After losing to San Francisco in the playoffs three times in the last five seasons, the Green Bay Packers wouldn’t mind seeing the 49ers miss the postseason this year.
The Packers (7-3) have a chance to hurt San Francisco’s playoff chances on Sunday by defeating the 49ers at Lambeau Field. San Francisco (5-5) dropped to a .500 record after losing to the Seattle Seahawks at home, but they are still only one game behind the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West.
Packers center Josh Myers said, “I think we’re motivated to keep winning more than anything. Obviously, they have knocked us out quite a bit. There’s that extra motivation behind it, but at this point, we’re just trying to churn out wins.”
Green Bay is third in the NFC North and two games behind the Detroit Lions, but the Packers seem on track to at least secure a wild-card playoff spot. History shows their path to a possible Super Bowl would become much easier if the 49ers aren’t standing in their way.
Last year, the 49ers were trailing 21-14 in the fourth quarter but managed to beat the Packers 24-21 in the divisional playoffs, thanks to Christian McCaffrey’s 6-yard touchdown run with 1:07 left. This season, it’s the 49ers who have struggled to hold onto late-game leads, blowing fourth-quarter leads in three games against divisional rivals.
49ers tight end George Kittle said, “You could look at, ‘Hey, we’re three possessions away from being 8-2,’ but you can’t really live like that. Those are the mistakes that we’ve made to be 5-5. It’s not exactly where we want to be. It is frustrating. The nice thing is we have seven games left to go out there and play Niners football and take advantage of those opportunities.”
The Packers have also had tough playoff losses to the 49ers in the past, including a 13-10 defeat at Lambeau Field in the 2021 divisional playoffs and a 37-20 loss on the road in the 2019 NFC championship game.
Even Packers players who weren’t part of last season’s playoff loss understand the significance of this game.
Green Bay safety Xavier McKinney, who joined the Packers this season, said, “I think one of the first meetings that I was in here, we had a conversation about the Niners beating us. So I understand how important it is, and we all do.”
