The Divisional Round Playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers was amazing, and as hard as it is for me (a lifelong Packers fan) to admit: Green Bay got completely dominated in every aspect of the game and it wasn’t nearly as close as the 45-31 score would lead you to believe. 

The Packers never really played well the entire game, but they played well enough to keep the game relatively close; trailing by just three points at the half (thanks in large part to Colin Kaepernick throwing a pick-six in the opening drive).  I wish the same could be said about the second half, when the wheels completely fell off, the 49ers took the lead and never looked back. 

These are the biggest things that attributed to Green Bay’s demise:

Defense:  I know that’s extremely vague, but the entire defense played terribly.  Absolutely no one on the Packers’ defense seems to be able to perform a basic tackle.  They had numerous chances to take Kaepernick or Frank Gore down for a loss or small gain, but tried to simply knock them over instead of wrapping them up and the results are obvious: Kaepernick set a playoff record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 181.  The 49ers combined for 323 rushing yards and four touchdowns, averaging 7.5 yards per carry.  You can’t expect to win when you allow teams to have rushing success of that caliber.  When The Packers tried (pitifully) to contain the run, Kaepernick and the 49ers torched them through the air for 263 yards and two touchdowns. 

Running Game:  The Packers established a decent running game in the first half with DuJuan Harris.  Nothing special, but he was able to average 4.8 yards per carry and racked up 53 yards and a touchdown (which almost all took place before halftime).  In the second half, despite being down by only three (and later tied at 24-24), Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy made the highly-questionable decision to completely abandon the running game and focus on Aaron Rodgers and the passing game.  Obviously this didn’t go all that well as the 49ers pulled away in the second half. 

Blocking:  Something the Packers have had serious trouble with all season.  Rodgers was constantly being rushed and while he was only sacked once; he was hit a total of 10 times and threw his first interception in four games.  The Offensive line had a terrible time protecting Rodgers and allowing him enough time to find a receiver downfield. 

Fumbles:  The Packers had three fumbles, two of which hurt them and one that was extremely costly.  Jeremy Ross muffed a punt inside his own 15 yard line and gave San Francisco the ball in the red zone.  Randall Cobb was called upon to replace Ross and immediately fumbled receiving a kick off: he was able to hold onto the ball, but the Packers were pinned deep and ended up punting. 

In the end, extremely poor play from the Packers’ defense and offensive line were ultimately what did them in.  The 49ers were firing on all cylinders, outplayed the Packers on all fronts and in the ended deserved the victory much more.