The San Francisco 49ers are currently the favorites to take home the Lombardi trophy and end Kyle Shanahan’s 7 year dry spell that includes 3 Conference Championship games and 1 Super Bowl appearance in February 2020.
The Niners have been dominant this season, and whilst they did end the season with 5 losses, 1 of them came in a meaningless bout against the LA Rams, whilst the other 3 came in a dull stretch where they had key starters Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel missing.
Luckily for the 49ers, it looks like they will enter this game with all key starters, including star back, Christian McCaffrey – who was inactive in Week 18 – fit and healthy on the offensive side of the ball, per Underdog NFL.
Shanahan: Christian McCaffrey (calf) will play in Divisional round.
— Underdog NFL (@Underdog__NFL) January 16, 2024
What Does This Mean For The San Francisco 49ers?
McCaffrey was already expected to play in this game, so probably no real change on either team’s game plan. But in terms of the game, this will not be good news for Green Bay.
The Packers are notoriously poor against the run, and going up against the best run schemer in the league in Kyle Shanahan, who is 2-0 against the Packers in the playoffs, and now the best running back, will surely not put any encouragement into the hearts of the Green Bay faithful.
Let’s see if the Green Bay Packers can manage an upset against the heavily favored (10 points) Niners, or if San Francisco will claim another victim en route to the grand prize.
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