SAN FRANCISCO — After growing up a huge 49ers fan less than 200 miles from here in Chico, Calif., Aaron Rodgers can make life miserable tonight for what used to be his favorite team.
It’s a mission that figures to be a wee bit personal for the Packers quarterback, too.
Not only does Rodgers want to beat San Francisco in the NFC Divisional round in order to get Green Bay back to the Super Bowl, but the NFL’s reigning MVP no doubt hopes to offer the Niners another painful reminder of what they passed up eight years ago.
San Francisco, you will recall (and the 49ers would love to forget), needed a quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in 2005 and fatefully chose Utah’s Alex Smith over Rodgers despite Rodgers’ standout career at nearby California. Rodgers then fell 23 humiliating spots in the first round to Green Bay.
One Super Bowl victory, three Pro Bowls, a league MVP trophy and multiple NFL passing records later, Rodgers gets the chance to rub all that in the Niners’ faces and end San Francisco’s season at the same time when the Packers (12-5) visit Candlestick Park with a trip to the NFC title game at stake.
As impossible as it sounds, this will be Rodgers’ first NFL game appearance at Candlestick. Considering he is famous for having a long memory and carrying grudges, that’s a lot of pent-up energy Rodgers could be poised to unleash on San Francisco (11-4-1).
While the 49ers might be starting what amounts to a rookie opposite Rodgers in Colin Kaepernick, they also have the defense to foil the best-laid plans of arguably the NFL’s best quarterback. The Niners allowed the fewest yards of any team in the league during the regular season (just 294.4 per game) and boast the bruising and ferocious pass-rush trio of Aldon Smith, Justin Smith and linebacker Patrick Willis.
While Justin Smith’s effectiveness will be in question because of a triceps injury that has sidelined him the past month, Aldon Smith is a matchup nightmare for the Packers’ retooled offensive line after leading the conference with 19 1/2 sacks in the regular season — including 15 in the last 10 games, but none in the last three games with Justin Smith injured.
San Francisco’s attacking and extremely physical secondary also figures to pose problems for the Packers because Rodgers will need his crew of mostly undersized receivers to get open quickly — a difficult task made even more problematic by Green Bay’s meager threat of a running game.
The Packers’ high-octane offense also will lack the element of surprise. The Niners have already handled Green Bay once this season, claiming a 30-22 opening day victory at Lambeau Field — led by Alex Smith — that snapped San Francisco’s embarrassing nine-game losing streak to the Pack.
But Rodgers is coming off a near-flawless performance in last week’s 24-10 wild card win over the Vikings and seems to save his best for the road in the postseason (the Packers didn’t host a single playoff game during their Super Bowl run two years ago).
Add it all up, and it has the makings of another classic between two franchises that seemed to meet annually in the playoffs from 1995 until the 49ers’ long tailspin began seven years later.
MARQUEE MATCHUP
49ers DE Aldon Smith vs. Packers LT Marshall Newhouse
Smith led the NFC with 19 1/2 sacks but went into a noticeable slump when tackle Justin Smith was sidelined a month ago with a triceps injury. Justin Smith is expected to be back, which could be very bad news for Newhouse and a Packers’ offensive line that allowed Rodgers to be sacked an NFL-most 51 times this season.
A former fifth-round pick, Newhouse started all 16 games this season and 13 games last year but could hardly be considered an anchor considering the relentless abuse Rodgers took in 2012. Newhouse likely will have to handle Aldon Smith on his own, too, considering the Packers are expected to give Don Barclay plenty of help on the right side fending off Ahmad Brooks.
Even worse, the 49ers love to use twists and stunts so Justin Smith can end up on the left tackle. That means Newhouse could end up having to worry about two of the NFL’s top pass rushers on every dropback.
READING THE ZONE READ
Niners coach Jim Harbaugh rolled the dice in huge fashion in midseason, switching to unheralded second-year backup Colin Kaepernick in place of the injured Alex Smith and sticking with Kaepernick even after Smith was healthy again, though it required essentially changing the entire offense to the zone read.
It paid off for Harbaugh when Kaepernick went 5-2 as the starter, including a huge road upset of the Patriots, but the Nevada product has never started a playoff game and showed signs late in the season that opposing defenses had caught up to the option.
Even so, San Francisco could have the upper hand with that look tonight. The Packers struggled mightily against the zone read on the opening possession last week against the Vikings when Joe Webb replaced an injured Christian Ponder at the last minute, only to luck out when Minnesota offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave abruptly went back to a conventional offense.
The key for Green Bay will be the play of star Clay Matthews and his fellow linebackers, because effectively defending the option boils down to linebackers being disciplined and sticking to their assignments.