The 49ers' favorite show isn't 60 Minutes
San Francisco is forced to play four whole quarters to advance against the Packers.
The 49ers finally realized why they play all those extra minutes. Sixty of them, at least, every game. Most of the time, their best players are wearing their baseball caps in the fourth quarter, with all points proven. On Saturday, they were the holdovers. Who knew they even knew how the Victory Formation works?
For the first time in the 2023 season, San Francisco came from behind in the second half to win a game. It’s not how the other 97 percent lives. Brock Purdy shook off some rust and produced a diamond of a fourth-quarter drive, which ended in Christian McCaffrey’s second rushing touchdown, and then Dre Greenlaw intercepted a poorly-conceived first-down pass by Green Bay’s Jordan Love.
Greenlaw then dangerously ran around trying to turn it into a Pick Six, when he should have downed himself and taken the fumble out of the equation. “We’ll put him on offense if he wants to run the ball that bad,” said coach Kyle Shanahan. “I wanted to go out there and tackle him myself.”
But how would Greenlaw or the rest of the Niners know how to act? They did win, 24-21, and even though they were unfamiliar with the nitty, they managed to summon just enough gritty. Now they’re in the NFC Championship Game for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
Purdy, the last man selected in the 2022 draft and thus burdened with proving himself each and every week, was up to it yet again. The 49ers took over on their 31 after the Packers’ Anders Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal, with 6:18 left, and Purdy hit six of seven passes (the seventh was dropped by George Kittle) and picked up a first down on a sneak. He also scurried nine yards to the one to set up McCaffrey. It was straight from the state of Montana, and it should dissipate some of the talk that Purdy somehow is a creature of Shanahan’s “system,” or that he has no Plan B when Deebo Samuel gets hurt, which happened Saturday.
The Packers had all their time outs, with 1:07 left, and Love picked up one first down. But instead of using Aaron Jones, who for the second consecutive week overmatched all the tacklers, Matt LaFleur called another pass. Love was chased out of the pocket and, as he neared the right sideline, threw back to the shark tank inside the numbers. Greenlaw, who had intercepted a tipped pass when the Packers had led by seven, was happy to cash the mistake, one of the few Love has made as Green Bay rallied from 3-6 to 9-8.
Otherwise it was a difficult evening for the Niners, who were 1-3 this season in games decided by seven or fewer points, and who scored 30 or more points nine times. They had a field goal blocked at the end of the first half, and they gave up a 73-yard kickoff return to Keisean Nixon that led to a touchdown, and a drive-starting 53-yard run by Jones that preceded Carlson’s missed kick. Usually the big plays belong to the 49ers, who are notorious front-runners and sometimes win games during warmups. The pressure lived on the home sideline, because the 49ers missed last year’s Super Bowl when Purdy got hurt in Philadelphia, and missed the one before that when Jaquiski Tartt couldn’t cradle an interception thrown by the Rams’ Matthew Stafford. Everyone thinks the 49ers are the best team in the league when all conditions are equal, but eventually they need a ring that says the same thing.
In Baltimore, the top team in the AFC fought through the same discomfort. The Ravens and Houston were tied 10-10 at the half. But Lamar Jackson lit up the locker room with some words that he later said were “inappropriate” for public consumption, and the Ravens roared back onto the field to get a 37-yard kickoff return by Devin Duvernay and then a ruthless six-play touchdown drive, with Jackson rumbling for a 15-yard score.
C.J. Stroud was usually greeted with Raven rushers an instant after he fielded the shotgun snap, and he threw for only 175 yards, operating on happy feet. The Ravens also outrushed Houston 229–38, and the Texans had only 10 first downs and snapped the ball 47 times, 20 fewer times than did the Ravens. Their sole touchdown was a 73-yard punt return by Steven Sims.
Stroud’s first NFL start was also at Baltimore. It didn’t produce a touchdown either. Stroud was 28-for-44 that day and was sacked five times, dropping few hints of what a phenomenon he would become on the way to an AFC South championship. Like Green Bay, Houston knows who its quarterback is, and also knows it won’t be forced to pay Stroud the going QB rate until 2027. The Texans will be a prime-time fixture in 2024.
Unlike San Francisco, Baltimore did eventually look like a Super Bowl candidate, and Jackson was his nuclear self, as he ran 11 times for 100 yards while he connected on 16 of 22 passes. The Ravens also plan to get tight end Mark Andrews back next week, not that they’ve been struggling with replacement Isaiah Likely, who caught another touchdown Saturday.
In Santa Clara, McCaffrey was saying, “We didn’t play our best game.” That isn’t to say the 49ers won’t, but Tampa Bay or Detroit know its chances increase if it can make San Francisco play a whole one
Purdy looked rusty alright, several of his throws were reminiscent of the Ravens debacle, including one thrown directly to a Packer. He and R. McCloud miscommunicated on the possession before the last drive, cameras showed him yelling while on the field, then talking with Mr. McCloud on the sideline. He came through in the clutch, his last run was down to the 6 yard line. Niners defense looked vulnerable, Packers receivers blocked well, and San Francisco’s special teams showed leaks. They were lucky to get past the Packers, Will have to play better to get to the big game.