SANTA CLARA, Calif. — “Get down! Get down! Get down!”
Dre Greenlaw’s game-sealing interception with 46 seconds remaining should have been a moment of elation for Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers. Instead, it produced peak stress as Greenlaw got up and ran with the ball for another 12 seconds, ducking and dodging Green Bay Packers tacklers and risking a fumble in rain-soaked Levi’s Stadium.
Advertisement
Shanahan — and every other 49er — was screaming for Greenlaw to drop down and end the game.
“That was kind of like the whole day — all the guys that I would get really upset with are also the ones I have a lot of love for,” a relieved Shanahan said afterward. “They’re the ones who pulled it off to get a W.”
SAY IT WITH US: BIG PLAY DRE 🗣#GBvsSF on FOX
📱 NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4oaLh pic.twitter.com/vFYhu65gWl— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 21, 2024
The topsy-turvy emotions of those 12 seconds nicely captured the 49ers’ 24-21 win over the Packers, a game in which the home team seemed to be in bumbling, preseason mode on one snap, then came back with a big play on the next.
GO DEEPER
Greenlaw's INT seals 49ers win, NFC title game spot
George Kittle dropped an easy reception on the final drive but had an 8-yard catch three plays later and led the 49ers with 81 yards and a touchdown. Greenlaw was among the 49ers’ slipping and sliding all over the Levi’s Stadium field, but he came away with the only two takeaways of the contest. The 49ers’ special teams gave up a 73-yard kickoff return in the third quarter and Jake Moody had an end-of-half field-goal attempt blocked. But Moody also drilled a 52-yarder early in the fourth quarter, just his fourth attempt from 50 yards or longer this season.
In the locker room afterward, the players said they’d take a win any way they could get one and that the talent-laden 49ers, who had coasted to easy wins for most of the season, would benefit from a come-from-behind nailbiter like Saturday’s.
“We needed a win like that, I feel like,” defensive end Nick Bosa said. “It just helps you get more battle-tested.”
“I’m very proud of the guys in there,” Shanahan said. “I thought that was as big of a mental challenge and a character game that we’ve ever been a part of. … It was a gut check for everybody.”
Advertisement
Why the 49ers had their strangest, most mistake-prone game of the season in the playoffs was more difficult to answer.
The rain certainly was a factor, though it seemed to affect the 49ers far more than it did the Packers. Cornerback Charvarius Ward slipped and fell on a 38-yard pass to Romeo Doubs in the first quarter while safety Tashaun Gipson Sr. went down while trying to catch up with receiver Bo Melton on a 19-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Brock Purdy, who didn’t have Deebo Samuel for easy screens and tosses after he left with a first-half shoulder injury, also struggled with the wet football. He said he went back and forth on wearing a glove on his right hand — he ultimately chose not to wear one — and admitted that some of his checkdown throws were off the mark because of the conditions.
“Yeah, there were some times when I dropped back and the ball was a little wet from the grass, and it sort of affected the accuracy and stuff,” he said. “But that’s football. I’ve got to be better than that.”
The Packers, meanwhile, were still on the hot streak that had gotten them into the playoffs and allowed them to upset the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round. Coach and play caller Matt LaFleur was sharp at scheming players open against a 49ers secondary that had been strong in the second half of the season but had all sorts of issues Saturday. Late in the third quarter, LaFleur dialed up a wide-open touchdown for tight end Tucker Kraft. On the next snap, running back Aaron Jones had an equally easy catch for a two-point conversion that gave the Packers a 21-14 lead.
“It’s good coaching,” Bosa said when asked about the team’s defensive mistakes. “I think a lot of it’s the plays they ran. They were kind of saved for us. Not saved for us, but new and not on tape.”
Green Bay also took advantage of some season-long 49ers’ weaknesses.
Advertisement
Quarterback Jordan Love picked on No. 3 cornerback Ambry Thomas throughout, gaining 61 yards on two blatant pass interference by Thomas. Thomas was among the 49ers who struggled in tackling — another issue in 2023 — with Thomas taking a particularly poor angle on a run by Jones that should have been stopped for no gain but ended up going for 9 yards.
The 49ers also were playing their first game without Clelin Ferrell, their base-down defensive end who’s out for the season with a knee injury suffered in Week 18. His replacement, Chase Young, was one of the 49ers who had a decidedly mixed outing. The longest play of the game, Jones’ 53-yard run in the fourth quarter, initially went through Young’s side of the line. Jones finished with 108 yards, becoming the first rusher since Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields on Oct. 31, 2021, to go over 100 yards against the 49ers’ defense.
The story of the greatest players in NFL history. In 100 riveting profiles, top football writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NFL in the process.
The story of the greatest players in NFL history.
Buy
The game had elements from all the 49ers’ losses this season, none more than their Week 6 trip to Cleveland. It also rained that day — with Purdy struggling when the rain was the heaviest — and the offense also lost Samuel to a shoulder injury on the opening drive. Purdy was able to rally late in that game, but Moody’s game-winning field goal attempt from 41 yards drifted too far to the right.
This time, Purdy and the offense finished the drive.
When the 49ers took possession with 6:18 remaining, left tackle Trent Williams said he looked everyone in the huddle in the eye. The team’s oldest, most decorated veteran told his teammates this might be the last time they have the ball.
“If we don’t do something with it, this could be the last time we’re in this hole together,” Williams recounted in front of his locker. “So whatever you’ve got, bring it. Bring it the next play and then bring it the next play after that.”
That’s what the 49ers did. Purdy, who had completed 53 percent of his throws to that point, was 6 of 7 on that drive with his only incompletion coming on Kittle’s drop. Brandon Aiyuk made a difficult, 10-yard catch over the middle despite tight coverage on third down. Chris Conley, whose only catches this season had come in the meaningless regular-season finale, snagged Purdy’s finest throw of the day, a 17-yarder down the right sideline, to get the 49ers into the red zone.
Five plays later, Christian McCaffrey crashed into the end zone. And after Greenlaw finally dropped to the ground following his interception, the 49ers knew they’d escaped with a win.
Take us to the NFC Championship, @CMC_22!
📺 FOX #FTTB pic.twitter.com/tultaPZXlU
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 21, 2024
For Bosa, there was a sense of relief followed by the joy of knowing that his team’s fantastic season remains on track. For the third straight year, the 49ers will be in the championship game and this time it will be at home — with no rain in the forecast.
“This group that we have — I did not want this to end,” Bosa said. “Nobody did.”
GO DEEPER
NFL playoffs: Final 4 teams' odds to win Super Bowl, with conference title game analysis
(Photo: Michael Owens / Getty Images)
