49ers Run Rampant vs Packers, Punch Ticket to Super Bowl to face Chiefs

NFC Championship - After hosting their first ever playoff game a week ago at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara by handily beating the Minnesota Vikings, Conference Championship Sunday would bring another first to the San Francisco 49ers who despite playing in their NFL-leading 16th NFC Championship, hosted their first ever title game at their new digs and first overall since 2011. Playing host to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers who Kyle Shanahan's 49ers team beat to a pulp during Week 12 of the regular season, all the talk coming into the game was how things would play out differently in the rematch for the Packers quarterback. But even for a future Hall of Famer and former Super Bowl winning QB who will be remembered as one of the greatest of all-time at his position, the combination of San Francisco's lethal running game and dominant defense once again proved to be too much for the Chico, California native who grew up rooting for this 49ers team that has now handed him three early exits from the postseason throughout his career.

Though Sunday's game didn't get out of hand quite as quickly as it did in the Week 12 meeting, once the Niners got rolling on offense, there was little to nothing Green Bay could do against the runaway train that was the San Francisco run game. With Green Bay winning the coin-toss and electing to differ, it was the Packers defense that made the initial stop by forcing a 49ers three and out on their opening possession. Failing to take advantage of the early opportunity, the Packers, too, would have to punt which triggered six consecutive scoring drives for Kyle Shanahan's offense. It wasn't long before the game turned into the Raheem Mostert show as the undrafted running back out of Purdue opened the scoring with a 36-yard rushing touchdown before setting multiple postseason franchise records. With starting running back Tevin Coleman carted off the field with a shoulder injury, the Niners' radio call would sound like a broken record as Mostert scored all four of San Francisco's touchdowns and by halftime, the 49ers had jumped out to a 27-0 lead. When Green Bay wasn't calling on the punt team in the first half, they were left scratching their heads as the 49er defense forced turnovers on back to back possessions when a fumbled snap put an end to the Packers' best-looking drive of the half, followed by Emmanuel Moseley's interception which kept the shutout alive heading into halftime.

Rodgers and company would open the second half with their longest and most successful drive of the game when he helped lead the offense on an 11-play drive that ended in a 9-yard touchdown pass to running back Aaron Jones. But answering Green Bay's first score of the game would be Mostert who made NFL history by becoming the first player to ever score four rushing touchdowns in a conference championship. The Packers would string together touchdowns on each of their next two drives, but a Robbie Gould field goal and a Richard Sherman interception following the two-minute warning, would spell doom for Rodgers and co. who came up short both on the clock and on the scoreboard as San Francisco pulled off the 37-20 win to punch their ticket to Miami for Super Bowl 54. In just their third year at the helm, the brain trust of Kyle Shanahan and GM John Lynch got the 49ers back to the promised land of competing for and appearing in a Super Bowl.

Though Rodgers would pass Packers great Brett Favre for the most postseason passing touchdowns in franchise history and moved into a tie with Peyton Manning for 4th most all-time postseason passing TD's with 40, he dropped to 0-5 in his career as a starter in the postseason against teams ranked top 10 in pass defense (SF ranked No. 1). In their two meetings combined this season, the 49ers have outscored Green Bay 50-0 in the first half. Perhaps the most remarkable stat of the entire game was that of 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo and just how little was needed from their franchise quarterback. Despite dispatching the Packers for the second time this season, the Niners needed only eight pass attempts from their star quarterback on Sunday as Jimmy G finished the game 6 for 8 with 77 yards, no giveaways and a 104.7 passer rating. In contrast, Rodgers who is now 0-3 in his career during the postseason against the Niners, finished with 326 yards passing on 31 of 39 attempts, threw for a pair of touchdowns but had three giveaways on his way to a 97.2 passer rating. With no answer for the Niners rushing attack from Green Bay, Shanahan was able to feed his running backs and bleed the clock in route to a record day from one of the most unlikeliest of heroes.

NFL Cinderella - One story that cannot be talked about enough is that of 49ers running back Raheem Mostert. Cut from seven teams before landing with the Niners, including the woeful Cleveland Browns, Mostert who did not have a single rushing attempt in the NFL before landing in Kyle Shanahan's system, became the first player in NFL history to record 150+ rushing yards and 3 touchdowns in a single half of a playoff game. Compiling a conference championship record of 220 yards on 19 rushing attempts to go along with his four TD's, Mostert could not be stopped on Sunday. It would be the most rushing yards in 49ers postseason history and the 2nd most in NFL postseason history as his 36-yard score in the first quarter was the 49ers' longest rushing touchdown in the playoffs since former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick's then record-setting performance against Green Bay in the 2012 divisional round which helped pave their way to Super Bowl 47.

Super Bowl Preview - The table is officially set for Super Bowl 54 as the San Francisco 49ers will take on the winners of the AFC in the Kansas City Chiefs. Making their first Super Bowl appearance in 50 years and their third appearance overall, the Chiefs who under head coach Andy Reid and led by 2018 MVP Patrick Mahomes, were able to book their flight to Miami after pulling off a pair of thrilling come-from-behind victories against both the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans. Despite earning the top seed in the AFC a year ago, making it back to the Super Bowl has been a long time coming for K.C. fans who witnessed their team fail at making it past Tom Brady and the Patriots in last year's conference title game. Still chasing the Lombardi Trophy in what is his 20th season as a head coach in the NFL, the former head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles will now look to his young star quarterback to help him secure that piece of hardware that has long eluded him. When that game kicks off two weeks from now, Mahomes will become the 5th youngest QB to start a Super Bowl and would be the 2nd youngest ever (Ben Roethlisberger) to win it. Something Nick Bosa and the 49ers defense will do everything in their power to try and prevent from happening in what will be San Francisco's seventh Super Bowl appearance.

No strangers to playing the big game in Miami where the 49ers have won two of their five Super Bowl titles, San Francisco is only the third team to reach the Super Bowl after coming off a 4-win season and first to do it since the 1999 St. Louis Rams who went on to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. The only other team to accomplish the feat was the 1988 Cincinnati Bengals who lost to the 49ers in Super Bowl 23 in 1988. But unlike that Super Bowl winning team that was part of a 49er dynasty, this team will have to deliver against the best arm in the game. Having struggled this year against mobile quarterbacks, the San Francisco defense can ill-afford to let Mahomes get comfortable when scrambling out of the pocket and need to prevent him from extending the play. They'll also have their hands full with one of the more dangerous receiving corps in the league when they lineup against speedsters Tyreke Hill and Sammy Watkins as well as one of the best tight-ends in the league in Travis Kelce. Much improved from last year, the Kansas City defense was able to do something no team had done since Week 8 by holding the Titans to under 100 yards rushing in their 35-24 win on Sunday. Containing 2019 rushing champion Derrick Henry to just 69-yards, the Chiefs will try to employ a similar game plan against Mostert and the 49ers run game.

With a limited arsenal from Jimmy Garoppolo and the passing game which saw only one target and completion to George Kittle in what was the second consecutive game in which Kittle was asked to do very little outside of blocking his tail off, I expect Shanahan and the Niner offense to dial up a heavy dose of action for their All-Pro tight-end come Super Bowl Sunday. With seven players on their roster with Super Bowl experience, San Francisco enters the game as 1.5 point underdogs. In what should be a spectacular match-up of two explosive teams on both sides of the ball and two rabid fan bases, Super Bowl 54 has the makings of what could be an instant classic that could very well come down to who's able to play mistake-free football and steer clear of the costly turnovers and penalties. Adding some spice on Sunday whether intentional or not was Chiefs defensive-end Frank Clark who in an expletive-laden post-game interview following the win over Tennessee, referenced the infamous off-sides penalty by former Chief and current 49er Dee Ford. Clark who was acquired in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks to replace Ford who was then traded to San Francisco, also wears Ford's old jersey number 55.


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