The San Francisco 49ers pummeled the Green Bay Packers in Week 12.
In that primetime bout, the Niners held Aaron Rodgers to 104 yards passing, restricted Davante Adams to 43 yards on seven catches with a touchdown and sacked the quarterback five times. Jimmy Garoppolo piled up 253 passing yards and two TDs, George Kittle went for 129 receiving yards and a touchdown, Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman each ran for a score, as the Niners skated to a 37-8 victory.
Heading into the rematch, Green Bay believed it could turn the tide in the NFC Championship Game.
It believed wrong.
Mostert galloped for 220 yards and four TDs on 29 carries. The Niners' defense smothered the Packers until garbage time, gave up just 93 first-half yards and forced three turnovers on the day. The 27-0 halftime lead felt more indicative of the contest than the final 37-20 score indicated. San Francisco dominated so thoroughly that Garoppolo attempted just eight passes in the win, completing six for 77 yards.
After the latest blowout, 49ers veteran cornerback Richard Sherman took issue with the thought that the Packers could keep it close in the rematch.
"There was a ton of confidence," Sherman said after the win. "We took our starters out in the fourth quarter of that game. It could have been worse, and we knew that. I think they were trying to pump themselves up. They were trying to hype themselves up, talking about a revenge game. Like they weren't coming in with an advantage into that game. We were coming off of a battle with Seattle, and they were coming off a bye. So saying payback. Saying when you stay ready you don't got to get ready."
"They were trying to hype themselves up like 'man, we're going to be ready this time,'" Sherman said. "If you weren't ready the first time and that was in front of the whole country, that was a Sunday night game. It wasn't like it was a middle-of-the-day 1 o'clock game. It kind of bothered us a little bit. Like 'oh my god, we're going to be ready this time.' Like do you not take the game seriously? When do we not take games seriously in the regular season? If you would have won that one-seed, we would have been going to Green Bay. But, hey, it wasn't that big of a deal you were going to be ready this time."
The Packers weren't ready for the onslaught the Niners brought. From a dominating defense to Kyle Shanahan's superior ground game, San Francisco proved they were the better team from start to finish. The Week 12 blowout wasn't a one-off. It was indicative of the gap that lies between the final two NFC teams.
