Two months ago.
San Francisco 37, Green Bay 8.
Their last meeting in Week 12 of the regular season was just that: a regular season game. Forget about it. The playoffs are different. Something unexpected always happens in the postseason. Hold on for the unexpected.
In a scene from the 2014 film, Draft Day, the fictional general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, Tom Michaels, was on the phone with the fictional general manager of the Cleveland Browns, Sonny Weaver, Jr. They had just negotiated a trade. Then, something happened.
“Can I put you on hold a second, Tom?”
Something always happens.
After a short hold: “Hello? Sonny?”
“I’m sorry; that deal’s off the table. We live in a different world than we did just 60 seconds ago.”
Be it 60 seconds or two months ago, the world has changed—at least in the NFL. The postseason is of another time and dimension. Just ask Lamar Jackson.
This Sunday, the Packers and 49ers face off again in the NFC championship game. The winner moves on to the Florida sunshine for Super Bowl LIV. The loser goes home. Vegas favors San Francisco by more than a touchdown, and no pundit is picking the Packers to win.
But the Packers are a different team than the one that was embarrassed by the 49ers two months ago. They’ve won six straight games, and postseason football in the NFL is usually a game of fine margins. Chance and fate abound, a random turnover or big-time play can swing the outcome. And chance can be enough.
For the underdog Packers, the keys to victory are obvious:
1. Protect Aaron Rodgers. The 49ers’ defense will be at full strength. Linebacker Kwon Alexander and pass rusher Dee Ford are back. They were both out with injuries in Week 12. In that game, the Packers allowed five sacks. But Aaron Rodgers’s feet are nimble and his ability to throw with surgical precision on the run should be deliberately woven within Matt LeFleur’s game plan. Rodgers can run the bootleg. He did against the Seahawks, flicking a 10-yard toss to his favorite target, Devante Adams. Rodgers to Adams, Rodgers to Adams. Like a bell, those words must ring.
2. Expose Jimmy Garoppolo. In the divisional round, Jimmy Garoppolo seemed intent on making Eric Kendricks of the Vikings his favorite target. His unique brand of mistakes with the football is the result of his struggle to see linebackers at the intermediate level. Failing to recognize them dropping into a zone underneath or being locked too tightly on the coverage behind them, he struggles to avoid throwing them the football. Linebackers Preston and Za’Darius Smith are two of the best players at their position. Za’Darius led the Packers this season with 13.5 sacks, while Preston was second on the team with 12. Each had two sacks last week against Seattle. The Packers should stack the middle with eight or nine. Their corners, Kevin King and Jaire Alexander, are talented downfield in man-to-man. A pick is inevitable.
3. Desire! Emotional energy is an asset. The Packers will be motivated come Sunday. Vengeance for Week 12. And another wrinkle: Rodgers was passed up by the 49ers in the 2005 NFL Draft with the No. 1 pick. He’s 0-2 against the 49ers in the playoffs, losing the Divisional Round in 2013 and the Wild Card at home in 2014. Aaron Rodgers wants this one. He’s 36, and his swan song may well float like a hymn above Levi Stadium, paralyzing the wave of red and gold fans in the Santa Clara sunset.
