49ers LB Dre Greenlaw’s INT seals win over Packers, sends San Francisco to NFC Championship Game

By David Lombardi, Matt Barrows and Matt Schneidman

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw sealed a 24-21 victory in his team’s NFC divisional round game against the Green Bay Packers Saturday night with his second interception of the game.

The 49ers advanced to the NFC Championship Game and will face the winner of Sunday’s showdown between the Detroit Lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

San Francisco trailed Green Bay 21-17 with a little over six minutes to play. But 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy led his team on a 12-play, 69-yard drive that ended with running back Christian McCaffrey scoring his second touchdown of the game to put San Francisco ahead.

The Packers began the ensuing drive with 1:07 to play, but came up short when Greenlaw intercepted a Jordan Love pass. San Francisco was able to kneel and run out the clock.

Love finished the game 21-of-34 for 194 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Packers running back Aaron Jones rushed for 108 yards.

Purdy finished 23-of-39 for 252 yards and a touchdown.

The 49ers played most of the game without star receiver Deebo Samuel, who was ruled out after halftime due to a shoulder injury. 

Purdy comes throughWell, that was stuff of legend from Purdy. The young 49ers QB had been erratic throughout most of Saturday’s game, struggling to control the wet football in the rain. But between misfires, Purdy threw some absolute darts. And then, with the 49ers trailing 21-17 and facing a critical third down, he began hitting bullseyes.

He nailed Brandon Aiyuk over the middle. He hit Chris Conley on a deep out. He ran for nine yards to set up McCaffrey’s 5-yard touchdown. That was the type of stuff that made Joe Montana — who famously struggled with several interceptions in the 1981 season NFC Championship Game before delivering the game-winning touchdown pass to Dwight Clark — the greatest QB in franchise history.

Purdy has now led a comeback playoff win of his own, and he did so in the midst of wet adversity in Santa Clara on a day that saw so much go wrong for the 49ers.

That’s the type of gritty win that seems necessary in any title run — and one that the 49ers lamented being unable to attain earlier this season. They’ve attained now, and they’re one home win away from the Super Bowl. — David Lombardi, 49ers beat writer

GO DEEPER

49ers won’t mess around against Green Bay: My divisional-round prediction

Up and down day for San Francisco’s defenseThe 49ers beat the Packers despite an up-and-down defensive performance that saw San Francisco give up 100 rushing yards to an individual rusher for the first time in a year and half and despite several busted coverages by the secondary. That was due, in part, to slips on the wet Levi’s Stadium grass. Cornerback Charvarius Ward fell on a 38-yard throw to Romeo Doubs in the first quarter. Safety Tashaun Gipson went down while trying to cover receiver Bo Melton on a 19-yard touchdown in the third.

But as was the case last week against the Cowboys, Packers play caller Matt LaFleur was excellent in scheming players open, this time against a 49ers secondary that had been strong in the second half of the season. The Packers, however, couldn’t muster any points from the end of the third-quarter onward. Greenlaw intercepted one pass that went off the hand of tight end Tucker Kraft. Green Bay’s last-minute drive also was thwarted by a Greenlaw interception.

A 49ers special teams that finished in the bottom third of the league overall struggled on Saturday, especially in one area that’s bothered it all season: kickoff coverage. The team seemed to have learned its lesson over the last month of the season and sent the bulk of the kicks into the end zone for touchbacks. The 49ers opened the game, however, with a short kick that the Packers returned to their 31-yard line. In the third quarter, they gave up a 73-yard return — with another seven tacked on by a fumble the Packers recovered — that set up a Packers touchdown. The 49ers went back to their December plan late in the game with Jake Moody sending a kick deep for a touchback following his 52-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. — Matt Barrows, 49ers beat writer

What went wrong for Green Bay?On consecutive drives with a lead late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter, Love missed two easy throws over the middle. One deflected off the left hand of Kraft and was intercepted by Greenlaw. The 49ers got three points out of their ensuing drive. On the Packers’ next drive, Love again threw behind running back Jones over the middle on third-and-2.

The Packers punted, but Green Bay forced a 49ers punt on their next drive. At the very least, the Packers missed two opportunities to extend their lead, which came back to bite them in the end as Love made another questionable throw when, on the run, he threw across his body over the middle and into the arms of Greenlaw to end the game.

Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia didn’t want to answer questions last Wednesday about his rookie kicker’s recent struggles, but he may have to answer his own question now of whether Anders Carlson should be his kicker next season. At the very least, Carlson will have competition this coming offseason. On Sunday, the sixth-round pick missed a 41-yard field goal with 6:18 remaining in the game and the Packers leading by four. His latest miss made it 10 of the last 12 games with a missed kick. The 49ers scored the game-winning touchdown on the ensuing drive. — Matt Schneidman, Packers beat writer

Required reading
NFL playoffs: Key matchups to watch in each NFC divisional-round game
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NFL playoff predictions: 9 coaches, executives predict divisional-round winners
(Photo: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)