Kaepernick leads 49ers over Green Bay

Now that I have had more than a day to digest this big wild card win in Green Bay, I’m here to offer some insight on what I saw during the game. This was every bit the heavyweight tilt I thought it was going to be, with two top-tier teams trading blows in frigid, but not epic, weather conditions at Lambeau Field. The grass seemed to have been sprayed with weed killer as it turned a beautiful shade of brown, making it seem like you might be watching some game from the 1950?s. And when it was all said and done, the three keys Matt and I pointed to as being the most important to a Niners win basically hit the nail on the head as to why the Niners won (Keep Rodgers under 20, check; Kaep as the Niners most important player, check; Packers line being their most important unit, check; coaching, um…not very easy to tell who was better so we’ll call it a wash). And with that I’ll get to the recap of how the Niners pulled this out.

Holding Rodgers Down

The stats would suggest that Aaron Rodgers was shut down by the Niners defense on Sunday (17-26, 177 yards, 1 TD), but I did not feel like Rodgers was shut down in any way. He seemed in control of the offense from the second quarter on, rotating between runs and passes effectively to keep the Niners defense off-balance. It really turned into a chess match between these two, but where the Niners were able to come out with the upper hand was because they only gave up two 20+ yard plays. They did their usual work against the run, holding the Packers to 4.0 yards per carry, slightly below league average, then suffocated the receivers of the Packers and made Rodgers throw everything underneath. In all, Rodgers was only able to take three big shots down the field, with each resulting in a failed conversion. Taking big plays away is a Niner staple, and it was good to see them get back to it after two rough outings in this department against the Falcons and Cardinals. So while Rodgers was able to make some plays with his feet, the Niners forced him to play a precise game, and in turn held him to the magic 20 point total.

Kaepernick

Once again, Mr. Kaepernick was his normal erratic self, but when it was all said and done, Unlce Rico has those wheels that can get you out of dangerous places. It wasn’t just the third down he converted after pump-faking Jarret Bush to the inside with just over a minute left, it was also the third down earlier on the drive where he stepped up in the pocket, looked like he was going to run, before finding a wide open Michael Crabtree across the sticks. It was also on third down earlier in the game when he stepped up, got a block from Frank and pranced his way for 42 yards down the sideline. He coupled this with some pinpoint passes to all three of his big targets, including the TD to Vernon Davis where he threw a frozen rope to the only spot the Packers defense couldn’t cover. And yet, he still left you with a little cringe in your stomach when he stepped to the line of scrimmage for the third down that ended with the Crabtree conversion. He threw a lazy pass to Vernon that resulted in an interception and almost gave the Packers a potential game sealing interception that Micah Hyde thankfully dropped. He had several plays where he seemed to just be throwing and hoping his receiver came down with it (the deep balls to Vernon), but in the end, the stuff that makes Kaep so special showed. He is proving to be a clutch performer (something that, admittedly, can be very ambiguous) with big plays in the most crucial times, in addition to being able to bounce back quickly when things go wrong.

Packers Offensive Line

These guys had a rough day, starting with the first play where Aldon Smith shoved David Bakthari four yards into the backfield all day. Aldon and Ahmad Brooks consistently owned the Packers tackles in both the run and pass game, setting the edge on runs and sending them on skates during passes. Where the Packers established a credible run game after the first quarter, it never produced any chunk plays because the Niners line controlled the line of scrimmage enough, which forced the Packers runners to have to make cuts early in their runs, slowing them down and allowing pursuit to clean up. By doing this, they forced the Packers to have to get big gains in the pass game and that just wasn’t happening. Several times, as mentioned earlier, those deep balls fell incomplete, but the Niners also collapsed the pocket very well all game, coming up with four sacks and generally pushing Packer offensive lineman into Rodgers lap or throwing them aside all together. It was a return to full dominance by the Niners line as they took advantage of the weakness on the edges of the Packers line, never allowing them to gain the necessary upper hand.