Divisional Round Preview: 49ers vs Packers

Game 2:

Saturday, January 12, 2013

8:00pm – FOX

Green Bay Packers @ San Francisco 49ers

Since Kaepernick took over as starting QB in San Francisco, Randy Moss (84)
and Michael Crabtree have enjoyed advanced roles in the 49ers' offense.
Photo credit to Bleacher Report.

When I started digging deep into this matchup to come up with a prediction, I had to fight the urge to go back and look at Week 1. These are two completely different teams than they were at that time. The 49ers have a new starting quarterback and the Packers are suffering through their annual late-season injury onslaught.

I also had to avoid using last year’s playoff matchup between San Francisco and New Orleans as a basis for predicting a shootout. It has the feel of a similar matchup, but San Francisco with Colin Kaepernick is very different than with Alex Smith, and Green Bay is different than New Orleans for obvious reasons.

I’m predicting a mostly one-sided affair. The Packers will put up some points, but Colin Kaepernick has played his best games this season on the biggest stages – against Chicago on a Monday night, in New Orleans in a Sunday early evening matchup, and of course in New England on a Sunday night.

Between Kaepernick and Frank Gore – the only running back not named Adrian Peterson who topped 100 rushing yards against the Packers this season – Green Bay’s defense will likely get torched.

I’m not ready to assume Green Bay’s newfound ground attack will be available Saturday night, especially given San Francisco’s run defense. In fact, San Francisco’s defense, overall, will be very difficult for even Aaron Rodgers to pick apart.

Aldon Smith will finally have his setup man, Justin Smith, back on the line. Justin allows Aldon to get free rushing the passer and his absence has resulted in decreased production on the line from Aldon.

In my preview for the San Francisco/New Orleans game last year, I said it had the makings of an ‘Instant Classic.’ I’m not getting that vibe in this matchup.

Puff’s Pick:

Green Bay Packers – 14

San Francisco 49ers – 37

MVP: Frank Gore

Monday Night Football Afterword: 49ers vs Bears

Colin Kaepernick made his first career start against
the Bears on Monday Night Football.
Photo credit to Yahoo! Sports.

All week I had been looking forward to this game. I expected a real defensive battle with a backup quarterback I knew all to well from his days in Washington and a backup quarterback I have really only seen out of the wildcat this year.

Colin Kaepernick, a sophomore out of Nevada, didn’t really see the field last year. This year, San Francisco has implemented the wildcat, partly as a way to give Alex Smith a chance to catch his breath in the middle of key drives, and partly to give Kaepernick a chance to get on the field and do his thing. All year he has been very successful running the wildcat, but I have seen too many backups do well in limited exposure only to disappoint when they get their chance to start.

Last night was an exception as Kaepernick led the 49ers to a route of one of the best defenses the NFL has seen in the past five or more years. Through ten games, the Bears had forced 30 turnovers but failed to record one takeaway last night in the 32-7 loss.

Plenty of excuses can be made about the Bears lack of scoring. There is no doubt that their offensive line is every bit as bad as people make it out to be, and maybe even worse. Jason Campbell didn’t play too poorly; he was 14/22 (63.6%) after all. But the 49ers defense was quick to the ball and he only threw for 107 yards because on several occasions he gave it to Matt Forte on screens only to see the star running back hit a wall at the line of scrimmage or behind it.

At one point late in the first half the Bears had -13 passing yards, aided by the first few of Aldon Smith’s 5.5 sacks.

So yes, there are plenty of excuses to be made for the Bears offense, but excuses won’t help them win games in the playoffs so I don’t accept any of them, and neither should anyone else.

Besides, there are no excuses to be had for the poor defense effort Chicago put forth. I don’t know if it had anything to do with not leaving Chicago until the Packers game was over yesterday, but for a defense has potent as this Bears defense has been, I thought that at least they weren’t only good as a result of the easy schedule. Granted, Kaepernick was as accurate last night as any quarterback I’ve seen, including Drew Brees, but even accurate quarterbacks shouldn’t have that easy a time picking apart this defense.

San Francisco topped the Bears by about 40 yards on the ground and by 174 yards in the passing game. The Bears turned the ball over twice, but it could have been worse as they fumbled the ball three times but managed to recover each of them. Even when Jay Cutler returns, this team is in trouble.