(WFRV) – For the second time this season and the fifth time in three years, the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers will meet on the football field – but for the first time since 2013, the familiar foes will meet with a spot in the NFC Championship Game on the line.
The Packers will play host to the 49ers Saturday night at Lambeau Field, a 7:15 p.m. (CT) kickoff on FOX.
The Niners knocked off the Dallas Cowboys 23-17 in Arlington, Texas, Sunday in an NFC Wild Card battle, advancing the sixth-seeded road underdog to the Divisional round.
San Francisco has now won eight of its last 10 games, surging into a wild card bid after a 3-5 start. The 49ers were underdogs in their final two contests – road triumphs against the Rams and Cowboys.
Green Bay (13-4) enjoyed a playoff bye week and watched the action go down on Wild Card weekend, but now will buckle down to face a team that reached the Super Bowl two seasons ago. San Francisco knocked the Packers out of the 2019-20 playoffs with a 37-20 drubbing in the NFC Championship Game.
In Week 3, the Pack traveled out west to the Bay Area for Sunday Night Football, racing out to a 17-0 lead before the Niners battled back at home. San Francisco eventually scored a touchdown to take a 28-27 lead with 37 seconds remaining, but Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams marched the Packers into field goal range despite Green Bay having no timeouts remaining.
As time expired, Mason Crosby booted a game-winning, 51-yard field goal to hand the Niners their first loss of the season.
Next weekend’s game will mark just the third time since 2012 the 49ers have visited Green Bay, despite 10 total meetings between the foes in that span. They split those games, with the 49ers edging by the Packers in subzero temperatures for a 2014 Wild Card game, but Green Bay paying back the favor during the 2018 regular season.
The last time the Packers and 49ers played in the Divisional Round was in 2013, a 45-31 triumph by the Niners in the Bay Area.
The NFL Divisional Round times and dates were announced following the conclusion of Sunday Night Football. The AFC’s top seed, the Tennessee Titans, will lead things off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
On Sunday, the winner of Monday’s Cardinals-Rams game will travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers at 2:00 p.m., then the Kansas City Chiefs will host the Buffalo Bills in the nightcap at 5:30.
The winners of the Divisional Round games advance to the conference championships on Sunday, January 30.
