Wild Card Afterword: Packers vs 49ers

Michael Crabtree led all players with 8 catches for 125 yards, bailing
out Colin Kaepernick a few times and helping lead the 49ers to victory.

Cory Puffett

The first three wild card winners each trailed at halftime of their games. The 49ers were determined not to give us the fourth second-half collapse of the weekend.

It looked like they might fail when Aaron Rodgers escaped massive pressure – yes, with the help of a hold – to convert a 4^th & 2. That led to John Kuhn’s 1-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. It was Kuhn’s fifth straight playoff game with at least one touchdown.

But Colin Kaepernick led a quick scoring drive that took just a minute and a half, ending with a 28-yard touchdown strike to Vernon Davis. It took everything I had not to dub it The Catch IV. But every 49ers touchdown pass can’t carry that moniker, can it?

Jim Harbaugh pulled the reigns in on Colin Kaepernick during the regular season, forcing him to make plays with his arm instead of his legs. But in the playoffs coaches tend to throw caution to the wind, as do the players. Kaepernick picked his spots and gashed Green Bay for 98 yards on just seven carries.

The third-year quarterback struggled early in the game, but once he got some space to run the ball and the Packers had to protect against that, he found more passing lanes in the second half to keep momentum from swinging to Aaron Rodgers’ offense.

The Packers had their own share of troubles early in the game. Eddie Lacy had a pretty good game but it took him a while to get going. It also took Rodgers a while to warm up. He failed to complete a pass in the first quarter, throwing two incompletions and being sacked twice on four drop-backs.

To his credit, Rodgers came out and completed six of seven passes for 45 yards and a touchdown to Jordy Nelson on his first possession of the second quarter. Rodgers finished with 17 completions on 26 attempts for 177 yards and a touchdown. Nelson was on the receiving end of seven of those completions. No other Packer had more than two receptions.

San Francisco will play in Carolina next Sunday at 1:05 p.m. San Francisco already lost to Carolina at home, 10-9, in Week 10. But Colin Kaepernick began a hot streak two weeks later that has continued through this game.

San Francisco’s victory on Sunday will likely quiet the talk about playoff reseeding, at least for a while.

Final Score:

San Francisco 49ers – 23

Green Bay Packers – 20