San Francisco 49ers Steeled For Lambeau Upset Attempt By 2021 Adversity

It was tough to envision the San Francisco 49ers being two wins away from a second Super Bowl appearance in three seasons after they slumped to a 3-5 record with a dismal defeat to a Kyler Murray-less Arizona Cardinals team back in November.

Yet they are poised to head into Lambeau Field on Saturday with the opportunity to make an improbable return to the grandest stage in front of them, steeled by a season defined by adversity for a matchup with the one-seed Green Bay Packers in which they will likely face plenty of it.

San Francisco is not expected to maintain its streak of three successive playoff wins over a Packers team coming off the first-round bye after a 13-4 season that appears destined to net Aaron Rodgers a second successive MVP award.

The Niners will need to outscore Rodgers, who in the regular season threw 37 touchdowns to just four interceptions, in frigid conditions with the temperature forecast to be a little over 10 degrees Fahrenheit by kickoff.

However, head coach Kyle Shanahan this week expressed belief that the Niners’ difficult start to a campaign that can now objectively be viewed as a success has played a pivotal role in them blossoming into a legitimate contender for the Lombardi Trophy.

Asked if there was a benefit in the Niners having to play their backs against the wall earlier in the season, Shanahan—per 49ers Webzone—replied:

“Yeah, definitely. I think your experiences are what make you who you are. In life and definitely as a team. Being 3-5, I don’t wish that on anyone, but when you can fight through it and I always feel when bad things happen or things you would label a bad thing, they can be such a good thing if you can get through them. And if you get through them, you always can do it individually, but when you have to do it as a team and when you get through it with a group of people, it makes you stronger as an individual.

“It makes your whole team so much stronger. And we got through a lot of stuff this year and I feel that struggle has made us who we are and that’s why I feel like there’s not a situation we’re going to ever panic in. We feel like we’ve been in it and we believe that we have a chance to win any game we play in until there’s zero on the clock. That’s the only time we can accept it.”

It is not just the fact the Niners recovered from 3-5 to finish 10-7 and make the playoffs, it is the manner in which they achieved such a feat that makes them uniquely prepared for a challenge against Rodgers and Co. that is unlikely to be straightforward.

The 49ers have made a habit of playing in nail-biters. Including last week’s 23-17 Wild Card win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Niners have played in 10 one-possession games and won two in overtime.

They recovered after giving up a two-touchdown lead against the Cincinnati Bengals to prevail on a walk-off touchdown in Week 14 and fought back from 17 points down in Week 18 to beat the Los Angeles Rams and clinch the postseason, Jimmy Garoppolo having driven San Francisco down 88 yards with no timeouts in under a minute to tie the game at the end of regulation.

Garoppolo did so despite a torn ligament in his thumb and helped the 49ers hold off the Cowboys while nursing that injury and a sprained shoulder suffered in the second quarter of a game in which San Francisco lost Nick Bosa and Fred Warner to injuries but still held a Dallas attack that led the NFL with 407 yards per game to just 17 points and 307 net yards.

The 49ers have overcome a slow start, injuries, come back from large deficits and rebounded from surrendering leads in a rollercoaster season to get to this point. Furthermore, having played in what was labelled a ‘bomb cyclone’ in a loss to the Indianapolis Colts, they have experience of competing in conditions more challenging than those they will face in Green Bay.

This is a team already well versed in going deep into the playoffs, retaining much of the roster that went to the Super Bowl two seasons ago, a campaign that saw them twice blow out the Packers.

And it is one that played Rodgers and Green Bay close this season, the Packers requiring a last-second field goal to defeat the Niners back in Week 3.

The 49ers will not be overawed by facing Rodgers and they will not panic regardless of what script the game takes. Winning in Lambeau has been beyond every team to travel there in 2021 yet, following the trials and tribulations of San Francisco’s campaign, there is arguably no better candidate to end the Packers’ unbeaten home run and their season.