For the last few years, the San Francisco 49ers have been one of the NFL’s truly elite teams, and they had reached the NFC Championship game in three of the previous four seasons. On Saturday, they faced the upstart Green Bay Packers in the divisional round with a chance to get to the NFC title game once again.
Although most expected the 49ers to emerge victorious, they found themselves trailing 21-14 late in the third quarter. At that point, a hard truth emerged: They had lost each of their last 30 games when entering the fourth quarter down by at least five points.
But quarterback Brock Purdy was clutch on their last two offensive drives, and they came through with a 24-21 win. Head coach Kyle Shanahan called it a “mental challenge” and a “character win.”
Down 21-17 with 6:18 left, San Francisco started with the ball on its own 31 yard line. Facing a third-and-one, Purdy converted a first down himself, then moments later, on a third down and five, he delivered the football to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk through a very tight window.
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On second down and 10 from Green Bay’s 15-yard line with 1:55 remaining, Purdy couldn’t find an open receiver, so he took off himself going to his left and gained nine yards. That set up the go-ahead touchdown by star running back Christian McCaffrey on the next snap.
Coming in, perhaps the one knock against the Niners was that they hadn’t proved they could win after trailing in the waning minutes of a game, especially a big game. But that’s exactly what they did on Saturday, and in particular, Purdy proved he can be clutch and that he isn’t merely a “game manager.”
As a result, they will face the Detroit Lions next weekend with a spot in Super Bowl LVIII at stake.
