Green Bay Packers v. 49ers: 3 Reasons They’ll win the NFC Championship

Packer defense much better against run & limiting big plays

In their previous meeting this was an incredibly efficient performance from the 49er offense. Jimmy Garoppolo had 253 passing yards on just 14 completions and as a team they put up 339 total yards while holding the ball for nearly 11 minutes fewer than the Packers. It was really quite impressive.

Some of the major issues that the Packers have had defensively this season were defending the run and giving up big plays in the passing game, particularly over the middle. And we saw all of that in Week 12 as the Niners averaged nearly six yards per carry, had plays of 25, 22, 42, and 62 yards, and gouged Green Bay over the middle of the field.

After being near the top of the league in terms of explosive plays allowed, the Packers defense has been much better over the last two months of the season. In the last six games, they’ve given up just 10 plays of 20 yards or more and only 2 of those 10 have been over 40. Certainly the return of Ibraheim Campbell and the emergence of Chandon Sullivan during that span has helped.

Meanwhile against the run, for a good chunk of the season the Packers ranked in the 25 to 28 range in terms of rushing yards allowed per game as they hovered around the 125 yard mark. However, over the last six games, they are giving up an average of just 94.6 rushing yards to running backs.

This can be attributed to of course, Kenny Clark but also Dean Lowry and Blake Martinez playing much better as well. Not to mention that this is a defense that is still very good after forcing turnovers and pressuring the quarterback just as they’ve done all season long.

The 49ers’ offense was dominant in the first meeting and the two big reasons were because of their ground game and the big plays that they hit through the air. But these are also two areas that the Green Bay Packers have greatly improved upon since Week 12.