The Green Bay Packers led the San Francisco 49ers 21-14 entering the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s NFC Divisional Round, but a disastrous final 15 minutes of play kept Matt LaFleur’s team from a historic upset and an unlikely run to the NFC Championship Game.
Jake Moody hit a 52-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to four. Jordan Love and Aaron Jones missed a potential third-down conversion, Anders Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal, the 49ers drove 69 yards to retake the lead and Love’s final pass of the 2023 season ended up as an interception.
Love was 5-of-9 passing for 19 yards and an interception in the fourth quarter.
The Packers squandered Jones’ 53-yard run when Carlson pushed his field goal attempt wide left. A converted field goal would have extended the Packers’ lead to seven points.
On the go-ahead touchdown drive, the 49ers converted a pair of third downs and then got the game-winning score on a 6-yard touchdown run from running back Christian McCaffrey.
The ball was snapped on Love’s final interception with 52 seconds left. The Packers had 1st-and-10 from the 36-yard line and two timeouts remaining. Love bought time to his right, felt pressure from Nick Bosa and unleashed an ill-advised throw back to the middle of the field, where Dre Greenlaw picked it off.
Game over.
For four quarters, the Packers gave the top-seeded 49ers everything they could handle. And had any of possibly a dozen different plays gone the Packers’ way, especially down the stretch, LaFleur’s team is probably headed back home to Green Bay on a very happy airplane.
Instead of becoming the lowest seeded team to ever make a conference title game, the Packers’ magical run — seven wins in the last nine games, including three straight to end the regular season and an upset win in Dallas in the wildcard round — ended with a loud thud.
The Packers grew in some many important ways during the 2023 season. At one point, Green Bay was 2-5 and sinking toward a top-5 draft pick. The young team rebounded and responded while learning how to win along the way.
The lesson from Saturday night in Santa Clara: when you have a tiger by the tail, you better finish the job. The Packers limped through the fourth quarter and squandered a golden opportunity to extend their season another week.