When the 49ers and Packers kick off their divisional-round playoff matchup on Saturday night in Green Bay, it'll put their rivalry up at the top of the record books.
It'll be the ninth time San Francisco and Green Bay have played in the playoffs, tying the Rams-Cowboys matchup for the most-played showdown in NFL playoff history. All of the previous eight matchups have seen the 49ers face either the Packers' current starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, or their previous starter, Brett Favre.
Here's a look back at all of the previous 49ers-Packers postseason games (Year is the NFL season the game was played after):
1995 NFC divisional round: Packers win 27-17 in San Francisco
Many expected George Seifert's 49ers would make it four NFC Championship matchups in a row with the Dallas Cowboys, as the teams finished as the top two in the NFC again. But ready to stop them was a familiar face: Packers head coach Mike Holmgren, who spent six seasons as a top offensive assistant for the 49ers and had worked with 49ers quarterback Steve Young back in college at BYU. On Young's first pass of the game, Packers defensive back Craig Newsome intercepted the left-hander and returned it for a touchdown, and the Brett Favre-led offense followed that up with two quick touchdown drives to make it 21-0 in the second quarter. While the 49ers piled up the yards and added a couple touchdowns, the Packers forced four turnovers and tacked on a couple field goals to upset the heavily-favored 49ers.
1996 NFC divisional round: Packers win 35-14 in Green Bay
The Packers were the class of the NFL this season, scoring the most points and allowing the fewest points of any team in the league that season. While the 49ers took the Packers to overtime at Lambeau in the regular season in a 23-20 loss, this time the Packers stormed out to a 21-0 lead, sparked initially by a Desmond Howard 71-yard punt return touchdown. Howard had another punt return of 46 yards to set up a short Packers touchdown drive. Green Bay's defense forced five San Francisco turnovers on the day, including three interceptions of backup quarterback Elvis Grbac, who was called on when Steve Young's rib injury forced Young out of the game. It'd be the last game Seifert would coach for San Francisco, as he resigned once the 49ers didn't offer him a contract extension. The Packers would go on to win Super Bowl XXXI, their first since Super Bowl II.
1997 NFC Championship: Packers win 23-10 in San Francisco
Part of why Seifert left, per reports at the time, is that the 49ers had found his replacement in Steve Mariucci, who had been the Packers quarterback coach for four years before leaving for one season as Cal's head coach. The 49ers also added running back Garrison Hearst and rolled to a 13-3 record in the regular season, the best in the NFC even without wide receiver Jerry Rice for a majority of the season. But the injuries piled up late in the regular season, and while the 49ers looked solid in a divisional-round win over the Vikings, the Packers shut down the 49ers offense, holding them to just 33 rushing yards, forcing two turnovers and sacking Young four times. The 49ers' only points came via a field goal and a kickoff return late, but the Packers offense didn't turn it over once to win the NFC for the second year in a row.
1998 NFC wild-card round: 49ers win 30-27 in San Francisco
Those three straight playoff losses, as well as two losses in the regular season — including in 1998 — made this wild win so cathartic for the 49ers. The back-and-forth game saw the lead change seven times, with the sixth change being a Favre 15-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman with 1:55 left to give the Packers a 27-23 lead. Young and the 49ers drove down the field, using their final timeout when they reached the Green Bay 25 with 14 seconds left. Young's pass intended for J.J. Stokes was nearly intercepted by the Packers' Newsome, but referees ruled it incomplete, giving the 49ers one final play with eight seconds left. Young stumbled out of the snap but regrouped and fired it into traffic for burgeoning superstar Terrell Owens, who made the catch at the goal line while being hit by two Packers simultaneously. But Owens hung on, and The Catch II gave the 49ers their first playoff win over Favre and the Packers. The 49ers' season would end the next week in Atlanta, falling 20-18 to the eventual NFC champion Falcons.
2001 NFC divisional round: Packers win 25-15 in Green Bay
It was the best 49ers team by record in the time between the end of Steve Young's career and Jim Harbaugh's arrival in San Francisco, a 12-4 team led by a local product in quarterback Jeff Garcia (Gilroy High, San Jose State alum) and his connection with Owens. But in a top-heavy NFC in the last year of three divisions, the 49ers had identical records as fellow 12-4 wild-card team Green Bay, but the Packers had a better conference record and got to host. San Francisco benefitted from a missed extra point and two-point conversion by Green Bay to tie the game at 15-15 early in the fourth after Garcia connected with Tai Streets on a touchdown and 2-pointer. A Packers field goal gave the 49ers a chance to drive for the win and they reached the Green Bay 41 with 5:06 left, but a deep ball from Garcia intended for Owens was swatted by Packers cornerback Mike McKenzie directly to safety Tyrone Williams for an interception. Green Bay drove down the field for a touchdown and the 49ers fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which the Packers recovered to seal the game.
2012 NFC divisional round: 49ers win 45-31 in San Francisco
It could have been the playoff matchup of the 2005 NFL draft, with Northern California kid Aaron Rodgers returning to the Bay to face the quarterback the 49ers first overall took instead of him, Alex Smith. But 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh inserted Colin Kaepernick as his starter earlier in the season when Smith suffered a concussion and kept Kaepernick even when Smith was healthy, a decision that paid off in this performance. Kaepernick ran for 181 yards — a then-49ers record for most rushing yards in a postseason game and still the NFL record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a game — and two touchdowns and threw for 263 yards and two touchdowns (both to Michael Crabtree) in a shootout. Frank Gore added 119 yards rushing and a touchdown in a 579-yard night for the 49ers offense. After the win, the 49ers went on the road and beat Atlanta to get to their first Super Bowl since 1994, but lost Super Bowl XLVII, 34-31, to the Ravens in the matchup between the Harbaugh brothers.
2013 NFC wild-card round: 49ers win 23-20 in Green Bay
The 49ers were really one of the best teams in the NFL this year, but so was NFC West rival Seattle. The Seahawks finished at 13-3, one game ahead of the 49ers, meaning San Francisco would have to head to Green Bay to face the 8-7-1 NFC North champion Packers. With game-time temperature at 5 degrees around kickoff at Lambeau, the 49ers and Packers battled in a tight one, and a late Mason Crosby field goal tied the game at 20 with 5:06 left. But led by Kaepernick and Gore, the 49ers went on a game-sealing 14-play, 65-yard drive to finish out the rest of the clock and set up a game-ending Phil Dawson 33-yard field goal. Kaepernick shone again, throwing for 227 yards (125 of them to Crabtree) and rushing for 98 on just seven carries. Dawson made all five of his kicks on the day (two extra points, three field goals). The 49ers would follow this game up with another road win over the Panthers before falling to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship.
2019 NFC Championship: 49ers win 37-20 in Santa Clara
After years of ineptitude in the post-Harbaugh era, Kyle Shanahan's 49ers took the bits of promise they had shown in his first two seasons in charge and turned it all the way around, finishing the 2019 regular season as the top team in the NFC at 13-3 — which included a 37-8 demolishing of the Packers at Levi's Stadium. After dispatching the Vikings handily in the divisional round, the Packers held off the Seahawks to set up another matchup between Rodgers and the team who spurned him. But this game ended up being all about San Francisco's rushing attack, as Raheem Mostert broke Kaepernick's 49ers record with 220 yards rushing and four touchdowns. As a team, the 49ers finished with 42 carries for 285 yards and saw Jimmy Garoppolo only attempt eight passes as they pummeled the Packers again and went to their seventh Super Bowl. The 49ers would hold a 20-10 lead after three quarters in Miami, but the Chiefs scored three times to stun San Francisco 31-20 in Super Bowl LIV.
