GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN – JANUARY 22: San Francisco 49ers’ Elijah Mitchell (25) is known as for a face masking penalty in opposition to Inexperienced Bay Packers’ Eric Stokes (21) within the third quarter for his or her NFC divisional playoff NFL sport at Lambeau Subject in Inexperienced Bay, Wi., on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group)
GREEN BAY, Wisc. — Advancing to the NFC Championship Recreation, and doing so with a walk-off win within the snow at Lambeau Subject, shouldn’t actually shock anybody anymore about these 49ers.
Depend on them for drama. Highs. Lows. Unlikely heroes. Clutch stars. Down-to-the-absolute-wire finishes.
Elimination video games? Pfft. Two wins to go for that sixth Lombardi Trophy. It’s been 27 years since they gained all of it, earlier than half this roster was even born.
Earlier than getting too far forward of ourselves (once more), a glance again at Saturday evening’s 13-10 divisional win over Inexperienced Bay:
— Jordan Willis, regardless of his heroic block of a fourth-quarter punt, wasn’t among the many 49ers introduced into the media room for postgame interviews. He wasn’t muted, essentially. Within the locker room, after being awarded the ceremonial sport ball by coach Kyle Shanahan, Willis was egged on by teammates to provide a speech. He replied: “We’ve been via so much this 12 months, and we saved battling, so let’s hold going.” The gang went wild.
— Willis is 6-foot-4. He has an 80-inch wingspan, in accordance with his 2017 pre-draft file. He used that size and blocked the punt together with his left hand. However, first, he overpowered the lengthy snapper to shut in on that season-saving swat.
— “I believe we ain’t performed but. I believe we ain’t performed but.” — linebacker Fred Warner, in breaking down the locker room’s huddle.
— Nonetheless assume Jimmy Garoppolo is finished with the 49ers? Suppose once more. His affect on this franchise isn’t summed up by an end-of-the-world-again interception. His capacity to guide end-of-the-game scoring drives is a present, that retains on giving the 49ers one other sport.
— This sums up the locker room’s emotions for Garoppolo: “Actually I’m impressed together with his demeanor as a pacesetter. Lots of people give him crap or no matter, however he’s as cool and picked up as a quarterback that I’ve ever had, and he's the proper man to guide us to the place we have to go.” — Nick Bosa.
— No person has quarterbacked extra video games for Shanahan than Garoppolo (35-15). “I don’t assume folks perceive what that’s kinda like on the market.” – Shanahan. (Trey Lance might not perceive, both. He didn’t take a snap for his thirteenth sport, nor ought to he have.)
— The final time the 49ers blocked a postseason punt: Spencer Tillman for the 1989 group’s divisional-round win over Minnesota, en path to the franchise’s fourth Tremendous Bowl win.
— The 49ers reached the ultimate 4 for the fifteenth time since 1980. That’s tied with the Patriots for essentially the most within the NFL.
— Was Saturday’s winner the most important kick in Robbie Gould’s profession? Within the playoffs, within the snow, in Lambeau, from 45 yards? He surprisingly advised me it’s not. He flashed again to the second season of his 17-year profession: a 49-yard discipline purpose in time beyond regulation lifted the 2006 Chicago Bears to a divisional win of their playoff opener in opposition to Seattle, en path to the Tremendous Bowl.
“Chicago hadn’t gained a playoff sport in 11 years, in order that being my first game-winning playoff kick, it’s in all probability my largest,” Gould advised me outdoors the media room. “Simply because I used to be younger and type of calmed myself down, as a result of I didn’t know what was occurring. As you get going, expertise helps you in conditions like this.”
— Twenty years in the past, I coated one other 45-yard discipline purpose within the snow of a divisional playoff sport, that being Adam Vinatieri’s kick, 5 snaps after the “Tuck Rule” saved alive the New England Patriots’ rally in opposition to the Raiders, who then fell in time beyond regulation on Vinatieri’s 23-yard encore.
“He had much more snow than I had tonight,” Gould mentioned. “He’s a man I name on a regular basis. I talked to him in the midst of the season, talked to him about how I needs to be kicking at this age and issues to do to prime up for Sundays.”
— Lengthy snapper Taybor Pepper sprinted to recuperate the ball for Gould, who’s saved all his game-winners – besides one. After an epic win at New Orleans in 2019, Gould gave that ball to the York household, which was mourning the lack of Tony York, the youngest son of homeowners Denise DeBartolo York and Dr. John York.
— “Man of the hour. Good job, brother.” — Garoppolo to Gould as they crossed paths outdoors the media room.
— Warner and George Kittle have been the final 49ers off the sphere, reluctantly leaving solely after bear hugs and some primal screams. “It was unbelievable. That’s one in all my greatest buddies,” Warner advised me outdoors the interview room. “The adversity he went via early on with that drop, then he goes and makes a spectacular one. It means so much to each of us. We’ve been on this factor for some time now. I wished to take all of it in, for positive. It was particular.”
— Kittle might have dropped a first-quarter cross within the open discipline, and he might have been woefully focused on the sport’s lone interception, however he had 63 key yards (after simply 78 yards the earlier 4 video games).
Rekindling his reference to Garoppolo is a superb signal going forth, not that he ever doubted his QB. “The (stuff) that he takes, excuse my language. We simply see, constantly, simply folks attempt to pull him down, and all he does is attempt to ship. He leads his group. He’s the sense of calm within the huddle.”
— It’s becoming the Packers had solely 10 gamers on the sphere for Gould’s kick. A missing-man formation might outline their offseason if Aaron Rodgers pursues the exit technique he plotted final offseason.
— Not solely did Talanoa Hufanga rating the tying landing – claiming he heard the ball bounce earlier than recognizing for the scoop-and-score – he helped Dontae Johnson double cowl Adams on Rodgers’ incomplete heave, maybe Rodgers’ closing throw in a Packers’ jersey.
— Bosa jokingly scoffed at Hufanga beating him to the postgame media podium. Rookies. Sheesh.
— Worst postgame sight: Trent Williams strolling out of the locker room on crutches with an ankle damage. He miss only one snap. Keep tuned if he’ll miss his first convention title sport. (Coolest offensive play: Williams moving into movement as a blocking again.)
— Deebo Samuel walked high quality out of the interview room, versus hopping off the sphere after injuring his proper ankle on a third-down conversion run, three snaps earlier than Gould’s kick. Samuel took a tough hit to his proper shoulder earlier within the sport, and his proper elbow bled via his white sleeve. All for 142 all-purpose yards – and an opportunity to go all the best way.
— If Arik Armstead’s pair of fourth-quarter sacks weren’t his two greatest in his 49ers’ tenure, don’t spoil this and remind me of any higher. He did have 2 1/2 two weeks in the past on the Rams, and he has six sacks the previous 4 video games (after seven his earlier 32 video games).
— Depart it to 49ers’ all-time speeding king Frank Gore to combine a congratulatory tweet with a motivational message: “Nice @49ers win!! Lot’s of labor to be performed!! #FTTB #KeepGrinding #DoitfortheDoubters.”
— Sure, the 49ers are at work once more on an NFC Championship, two years after profitable the Halas Trophy. “Individuals like to speak about ’19 so much. I don’t actually like to match,” Warner mentioned. “They’re each very totally different. (In 2019), we have been the No. 1 seed and all the things ran via S.F. again then. Now we’re the sixth seed. We have now to go on the street and win powerful video games. It is rather rewarding if you’re the underdog and you're taking it from any person.”