The 49ers finished the 2021 regular season with a 10-7 record and backed into the playoffs as the NFC’s sixth seed, while the Packers went into the postseason as the NFC’s one-seed with a 13-4 mark. So, you might be surprised to note that in the Week 3 matchup between these two teams, it was the 49ers who had the edge in the second half.
Of course, Kyle Shanahan’s team put itself in the kind of first-half hold you never want against Aaron Rodgers — a 17-0 deficit before things started turning. But San Francisco outscored Green Bay 21-13 in the second half, and were it not for Mason Crosby’s last-second 51-yard field goal, the 49ers would have been able to boast a majestic 28-27 comeback victory, as opposed to a heartbreaking 30-28 loss.
The 49ers can now exact revenge for that particular feeling, and if they do so here, they will advance to their second NFC Championship game in the last three seasons. Here are three keys to unlocking that possibility.