Week 17: Dawson lifts 49ers into Playoffs to face Packers in icy Lambeau.

Heading into Sunday's game to face the Arizona Cardinals (10-5), the 49ers who had already clinched a playoff berth, had plans of leaving the desert with a win in hopes of improving their seeding. As for the Cardinals, Carson Palmer and company needed a win against their division-rivals and a loss from the Saints in order to punch their ticket to the playoffs. Unfortunately for them, they would get neither. Winners of three in a row and four of their last five, Arizona would run into a brick wall that is the San Francisco 49ers who have beaten the Cardinals in nine of their last 10 meetings. But after squandering a 17-point lead in the first quarter, it appeared San Francisco's reign over their division foe was in danger.

After opening the game with 17 unanswered-points in the opening period by way of a Phil Dawson field goal and a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the 49ers would find themselves struggling to score again until late in the fourth quarter. But in San Francisco's dominant first quarter, Arizona would get a heavy dose of former Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin early on. Boldin who starred in three Pro Bowls over seven seasons with the Cardinals where he set numerous records (most of which he still holds to this day) before being dealt to the Ravens in 2010, would remind Cardinal fans of his talent. In his first game in Arizona as a member of the opposing-team, Boldin hauled in nine passes for 149 yards, including 109 of them on six grabs in the first quarter alone. Boldin would also be the recipient of Kaepernick's first touchdown pass on the day, a 4-yard TD setup by NaVorro Bowman who during Arizona's second drive, jumped out in front of a pass intended for Larry Fitzgerald for his second interception in as many games.

Boldin would strike again on San Francisco's following drive, catching a pass and taking it 63-yards, setting up Kaepernick who found a wide-open Vernon Davis in the end zone. Trailing by double-digits, Arizona's frustration would build as their only promising drive in the first quarter ended with the first of two missed field goals on the day by Jay Feely who's first miss went wide right from 37-yards out. The Cardinals would eventually put some points up on the board before the half, however, as Carson Palmer connected with tight-end Jake Ballard from a yard out to make it a 17-7 game. Niners kicker Phil Dawson who had made a franchise record -- 27 consecutive field goals, had a chance to improve on that mark and add to his team's lead before the half. Instead, he missed a chip-shot from 27-yards out but would later redeem himself. Arizona would open the second half much like they did the first -- sloppy, as Cardinals running back Rashard Mendenhall fumbled the ball just four plays in, recovered by NaVorro Bowman who also forced the fumble and added a sack to his stellar day.

The Cardinals would eventually bounce back and tie the game as Feely split a pair of field goal tries in the fourth quarter followed by a 34-yard touchdown pass from Palmer to wide-out Andre Roberts who made a spectacular grab to make it 17-even. The 49ers would break that tie as Phil Dawson tied a personal-best with a 56-yard field goal to pull ahead with 1:50 remaining. Palmer would march his team all the way to the 25 yard line where Feely would once again tie the game at 20-20. With 34 seconds remaining and overtime on the horizon, the 49ers were in need of a hero if they planned on winning in regulation. In this case, they would get two. On the ensuing kick, LaMichael James ran the ball back 45 yards to set up the 49ers with great field position near midfield. After an 18-yard completion to Boldin, Kaepernick would connect with one of the most unlikeliest of heroes in Quinton Patton.

The rookie wide-out out of Louisiana Tech has had little to cheer about in 2013 having battled injury all season and had only one catch to his name coming into Sunday's game. But with 18 seconds on the clock, Patton would come up with the biggest play of the day as he made a leaping 22-yard grab along the sideline to put San Francisco in field goal range. Phil Dawson would do the rest as his 40-yard field goal split the uprights as time expired, sending the 49ers who improved to 11-4 on the year into the playoffs as a 5 seed with the 23-20 victory. With San Francisco's run game virtually nonexistent, the 49ers offense was forced to go through QB Colin Kaepernick who threw for 310 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 21 of 34 pass attempts. Meanwhile, Carson Palmer threw for 407 yards to go along with 2 touchdown passes and an interception, becoming the first player in NFL history to throw for 4,000 yards in a single season with three different teams (Bengals, Raiders and Cardinals).

Despite the loss, the Cardinals who fell to 10-6 on the year, have nothing to pout about under first-year head coach Bruce Arians who could very well hear his name be called for Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. In the NFL's most competitive division this year, Arians who with the help of a stout defense and an improvement at quarterback, turned the franchise from 5-11 just a year ago into a 10-win team in his first season at the helm. Only the third 10-win season for the Cardinals since the franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1988.  

Playoff Preview: Currently riding a six-game win-streak into the playoffs, the longest active streak of any team in the league, Jim Harbaugh's 49ers now focus their attention on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field where they'll get set to face the Green Bay Packers on Sunday who sneaked into the playoffs at 8-7-1. Having won three straight against the reigning NFC North champs, including a 34-28 victory in the season-opener, Sunday's meeting will be a rematch of last year's NFC Division Round match up which San Francisco won by a final of 45-31. But neither of those games were played in the elements both teams will be forced to face on Sunday. With temperatures that will rival that of the 1967 Ice Bowl between the Cowboys and Packers at Lambeau (-13), the forecast for Sunday's game is expected to be below freezing with a high of -3 and a low of -19 at the time of kickoff. Not to mention wind chills close to -30 degrees. I'm no weather man but if those temperatures stick, Sunday's NFC Wild Card game will go down as the coldest playoff game in NFL history, surpassing the previous record of -13 in the aforementioned Ice Bowl. 

With freezing temperatures that could shrink the pigskin among other things, we could be in store for a very sloppy, low-scoring game. Then again we could also be in store for a high-scoring, back and forth melee highlighted by poor tackling depending on which way you look at it. How it plays out, we just don't know. One thing we do know, however, is that high emotions will be brewing. Colin Kaepernick who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up a fan of both the 49ers and Packers will once again face off against Aaron Rodgers who was born and raised in northern California where he grew up a die-hard Niners fan. And though we probably won't see another record-setting performance on the ground from Colin Kaepernick who torched the Packers defense for 181 rushing yards in last year's Division round match up, we might see somewhat of a revival from the read-option which hasn't been seen too often by the 49ers this year opposed to last season. As for San Francisco, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and company will have his their hands full with Aaron Rodgers who will be seeking revenge for his team's blowout loss in last year's playoffs. 


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