GREEN BAY, Wis. — The weather didn’t live up to the hype, but the game exceeded it.
The 49ers and Packers went at each other like heavyweight champions on a frigid — but not historically so — evening at Lambeau Field before San Francisco emerged with a 23-20 victory thanks to the fourth-quarter heroics of Colin Kaepernick.
A Milwaukee native who grew up a Packers fan and wasn’t going to be intimidated by the conditions, Kaepernick led the 49ers on a clock-draining march that ended with Phil Dawson’s 33-yard field goal at the gun and second playoff elimination of Green Bay in as many seasons.
San Francisco advanced to the NFC divisional round, where the Niners will face the Panthers on Sunday afternoon in Charlotte.
“We owe ’em,” Kaepernick said of Carolina, which escaped Candlestick Park with a 10-9 upset in November.
It promises to be a lot warmer in Charlotte than the 5-degree setting (minus-10 degrees with the wind chill) at kickoff for this one, but the conditions couldn’t get in the way of another entertaining slugfest between two teams that have seen a lot of each other recently.
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ injury-riddled defense were both game, even rallying underdog Green Bay to a fourth-quarter lead and then a tie, but Kaepernick’s deft work on the Niners’ 14-play, 65-yard march to end it was too much.
Shaking off a potential pick-six early in the drive that rookie Packers cornerback Micah Hyde dropped, Kaepernick completed three passes for 39 yards on the march. He then salted it away with an 11-yard scramble on third-and-8 to the Green Bay 27 with 1:13 left.
Green Bay never saw the ball again after surrendering it with 5:06 left, thanks to the Wisconsin kid who idolized the Packers growing up.
With Michael Crabtree (eight catches fort 125 yards) serving as his favorite target, Kaepernick finished with 227 yards and a touchdown passing and led the Niners with 98 yards rushing on just seven attempts.
“He was calm, cool and collected,” 49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley said of Kaepernick on the final march. “There was no sense of panic ever. Colin was just Colin.”
Kaepernick, who gashed the Packers for 181 yards rushing in the playoffs last season, did it all despite going sleeveless and without a glove on his throwing hand in the bitter cold.
“He’s ‘Kaepernick Tough,’ which is pretty awesome,” said Niners coach Jim Harbaugh, whose team is now 4-0 against Green Bay under him.
San Francisco would need every bit of that toughness from Kaepernick in the face of a surprisingly resilient effort from the injury-besieged Packers, who sneaked into the postseason on the final day.
Green Bay’s defensive effort was especially impressive, considering the Packers began the day without star linebacker Clay Matthews, then lost three more starters — cornerback Sam Shields and linebackers Mike Neal and Andy Mulumba — during the game.
Despite all of that carnage, Green Bay held Kaepernick and San Francisco’s offense in check for much of the afternoon, trailed just 13-10 at halftime and had even given Rodgers enough breathing room to put the Packers in front early in the fourth quarter.
That moment was pure Rodgers, as he somehow scrambled out of a sack on fourth-and-2 and lofted a 26-yard pass to a wide-open Randall Cobb at the San Francisco 4 to set up John Kuhn’s 1-yard dive for a 17-13 lead with 12:16 left.
But Kaepernick responded immediately with a 24-yard scramble and then a 28-yard TD pass to Vernon Davis less than two minutes later.
San Francisco would not trail the rest of the way.
“A lot of us felt with the way things had gone the past four or five weeks that everything might be aligning for us to make a run, so I’m very disappointed,” said Rodgers, who completed 17-of-26 passes for 177 yards and a TD. “The defense held them to 23 points. We should win that game.”
Kaepernick wouldn’t let that happen.
NFL PLAYOFF BLITZ
HERO
Colin Kaepernick had some shaky moments, but the 49ers quarterback came through in the end by directing a masterful 14-play, 65-yard drive that ate up the final 5:06 and ended with Phil Dawson’s game-winning field goal at the gun. Kaepernick couldn’t be rattled by the weather (he wore no sleeves nor a glove on his passing hand) or the Packers defense.
UNSUNG HERO
Sidelined the first 11 games of the regular season by injury and overshadowed much of the time since by Anquan Boldin, Michael Crabtree came up huge for the 49ers with eight catches for a team-high 125 yards. Crabtree did everything but find the end zone in the second-biggest yardage game of his career.
ZERO
Packers cornerback Micah Hyde wore the goat horns after dropping a potential pick-six deep in San Francisco territory on what turned out to be the game-winning field goal drive by the Niners. Hyde is just a rookie and only playing a key role because of injuries, but neither of those could excuse muffing a ball right in his hands.
KEY STAT
4 victories by the 49ers over the Packers (including twice in the playoffs) in four meetings since Jim Harbaugh was hired as San Francisco’s coach. Before Harbaugh’s arrival, Green Bay had beaten San Francisco in 13 of the previous 14 meetings dating to 1996.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“He’s ‘Kaepernick Tough,’ which is pretty awesome.” —Harbaugh on the 49ers quarterback.