Aaron Rodgers as an underdog is scary enough, but Rodgers getting more than a touchdown in a return to his home state after earning his worst PFF game grade in San Francisco in Week 12 is downright terrifying. However, there is some reason to worry about a 49ers blowout. Last week the ‘Niners demolished the Vikings without much effort, while the Packers had to hang on for dear life against Russell Wilson and company despite jumping out to a 21-3 lead. The Seahawks seemed to have absolutely no idea that Davante Adams is good at football and even put 5-foot-8 Ugo Amadi — a rookie corner with 88 snaps in coverage — on Adams when they needed a third-down stop with just over two minutes remaining. The result of that was just as you would have expected for the Seahawks.
However, the 49ers have more talent at every position on the football field, including the positions that wear headsets on the sideline, and this will force Rodgers to play really well for the second consecutive week, which is something he has not done since the first half of the season.
In the divisional round, Rodgers was brilliant on third down, going 7/9 for 121 yards and earning the best grade of any quarterback in the playoffs on third down so far. Third downs may be sexy, but performance on first and second down is far more consistent from week to week, just as one would expect given the smaller sample size and higher leverage of money downs. If a few of those third-down plays don’t come through for the Packers early on against the 49ers, there is a path to a San Francisco rout.
George Chahrouri wrote: