Good morning, everyone. The Green Bay Packers took on the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game on Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium. The game turned out to be another blowout loss for the Packers that was made more respectable in garbage time. I am here to give my thoughts on what exactly happened.
The defense got off to a great start, forcing the 49ers to punt after just 3 plays. On third and 1, Tevin Coleman was stuffed by a combination of Za’Darius Smith and B.J. Goodson. The punt was fair caught by Tyler Ervin at the Green Bay 25. The drive only lasted a few plays after Jamaal Williams caught a short pass and was stopped short of the first down marker on third and 3 from the Green Bay 48. Instead of going for it on fourth and 1 from midfield, the Packers decided to punt it back to San Francisco. Despite starting the drive at their own 11, the 49ers went down the field in just 6 plays for the first touchdown of the game. A couple of the plays during the drive had plenty of yards after the catch, which can be a result of the defense not getting the tackles in time. After Darnell Savage stopped Raheem Mostert for negative yardage on a short pass, it was third and 8 from the Green Bay 36. Mostert got the handoff and went mostly untouched for a 36-yard touchdown run that gave the 49ers a 7-0 lead. The next drive for the Packers did not go well, as they punted back to the 49ers after 5 plays. Aaron Rodgers held the ball for too long and was sacked by Nick Bosa for a loss of 13 yards on third and 7 from the Green Bay 42. The punt by JK Scott went a fair distance, but it was returned for 26 yards to the San Francisco 49 by Richie James, Jr. The return gave the 49ers a good chance to put more points on the board. They had to settle for a field goal after Kyler Fackrell got the only sack of Jimmy Garoppolo on the night. The 54-yard field goal by Robbie Gould was good, giving San Francisco a 10-0 lead at the start of the second quarter. At this point, the Packers offense needed to get something going to get back into the game. Unfortunately, they went three-and-out after another sack of Aaron Rodgers. He did lose the ball, but it was luckily recovered by Billy Turner. The punt by JK Scott went only 23 yards to the San Francisco 37 yard line. The 49ers got another touchdown on their next drive to go up 17-0. On second and 6 from the Green Bay 9, Raheem Mostert ran it in for his second score. The next drive started great for Green Bay on offense as they tried to get on the scoreboard. They got all the way to the San Francisco 25 before disaster struck in the form of a botched snap by Corey Linsley. The fumble was recovered by DeForest Buckner, ending the promising drive for the Packers. The 49ers then proceeded to go down the field for another score. The Packers defense forced them to settle for another field goal after stopping them short of the first down marker in the red zone. The field goal from 27 yards out by Gould was good, giving the 49ers a 20-0 lead. With 1:57 left, the Packers had an opportunity to get a touchdown on the final possession of the first half. They had to start at their own 8 after Tyler Ervin could not secure the ball in time to get good yardage on the return. The drive ended after only 4 plays when Aaron Rodgers threw a horrible pass that was intercepted by Emmanuel Moseley, who returned the pick to the Green Bay 30. From there, the 49ers offense needed only 3 plays to get another touchdown before halftime to go up 27-0. The first half ended with a booming punt by JK Scott that was needed a bit before halftime.
The Packers finally got on the scoreboard with a touchdown on their first drive of the third quarter. The drive ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Aaron Jones. With Green Bay now down 27-7, it was up to the defense to make a comeback possible. Unfortunately, they gave up a 7-play, 79-yard drive that ended in a fourth touchdown run by Raheem Mostert (this one from 22 yards out). The touchdown gave San Francisco a 34-7 lead, which was changed to 34-13 after another touchdown by Green Bay. On first and 10 from the San Francisco 43, Aaron Rodgers connected to Jimmy Graham for what was originally ruled a touchdown. After review, Graham was ruled short of the goal line. Aaron Jones ran it in on the next play for his 23rd touchdown of the season, which breaks Ahman Green’s mark of 22 total touchdowns from the 2003 season (including playoff games). The 2-point conversion attempt was no good, keeping the score at 34-13. After the defense forced a three-and-out (plus a couple of penalties that intentionally chewed more time off of the game clock), the Packers started their next offensive possession at their own 8. On third and 5 from the Green Bay 13, Rodgers connected with Davante Adams for a 65-yard pass play that brought Green Bay into scoring range. 4 plays later, the Packers scored again on an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jace Sternberger. With that touchdown pass, Aaron Rodgers passed Brett Favre for the most postseason touchdown passes in franchise history (Favre had 39, Rodgers now has 40). With the score now 34-20, a comeback was possible if the defense got a stop to begin with. Unfortunately, the defense did not prevent them from getting another score. Robbie Gould made his third field goal of the night from 42 yards out, increasing the 49ers’ lead to 37-20. The Packers offense tried desperately to get another score, but to no avail. Aaron Rodgers threw deep to Davante Adams only to be intercepted by Richard Sherman right after the 2-minute warning. 3 kneel-downs later, the Packers’ 2019 season was officially over after a 37-20 loss to the 49ers.
Offensively, the Packers could not get anything on the scoreboard until the second half. There were a couple of promising drives in the first half, but they ended in either punts or turnovers. The botched snap was something that should not happen at all with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Aaron Rodgers did throw for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns, but most of that production was done after being down 27-0 at halftime. He was sacked 3 times, including a strip-sack that could have been more disastrous had Billy Turner not recovered the fumble. He threw a terrible interception on a pass intended for Geronimo Allison that set up a touchdown near the end of the second quarter. Aaron Jones had 12 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown, plus 5 catches for 27 yards and a receiving touchdown. In my opinion, Jones should have been the focal point of the offense in this game. Davante Adams had 9 catches for 138 yards on the night (mostly after the 27-0 deficit). It was nice to see Jace Sternberger catch his first touchdown pass on Sunday night. Jimmy Graham (who might have played his last game in a Green Bay uniform) had 4 catches for 59 yards, including a 42-yard catch and run that should have been kept a touchdown. Despite the ugly result, I have hope that the offense will be better next season and beyond under head coach Matt LaFleur.
The defense was torched by the 49ers’ rushing attack all game long, giving up a total of 285 yards on the ground. Raheem Mostert had himself a game with 220 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns, including a couple of touchdowns where he went mostly untouched. Jimmy Garoppolo only attempted 8 passes on the night, yet defensive coordinator Mike Pettine did not make a lot of adjustments, if any, to keep San Francisco from running the ball down their throat. The 49ers kept running away from Kenny Clark and the Smiths, keeping them from making any impact on this game. It also did not help that a couple of players left due to injury, including Adrian Amos (torn pectoral) and Jaire Alexander (thumb). The defense only got one sack from Kyler Fackrell and no turnovers in this game. They just could not get it done, even though the offense did them no favors in the first half with very short drives. Some of these players might not be coming back next season, including Blake Martinez (who is a free agent). Hopefully the front office (led by GM Brian Gutekunst) can fix the issues in this offseason via the draft or free agency.
There a few mistakes on Special Teams in this game, including a 23-yard punt by JK Scott that gave the 49ers fantastic field position. Tyler Ervin messed up a kick return by fumbling the ball and then only getting to the 8 yard line. There was a booming punt by Scott, but it was needed earlier than the end of the first half. One of his punts as returned for over 25 yards to give San Francisco great field position. A positive was that no turnovers or penalties were committed on Special Teams. Mason Crosby made all of his extra point kicks during the game. Shawn Mennenga did a much better job than Ron Zook, and I hope that they will be better next year and beyond.
Overall, it was a tough loss for the Packers. I gave credit to the 49ers for being ready to play and I congratulate them for moving on to the Super Bowl, where they will take on the Chiefs. Despite the terrible ending to the season, I had a lot of fun watching this year’s Packers team. For them to get this far after 2 losing seasons in a row with a first-year coach in Matt LaFleur is an accomplishment. The foundation is set for future playoff (and Super Bowl) runs. With the right offseason moves, I think that Green Bay will be back in this position next year.
I hope that you all enjoyed my Packers posts this season. There will be more next season. As regards to my blog, stay tuned for future posts regarding other things, including theme parks, movies, and more. Have a great day, everyone. Go Pack Go.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page)
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