung the ball in his direction, where the multiple-time Pro Bowler caught it and ran for 12 yards. It was one of only two successful pass attempts Garoppolo connected on during that crucial stretch.
For the game, Kittle snagged four of the six balls thrown his way for 63 yards, a team-best. Without Kittle’s contributions, the 49ers would likely be home at the moment sulking in the misery of a defeat.
Reason No. 3: An outrageous defense
A feeling of apprehension swept over San Francisco for several days. Nick Bosa, their otherworldly defensive end, found himself stuck in concussion protocols with little to no status updates.
However, as the days slowly ticked by, Bosa began progressing. He was officially tabbed as a full go one day before facing the Packers. With Bosa sauntering his way onto the field, he never appeared unnerved.
On multiple occasions, the defensive end placed his hand in the dirt and shrugged off opposing offensive tackles while he made his way to Aaron Rodgers. Bosa made the likely back-to-back regular season MVP uncomfortable in the pocket as he ran for his life. On two separate occasions, Bosa wrapped his mammoth hands around Rodgers and pushed him into the cold snow.
Bosa’s two sacks were memorable but we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the contributions of Arik Armstead. Although he wasn’t a huge sack guy during the regular season, recording only six, he tied with Bosa for a team-leading two sacks and two QB hits.
Up front, the 49ers were terrific but as a whole, the 49ers held the likely MVP to just 10 points and 225 passing yards at home and zero passing touchdowns for only the second time in his postseason career. The 49ers defense needs to take a bow, that was a masterclass.
Reason No. 4: There’s no stopping Deebo
There wasn’t a clear path to victory for the 49ers. The Packers were the number one overall seed and were favored to win it all. The 49ers were simply expected to become a causality on their way to achieving their lofty goals.
If the 49ers wanted to cause the upset, they knew good and well that wide receiver/de-facto running back Deebo Samuel needed to touch the ball just about every time they were on offense.
No matter where he was on the field, Samuel consistently found the ball heading in his direction. He finished the game with three receptions for 44 yards and 10 carries for 39 rushing yards. He was even placed on special teams, returning the ball twice for 59 total yards.
The biggest play of the game, at least in our opinion, came in the fourth quarter. Facing a 3rd and 7 with just over a minute remaining, Garoppolo placed the ball right into the belly of Samuel’s and allowed him to do the rest. Samuel then proceeded to run for nine yards before limping off the field, officially setting up the 45 yard walk-off field goal to win the game.
Reason No. 5: Special Team unit steals the show
Seldom do special team units receive their flowers. They aren’t as glamorous as their offensive counterparts and they can’t affect a game to the same degree as the defensive side of the ball. On most occasions, special team units are viewed as somewhat extraneous. However, the 49ers are now heading to the NFC Championship game, primarily due to their forgotten unit.
Due to a combination of awful weather and bad quarterback play, the 49ers couldn’t get anything going on offense. The running game was tenuous and their passing attack was idle. At the tail end of the first half, and the Packers seemingly on their way to going into the half-time locker room with a 10-0 lead, Mason Crosby walked onto the field to attempt to chip shot from 39 yards. Jimmie Ward, though, would hear none of it as he blocked Crosby’s attempt to keep it at a seven-point deficit.
The biggest play of the game, nevertheless, came in the fourth. With the defense forcing another three and out, the 49ers special teams unit managed to not only block the Packers punt attempt, but rookie Talanoa Hufanga recovered the ball to score a touchdown and tie the game at 10 apiece. Just a few minutes later, Robbie Gould punched their tickets to the NFC Championship thanks to a 45 yard field goal.
Simply put, the 49ers don’t win that game without their special teams unit.