The San Francisco 49ers are set to host the Green Bay Packers for what will be the 10th postseason meeting between these two storied franchises. The last clash between these NFC heavyweights took place in the NFC Divisional Round of the 2021 season and featured two different starting quarterbacks in Jimmy Garoppolo and Aaron Rodgers. This meeting marks the start of a new chapter in a postseason rivalry which has seen the most playoff meetings between any two teams in NFL history.

Niners Liners

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love:

"He's come a long way because he's playing at such a high level. To get thrown in there early this year and have to go through some ups and downs... to not win all those games, when you're with a tough record in your first year, the pressure that comes with that, and just to watch him each game, he's been consistent. For him to take care of the ball the way he has done has been unbelievable. The 21 touchdowns and one pick over the last 10 games is unbelievable. He's extremely consistent in what they're asking him to do. (Green Bay Packers head coach) Matt's (LaFleur) very good at coaching the quarterback, and you can see that their quarterback is buying in. He plays very well in their system and makes a lot of plays. He has a big arm and is a big dude too."

Shanahan on treating playoffs like a new season:

"You prepare off the film that you have. Man, I just keep telling our guys no matter what, we clinched the one seed, and it feels like a hundred days ago. You've got all this time and everyone wants to talk about all this stuff that leads up to it. There is a lot of stuff to think about, but it comes down to it, it's what you do in three and a half hours... All we try to do is study the film and prepare for how those three and a half hours will go. But once it starts, you just cut it loose and you ride. I think that's the hard thing about the weeks is you just tell guys don't have preconceived notions. Don't think it's going to be these teams because these are the ones you've heard about. We'll watch the film. We'll put in the scheme and stuff. You guys take care of your bodies and get ready to come in and learn it."

Quarterback Brock Purdy on leaning on his past playoff experience:

"Last year, I still trying to find my way in a sense. I got thrown in towards the end of the year and so every single week I was still trying to play well, learn who I was as a quarterback, and obviously get more familiar with playing within the system. Those were all things that were on my plate last year. Then, obviously trying to win every single week and get this team to the end. Now, I guess this year just being more familiar with the offense, who I am and all that, so it's a little different. It's good to watch the games from last year and remember just the feeling and the emotions of playing in a playoff game. It's good. It's huge for me as a quarterback to go back to those moments and remember what it feels like. Those are things that I'm sort of banking on."

Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks on getting Love out of the rhythm he's been in for the second half of the season:

"Well, I think the number one thing is we have to try to stop the run and to try to make them one-dimensional. They're very effective running a ball. I think it just opens up the play action. That's where you see him being extremely effective in taking the shots down the field and finding an open receiver. That's number one. Then again, we've just got to try to mix things up on him a little bit to give him something to think about and figure out where he needs to go with the ball."

Offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Foerster on finding success against the Packers run defense:

"Every team can have its day on offense or on defense, and I think that what happens is all it takes is a couple big runs and you pop a big run or two, that can happen. And that's what ends up happening. A couple years ago we ran for a lot of yards against the Vikings in the first-round playoff game, but we didn't have a run over seven yards, and it was hard to get a big number. Whenever you have a big day running the football, there's going to be some explosive runs in there somewhere. When you get those explosive runs, did that happen because of a missed gap, missed tackle, great blocked play or good design? There's a lot of different reasons that plays like that can happen. I don't know offhand exactly what they would be. Obviously, we're going to look at what we think we can have success with within our package and what they do. As I told my guys the other day, it's playoff time and expect the unexpected. What you think you're going to see, you may not see. What you've prepared for all week may not happen. You have to rely on your 18 weeks, 17 weeks of playing football games and how you've worked together as a group to build on that and get yourself ready for whatever they may bring, and hoping that you can have that kind of success running the football."

Packers Quotes

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur on building on the victory over Dallas Cowboys:

"We're going to need a better game for sure. You can always get better, that's our mindset. There's always something you can improve upon, and so we're going against a great opponent. We're going to need to be at our best."

LaFleur on playing against a physical 49ers team:

"We all watch the tape, and you all see it. It shows on tape. Their play style definitely shows up, but I have been impressed with our group just in terms of, we've had 20 games or whatever it's been now, to get prepared for this moment. I love the approach of the guys, and we're just going to have to go out there and play without any hesitation."

Packers quarterback Jordan Love on facing the 49ers defense:

"It's a great challenge for us. They're a really good defense. They've got a really good offense as well. They're a great team all around, so we've definitely got a good challenge ahead of us, and we're looking forward to it."

Love on the team's approach to the postseason as relative newcomers to the playoffs:

"We're just executing at a high level. Obviously experience is huge in these situations, but we're confident in our whole team and what we got. Now, it just comes down to execution, making the most of the plays we have, and I think that's what we're doing."

Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry on cornerback Jaire Alexander versus the Cowboys and his injury status for Saturday:

"I think he's a little bit further ahead this week than obviously he was last week. Last week, when he did what he did on Wednesday, I honestly did not think that there was any chance. Just him being the way he is, he stayed locked in. He stayed wired in the game plan and when we got to Saturday, he said, 'I'm gonna give it a shot,' and obviously we worked him out Sunday and it worked out. Just for him to stay locked into the game plan, just for him to stay so focused on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday, and then be able to not only go play but play the way he did, it's a credit to him as a pro."

Barry on the Packers tackling and facing the 49ers:

"I think our tackling's been at times very inconsistent. Anytime you look at a defense, no matter what time of the year, if a defense goes out on Sunday and plays well, usually they've tackled well. It's vice versa when they don't. It doesn't matter if it is Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle or Brandon Aiyuk, all these guys are really incredible after the catch, breaking tackles, getting those YAC yards. I think that's a huge part of us playing well this week is that we're going to have to tackle really well and limit the YAC."