Christian McCaffrey’s second touchdown of the night and and a horrible decision by Jordan Love elevated he San Francisco 49ers to come from behind the beat the upstart Green Bay Packers 24-21 at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
The scoring opened halfway through the opening frame when Anders Carlson hit a 29-yard Field Goal to put the Packers ahead 3-0. Early in the second quarter, Love was stopped on a fourth-and-inches at the 49er 14 yard-line. The 49ers took the ball and went on an 86 yad drive that culminated with Purdy rolling to his right and completing a perfect strike to George Kittle for the 32-yard score.
On the next drive, Love made some key throws to Romeo Dobbs to put them in position for Carlson to boot his second 29-yard field goal. Jake Moody tried to answer just before halftime with a 48-yard field goal but was blocked by Koby Wooden.
48ers star receiver Deebo Samuel left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury.
The Packers took the with 9:27 with Love hitting a wide-open Bo Melton for 19 yards for a touchdown. That play was preceded by a 34-yard Pass Interference call on Avery Thomas on Melton that was on a third-and-15.
San Francisco answered in just four plays as Purdy hit Kittle with a 32-yard catch and run on third. That was followed by Christian McCaffrey taking a pitch 39 yards breaking tackles for a 49er touchdown that put them back in the lead 14-13.
The wildness continued as Kesean Nixon took the ensuing kickoff 73 yards before being hit from behind, but the Packers Eric Wilson pounced on it. The Packers took advantage of that as three plays later, Love hit Tight End Tucker Craft for a for a two-yard touchdown. A pass to Aaton Jones for the two-point conversion put the Packers back in front 21-14.
With just over two minutes left in the third quarter, and the Packers looking to go up by two scores, Love threw high for Craft and picked off by Dre’ Greenlaw.
Jake Moody opened the fourth quarter with a 52-yard field goal.
With a 11 minutes left, Purdy completed a third-and-10 to Juwann Jennings who came flying out of nowhere to snag the throw.
The Packers were pinned back at their own 10 until Aaron Jones took a pitch 53 yards into 49er territory. That was wasted as Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal.
That proved to be big as Purdy led the 49ers down the field, with the biggest play being a nine-yard scramble to set up McCaffrey’s six-yard scamper with 1:07 left in the game.
With 45 seconds left, Love was flushed right and threw an ill-advised pass across his body that was picked off by Greenlaw in the middle of the field.
Purdy finished 23-39 for 252 yards and one touchdown. Love, who played did not look rattled by the moment at all for the better part of the game was 21-34 for 194 yards with two touchdowns and two costly interceptions. McCaffrey finished with 98 on 19 carries and those two touchdowns. Jones had his fifth straight 100-yard rushing as he had 108 yards on 18 carries.
The 49ers will host the winner of Sunday’s Detroit Lions – Tampa Bay Buccaneers game for the NFC Championship next Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
