Ten memorable Packers-49ers clashes
When the Green Bay Packers meet the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs, it will mark the latest in a long string of compelling matchups between the two franchises.
The two squads met in a regular-season clash that came down to Mason Crosby’s 51-yard field goal for a 30-28 Packers victory. They also met last year when a COVID-19 and injury-depleted 49ers roster was no match for the Packers in a 34-17 outcome.
Both games were played in San Francisco, and this time, the action shifts to Green Bay.
It isn’t just the regular season where these two teams have squared off, of course. The parallels over time between the two franchises are fairly evident. Both boasted consecutive Hall of Fame quarterbacks, with Steve Young taking over for Joe Montana and Aaron Rodgers taking the reins from Brett Favre. Green Bay’s two recent Super Bowl victories also featured coaches with San Francisco ties.
Mike Holmgren was offensive coordinator for the 49ers and was part of two Super Bowl champions there before he led the Packers to a title as head coach in Super Bowl 31. Mike McCarthy was also offensive coordinator in San Francisco before becoming Packers head coach in 2006 and leading the Pack to a title in Super Bowl 45.
The 2012 49ers, who reached the Super Bowl, were quarterbacked by Colin Kapenerick, a player born in Milwaukee. Rodgers, meanwhile, hails from Northern California and was famously bypassed by the 49ers with the first pick of the 2005 draft, when the Niners chose Utah’s Alex Smith. Rodgers slid to No. 24, where the Packers found themselves with a franchise quarterback.
Here are the 10 most memorable clashes between the two powerhouses in the Super Bowl era. The Packers lead the season series 38-32-1, dating to 1950.
10. Nov. 1, 1998: Packers 36, 49ers 22
Green Bay moved to 6-2 on the season and dropped the Niners to the same record. Antonio Freeman caught an 80-yard TD pass on the first snap of the game and later caught a 62-yard pass. He finished with seven catches for 193 yards, and the Packers won big despite three Favre interceptions
9. Oct. 14, 1996: Packers 23, 49ers 20
A preview of a playoff clash later in the year. The Packers won in overtime on Chris Jacke’s 53-yard field goal. Jacke also hit a 31-yarder with eight seconds left to force OT in a back-and forth game. Favre threw for 395 yards and Don Beebe caught 11 passes for 220 yards (including a 59-yard score).
8. Jan. 12, 2013: 49ers 45, Packers 31 (NFC divisional round)
The Packers were 11-5 that season, but this was the game that indicated they perhaps couldn’t topple a dual-threat quarterback like Kaepernick (who had not been under center when the two teams met to open the year; the aforementioned Smith was). Kaepernick threw for 263 yards and two scores but more important ran for a mind-boggling 181 yards and two touchdowns in a blowout win for the 49ers (12-4-1).
7. Jan. 19, 2020: 49ers 37, Packers 20 (NFC championship game)
It merits mention because of the stakes, but many Packers fans were concerned that Green Bay couldn’t match up with San Francisco after a blowout regular-season game earlier in the season. Those concerns were founded in reality.
The 49ers took a 27-0 lead at halftime,
and though Rodgers threw for 326 yards, the defense had no answer for a dominant Raheem Mostert (220 yards, four touchdowns). Green Bay finished 13-3 in Matt LaFleur’s first regular season and one step away from the Super Bowl, but that’s where it ended. Instead, Matt’s brother, Mike (the 49ers passing game coordinator), advanced onward.
6. Jan. 5, 2014: 49ers 23, Packers 20 (NFC wild-card round)
Nobody gave the Packers (8-8-1) much of a chance against the 49ers (13-4), even at home, but it did take a last-second field goal to put Green Bay away a week after the Packers’ remarkable win over the Bears for the division title. Kaepernick was a devastating dual threat, passing for 227 yards and rushing for 98. Green Bay took a 17-13 lead with 12:09 to go but couldn’t enjoy the lead for two minutes when Kaepernick hit Vernon Davis for a 28-yard TD. Mason Crosby tied the score with 5:09 left, but the Pack never got the ball again.
5. Jan. 13, 2002: Packers 25, 49ers 15 (NFC wild-card round)
The Packers (13-4) welcomed San Francisco (12-5) to Lambeau for a playoff rematch a few years after the Terrell Owens debacle (see below), and though Tai Streets caught a game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion with 12 minutes to go, Ryan Longwell’s field goal and
Ahman Green’s dagger touchdown with 1:55 to go advanced the Packers to the next round (where the Rams unceremoniously ended Green Bay’s season). The 49ers even fumbled the ensuing kickoff and never got another snap to work with.
4. Jan. 11, 1998: Packers 23, 49ers 10 (NFC championship game)
Green Bay (13-3) advanced to Super Bowl 32 with a win on the road over San Francisco (13-3), getting three field goals from Longwell and touchdowns by Freeman and Dorsey Levens in another rainy mess at 3Com Park. San Francisco’s touchdown came on a late 95-yard kickoff return by Chuck Levy.
3. Jan. 4, 1997: Packers 35, 49ers 14 (NFC divisional round)
Everyone remembers Desmond Howard’s TD return in the Super Bowl, but does anyone remember his 71-yard punt return a few weeks earlier through the mud in the playoff opener? The eventual Super Bowl champion Packers took a 21-0 lead, and Eugene Robinson grabbed two of Green Bay’s three interceptions. Edgar Bennett ran for two scores and would have had a third before fumbling in the end zone, but Freeman jumped on the ball to give the Packers a two-score lead late in the third quarter.
2. Jan. 6, 1996: Packers 27, 49ers 17 (NFC divisional round)
Green Bay lost the next week in Dallas, but this could have been a watershed moment in Green Bay’s ascension to Super Bowl champion. The Packers (11-5) took a 21-0 lead on the road with Craig Newsome’s fumble return and touchdown passes to tight ends Keith Jackson and Mark Chmura. Both Jackson and Robert Brooks finished with more than 100 yards of receiving, and Newsome also added an interception as the Packers forced four turnovers.
1. Jan. 3, 1999: 49ers 30, Packers 27 (NFC wild-card round)
Owens caught a TD pass from Young with 8 seconds left after the Packers had taken a lead on a Freeman touchdown catch with two minutes to go. But the play that left Packers fans fuming was a 6-yard catch by Jerry Rice near midfield, which replays showed he lost a fumble (but referees ruled him down, and there was no video replay challenge system).