Hello and welcome to our coverage of the NFC Championship game! The San Francisco 49ers are about an hour away from hosting the Green Bay Packers, with the winner set to cross the continent to Miami for Super Bowl LIV (54).
We’re really excited to have you with us but can I give you a little advice? For now, stick with the Chiefs and Titans and our live blogger extraordinaire, Hunter Felt, who is monitoring the AFC Championship for us. Once that’s done, come back and read this little spiel below about the Niners and Packers, and get ready for the big game at Levi’s® Stadium in Santa Clara.
So, that spiel: we’re lucky to have got two marquee quarterbacks to entertain us this evening (morning, afternoon): 36-year-old Aaron Rodgers and the kid, Jimmy Garoppolo, who isn’t really a kid at age 28, who is playing on this stage for the first time.
All Jimmy G has done since moving from being a would-be successor to Tom Brady in New England to the helm of the 49ers offense is go 22-5, in-between an ACL injury which kept him out for most of 2018. With a win today, Garoppolo takes another leap towards the top of the next generation quarterback class.
And San Francisco should win this game, because they have more than enough weapons to do so convincingly. San Francisco’s dynamic offense have the personnel to win any way they like. For example, head coach Kyle Shanahan could punch up a run heavy game plan featuring their three-headed rushing attack of Tevin Coleman, Raheem Mostert and Matt Breida, a trio that combined for close to 2000 yards this season. Or, should Green Bay stack the line, San Francisco could easily lean on Garoppolo, who has the luxury of George Kittle, a tight end who is nearly impossible to tackle, and is literally out there seeking out walls to run through.
Defensively San Francisco can pressure the quarterback with just four lineman, which could mean a tough day for Aaron Rodgers. The 15-year veteran is the last of the old generation standing – Brady, Brees Roethlisberger, two Manning brothers, Rivers and other old raisins are either retired, or almost retired, and are certainly not here playing for a shot at the Super Bowl. That’s to his credit, as Rodgers put together a 13-3 season featuring over 4000 yards passing and 26 touchdown tosses against only four picks. Green Bay looked pretty good last week against a Seattle team that had divisional round defeat written all over them.
You know when Green Bay didn’t look so good? Back in week 12, when these very same Niners held Rodgers to just 81 yards passing.
Final score: 37-8.
So the question heading into this rematch is, what did Packers head coach Matt LeFleur learn from that shellacking, and what can he conjure up to turn that result 180 degrees the other way. In a few hours time we’ll know if LeFleur and the Packers have enough to put Rodgers in a position to win his second Super Bowl ring, or, if Jimmy G will be heading to Miami for a shot at his first.
We’re getting closer to kickoff and we’ll soon be rolling in more pre-game fun including predictions.
What’s your incredibly hot take on the NFC Championship?
Feel free to share: tweet me on @lengeldavid or email it to david.lengel.freelance@guardian.co.uk and we’ll make you famous!
Please stand by for NFC Championship football – stick with us!
