There is widespread speculation that Aaron Rodgers walked off the Lambeau Field grass as a Packers player for the last time Saturday night. They’ll play the winner of Sunday’s other divisional-round matchup between the Rams and Buccaneers. The victory sends them on the road - for the sixth time in the last eight weeks - in the NFC Championship Game. When the ball finally struck the half-frozen surface, Hufanga gathered it in at the 7-yard line and ran it into the end zone, the 49ers’ only touchdown in their 13-10 win. “It was snowing, it was getting dark, we couldn’t see.” Hufanga said he actually heard the punt get blocked, searched for it, then seconds later heard the ball land to his left. Willis’ one-handed deflection sent the ball 40 feet straight into the air and had everyone around the line of scrimmage wondering where it went. Jordan Willis’ blocked punt with 4:50 to play created the most surreal moment in a game Green Bay fans, and perhaps most viewers who haven’t been following the 49ers this season, still are trying to process. No one knew where the ball was, including Talanoa Hufanga. It’d have to be earned in that snow globe, amidst the frenzy of flakes on the frozen tundra, in front of a roaring crowd that’d already delighted in a plethora of 49ers’ offensive missteps over the game’s first 57 minutes. The 49ers - setting up shop at their own 29-yard line with just over three minutes to play - were set up to grab a win, at least on paper.īut the 49ers’ eventual 13-10 win over top-seeded Green Bay wouldn’t be determined on paper. Sure, the 49ers’ special teams unit had just delivered a punt block and touchdown to tie the game, and their defense had followed that by forcing Aaron Rodgers and the Packers into yet another three-and-out. The 49ers offense took the field in this snow globe, and it certainly seemed like a fitting place for their season to meet a freezing demise. The cold bit through anything that was exposed to it, and - gusting off the nearby water - it was bitter enough to trigger perpetual shivering even from those who were thoroughly layered with protection. The snow swirled and pelted the once-green field, coating it in a thickening layer of white. The wind chill outside hovered around zero degrees. From high above, Lambeau Field looked like a snow globe. As they did when they were down 17-0 at halftime in the regular-season finale. As they did when they were 3-5 and the Bay Area seemed to be crumbling beneath their feet.

They needed the clock to keep going.Īnd now the 49ers are headed to the NFC Championship Game because they had an answer for this moment. Not picking up the first down would also give Aaron Rodgers time to answer, a traumatizing thought after he burned the 49ers in Week 3.

Getting stuffed would make the game-winning attempt a 56-yard hail mary. But we wanted to make sure the clock ran regardless, so we went with the run.” “So it was a big dilemma whether to run or pass.

“We needed about five, five more yards to go for the field goal in those conditions,” Kyle Shanahan said in his postgame interview. And the seven yards of real estate the 49ers needed on this third down felt miles away.

The field looked as if hell had frozen over. The clock was down to its precious final minute.

Green bay score