A look back at the intense playoff history between the 49ers and Packers

The 49ers and Packers went into the NFC Championship having played each other once already this season, and with a very long playoff history between the two teams. They battled an NFL-most seven times in the playoffs since they first met in 1995, and added an eighth chapter while fighting for a trip to the Super Bowl.

Although they’ve also played some close, intense games, they aren’t really rivals, per se. Brett Favre owned a 4-1 record against the 49ers in the postseason, and that made him an enemy of many 49ers fans, but it didn’t get much deeper than that.

That could be due to the coaching relationships that have connected the franchises over the years. Mike Holmgren and Mike McCarthy were both Green Bay head coaches for a long time, and both were previously 49ers assistants. Former 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci was a Packers assistant in the past, too.

Nowadays, Green Bay is led by Matt LaFleur, who spent eight seasons working under current 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. LaFleur’s brother, Mike, is the current passing game coordinator for the 49ers. Both Shanahan and LaFleur finished the 2019 season at 13-3.

It’s pretty odd that two franchises with so much success — nine Super Bowls between them — only began meeting in the postseason 24 years ago. But it’s still a fun history, one that was added to on Sunday as they fought over another trip to the Super Bowl.

Let’s take a look back at their recent, yet extensive, playoff history against each other.

The 49ers were still the “dominant” team in the NFL, coming off a Super Bowl win and three straight championship game appearances. So when the Packers forced a fumble for a touchdown on the 49ers’ first play of the game, interest was piqued. The 49ers fell behind 21-0 quickly and were never able to recover.

San Francisco’s running backs had their performance of all time, with just 5 yards from the position. Steve Young set an NFL playoff record with 65 pass attempts, but he also had three turnovers and the offense just couldn’t finish out drives. The 49ers were looking for their fourth consecutive appearance in the NFC Championship and instead got handed a big L. That would become a theme against Brett Favre, who finished this game with a pair of touchdowns and just under 300 yards passing.

The Packers would go on to lose to the Cowboys in the NFC title game.

This one was a beatdown, the biggest margin in a 49ers-Packers game in the post-merger NFL. It was started by a 71-yard punt return for a touchdown by Desmond Howard:

This was also the game in which Young was injected with painkillers in order to play, but he only lasted two series before Elvis Grbac took over. A lot of great photographs came from this exceedingly muddy game at Lambeau Field, where the 49ers couldn’t move the ball without Young.

The Packers went on to win the Super Bowl that year — the only one they won with Favre at the helm, though it was Howard who pulled down MVP honors.

This would also be the last game that George Seifert coached with the 49ers.

After a pair of Divisional Round games, the 49ers and Packers finally met in the NFC Championship. It was the third consecutive year the Packers played in the title game. Both teams ended the regular season at 13-3 and the 49ers were the hosts, just like in present day.

This game changed early in the second quarter when Eugene Robinson grabbed a Young interception and returned it 58 yards. Favre then got the Packers on the board with a 27-yard touchdown pass, and they never looked back. Young was sacked four times in the second half, while Dorsey Levens had 114 yards and a touchdown on the ground for Green Bay. The 49ers’ only touchdown in the game was a 95-yard kick return by Chuck Levy.

The Packers punched their ticket to the Super Bowl, where they fell to John Elway and the Broncos, 31-24.

Four consecutive playoff games and the 49ers finally managed to beat Favre. And they did it in incredible fashion, helping create the legacy of Terrell Owens in the process. Owens cemented his place in 49ers history when he grabbed a game-winning 25-yard touchdown pass from Young in tight coverage as the clock wound down.

Owens caught the pass — one of the best catches of his Hall of Fame career — with eight seconds to go. It was huge that he caught it, because he had a fumble and dropped a touchdown pass earlier in the game. Owens later said he didn’t know where his career would end up if not for “The Catch II,” as it was called.

The 49ers lost in the next round, but Young finally got a playoff win in his final showdown with Favre.

The momentum shifted in the fourth quarter for Jeff Garcia and the 49ers. Trailing by eight points, Garcia hit Tai Streets for a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie things up. The Packers responded with a field goal minutes later, giving the 49ers the ball back on a possible game-winning drive.

It never happened. Garcia, who got stitches on the opening drive, was intercepted by Tyrone Williams in the red zone with five minutes to go. The Packers scored not long after, making the margin look a lot less close than it was. This was the final time Favre’s Packers haunted the 49ers in the postseason.

More than 10 years later, Colin Kaepernick entered the fray. Kaepernick is famous for a lot of reasons, but his legend on the field was crafted on the back of dominating the Packers. Kaepernick went 5-2 as a starter that season replacing the injured Alex Smith, and he absolutely balled out against the Packers.

That included an NFL playoff record for quarterbacks with 181 yards rushing and two touchdowns. He also threw for 263 yards and two more scores in the 45-31 rout. It was a huge game for Kaepernick, who was intercepted by Sam Shields on the opening drive of the game.

San Francisco went on to play in the Super Bowl for the first time since 1994.

He didn’t do it as thoroughly as the first time out, but Kaepernick still proved he had the Packers’ number. He threw for 227 yards and a touchdown and added 98 yards on the ground. It was a cold evening at Lambeau, where the temperature just 5 degrees and the wind chill was minus-10 at kickoff. Kaepernick didn’t wear sleeves during the game, while coach Jim Harbaugh put on warmer clothes at halftime.

The 49ers eventually won thanks to a 33-yard field goal from kicker Phil Dawson with three seconds left. That was San Francisco’s fourth consecutive win over Green Bay, regular season included.

Aaron Rodgers, who grew up a 49ers fan in California, was still left searching for his first playoff win over San Francisco.

The Raheem Mostert game. Mostert, an undrafted back who spent team with six other NFL franchises before landing with the 49ers, absolutely went off, rushing for 220 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries. Mostert’s yards were the second-most in a postseason game in NFL history, trailing only Eric Dickerson’s 248 yards in the 1985 Divisional Round.

And that was the story of the game, by and large.

The Packers wound up scoring a couple times late to make the scoreboard closer, but the 49ers were absolutely dominant on both sides of the ball for this one. It was a rushing — and blocking — masterclass by Kyle Shanahan’s offense and it sent the 49ers to the Super Bowl, where they stand a chance of snaring their sixth Lombardi Trophy.