San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy throws a pass during the NFC divisional playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, on January 20, 2024. Photo by Ashley Landis via AP Photo
It was a sloppy affair for both teams, especially the 49ers, but they got the victory when it mattered.
A fairly dominant 12-5 season was about to come to an end following the Green Bay Packers’ lead in yesterday’s affair. The playoff matchup between them and San Francisco reached a critical point when Green Bay took the lead early. It was a tightly contested, chaotic affair that eventually saw the 49ers retake the lead, and they would end up winning 24-21.
Brock Purdy Goes Off
The win was not pretty (or should we say, purdy). Brock Purdy went 17-for-32 passing for 205 yards, which included a touchdown in his fourth career playoff start. He had no interceptions, but he came dangerously close a couple of times, with the Packers dropping the ball. The 49ers defense also played a strong game, only allowing two Packers touchdowns which came in the third quarter.
More importantly, however, was the 49ers’ come-from-behind victory. They had not achieved one of those since Week 17 of last season, meaning they went all of 2023-24 without having a comeback victory. When they were down, they would stay down. But San Francisco broke that streak last night when, down 21-17 with 6:18 left, a dominant drive led them to score the go-ahead touchdown and put them up 23-21, with the extra point kick extending that to 24.
“I think it was important,” Purdy said. “We were all like, ‘All right, this is it. This is our season.’ … We have too many good players on this team, so many players that are difference-makers and we’ve got a great defense. For us to not find a way, it’s not right. For us to finally have a game like this and pull through at the end was huge for all of us.”
“We just want to do everything we can to play our best because we feel we can win every game when we do that,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We don’t feel like we did that today, but we still found a way to win…It was a gut check for everybody, and couldn’t be more proud of the people in there and just how they persevered.”
Devastating Interception
The Packers had a chance towards the end of the game, beginning what could have been a dominant drive. However, Jordan Love threw a critical interception with 48 seconds remaining, sealing the deal for the Packers. That came following a missed field goal kick by Anders Carlson which would have given Green Bay a seven-point lead.
“I felt like we had plenty of opportunities to kind of put the game out of reach and unfortunately just didn’t do enough,” said Packers coach Matt LaFleur. “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. You can go back in the first half and have three red zone opportunities and have six points. There’s a lot of plays out there that it just, if one plays goes different, then probably have a different result right now.”
Now, the Packers are eliminated and the 49ers move on to the NFC Championship Game. They will play either the Lions or Buccaneers in that matchup, and the winner will advance to the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, for the Packers, it’s all Wisconsin cheese until September.
