Packers vs 49ers preview, predictions: What you should expect from clash of contrasts

The San Francisco 49ers worked hard to earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Their reward: a bye before hosting a team on a heater, the Green Bay Packers. Led by Jordan Love and the youngest roster in the league, the Packers smoked the Dallas Cowboys at home last week to advance to the NFC divisional round of the playoffs.

However, Green Bay faces one of the preseason favorites to make it to the Super Bowl in San Francisco (Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). And the 49ers are helped by having an extra week to prepare for the Packers at Levi's Stadium, where San Francisco has not lost a playoff game since 2012 — a streak of six straight postseason wins for the 49ers.

A victory for San Francisco would place them in the NFC Championship game for the fourth time in the past five postseasons. 

"All we try to do is study the film and prepare for how those three and a half hours will go," San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "Once it starts you just cut it loose and you ride."

FOX Sports NFL writers Eric D. Williams and Carmen Vitali take a closer look at Saturday's matchup. 

Williams: Carmen, one of the main storylines heading into this weekend's contest is the maturation and development of Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love. 

I'm curious — what has clicked for Love during the second half of the season? And what will it take for Love to have another huge playoff performance on the road against one of the best defenses in the NFL in the 49ers? 

Vitali: A lot of things have clicked for Love because a lot of things have clicked for the players around him. The Packers are the NFL's youngest team, and nearly all of Love's available weapons are first- and second-year players. Not only did Love need to become fully comfortable in Green Bay's offense at game speed against NFL opponents, but he needed to learn the nuances of his arsenal. 

They, in turn, needed to learn Love. We aren't talking enough about how it only took a year for the Packers' offense to come together and figure things out post-Aaron Rodgers. The truth is, though, it's been building. The youth movement started last year. It was directly at odds with what Rodgers wanted to do — play with his friends, young talent be damned. And while general manager Brian Gutekunst snuck some of those young guys in last year, he went full-tilt on building through the draft this year. 

The result has been that Green Bay's top receiver in the regular season was rookie Jayden Reed. Both of the Packers' top tight ends, who head coach Matt LaFleur uses a lot, are rookies. Even on the defensive side of the ball, Green Bay started a rookie corner in Carrington Valentine in 12 of 17 games this season. First-round pick Lukas Van Ness has registered a sack in his past two games. 

This is just the realization of a team-building system the Packers have deployed for decades. It doesn't yield results immediately, but it builds sustainable success. Long story short for what clicked? It was time. And maybe figuring out your best starting five on the offensive line, too.

[Vitali: The Packers' approach to developing young WRs dates back to Vince Lombardi]

The fact that all these young players are maturing together means defenses never know who is going to pop off offensively. This past week? It was Romeo Doubs. Two weeks ago against the Chicago Bears, it was Jayden Reed. In Carolina, it was tight end Tucker Kraft. I could go on and on. Defenses can only gameplan for so many guys, and that's what makes Green Bay so dangerous.

Speaking of those plans, San Francisco has a jedi master in Kyle Shanahan calling plays for an offense that is loaded with playmakers. What's the key to slowing them down and will we see some new stuff for the postseason now that they've had a couple weeks to prepare?

Williams: With the extra time, I'm sure Shanahan has been in the lab devising new schemes and ways to attack on offense, so it will be interesting to watch the first few possessions and how he calls the game. As you mentioned, the 49ers have a lot of different ways to win, with playmakers like Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk and a talented distributor at quarterback in Brock Purdy.

But the engine of San Francisco's offense is All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey. The NFL's leading rusher during the regular season, McCaffrey's ability to run in between the tackles, create chunk runs on the perimeter and be an explosive threat in the passing game is unique among running backs, forcing defenses to account for the Stanford product at the line of scrimmage and creating opportunities for Shanahan's offense elsewhere. 

Teams that have succeeded against San Francisco this season have grabbed an early lead and played from ahead, forcing the 49ers to lean on Purdy and the passing game to chase points. With that in mind, it will be important for Green Bay's defense to play stout defensively against McCaffrey and San Francisco's run game on early downs.

Speaking of the running game, Aaron Jones has turned it on over the last four games for the Packers. What's been the key to Green Bay's ability to effectively run the football of late?

Vitali: Jones is healthy. For chunks of the season, Green Bay couldn't say that. There's something about playing his childhood team, the Dallas Cowboys, too. His splits in four games against them are comically good. He's exceeded 100 rushing yards in all of them and had games of three and four touchdowns. But you mentioned how he's been effective the last few games, and it's true. Jones finished the season with three-straight 100-yard rushing games and that's no accident.

Jones is the veteran on the offense, after all. He's a source of comfort and reliability for Love. He's also the beneficiary of a more open playbook now that LaFleur trusts the offense more. It also helps that, as I alluded to earlier, Green Bay has figured out the right offensive-line combination. 

The Packers have multiple versatile linemen, who can play multiple positions effectively. Elgton Jenkins is the best example of that but they have Zach Tom, too. It took a few weeks after left tackle David Bakhtiari went down to get that figured out. Now that the Packers do, and now that the entire offense has a little bit more experience, LaFleur has the full playbook at his disposal — which means a lot of fun things with Jones.

The question now is if San Francisco's defense is going to hinder those fun things. I would imagine the Packers keep relying on the ground game given the Niners' interception rate, which ranked second in the league in the regular season. Then again, they allowed the third-fewest rushing yards per game, as well. What is the biggest singular matchup that will dictate whether the Packers offense can open things up and play to their full potential?

Williams: I agree with you; running the football has been used as a path to victory against the 49ers this season. In San Francisco's five losses, the 49ers allowed an average of 116 rushing yards per contest. In San Francisco's 12 wins, the 49ers held teams to a league-low 79 yards per game. With talented pass rushers in Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave and Chase Young, one way to slow them down is to run the football, grind the clock down and keep San Francisco's offense off the field.

Although San Francisco finished tied for the league lead during the regular season with 22 interceptions, they have proven at times to be vulnerable through the air if the pass rush does not get home. The 49ers are missing All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga, who is out for the year with an ACL knee injury that required surgery. Rookie Ji'Ayir Brown returns to the field after missing two games with a knee injury. The outgoing Brown has filled in admirably for Hufanga but is not as consistent a tackler as the USC product. The 49ers also have proven vulnerable at slot defender, with Isaiah Rodgers allowing a 102.9 passer rating in coverage during the regular season, according to Next Gen Stats.

After forcing the Dallas offense into two turnovers last week, what does Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry intend to do for an encore against a stacked San Francisco offense?

Vitali: Above everything, Barry is going to have to bring some juice — or figure out which players can bring it, because this is a defensive unit that played 95 snaps on Sunday. Add in the fact it's a short week and they're going to the west coast… Barry's players are going to be tired.

That's not an excuse against the well-rested 49ers, though. Purdy has been one of the highest-graded quarterbacks in the face of pressure this season, but Green Bay's defensive front will have to figure out how to get some anyway. They managed four sacks on Dak Prescott in Dallas and came up with multiple interceptions — one that went for a touchdown and broke the game open, which you alluded to. Getting Purdy to turn the ball over is paramount, however it comes. 

That will be on the Green Bay secondary, too. Cornerback Jaire Alexander is in a better spot this week than he was last week, which is good news from an injury perspective. It'll be paramount for these players to maintain eye discipline with the amount of motion San Francisco likes to utilize and the different window dressings they use with their plethora of playmakers. I'm going to be very interested to see whether Barry sticks with his preferred zone coverage, which has faltered at times, or opts for more man to be more aggressive.

I think we've gone on long enough. That means it's time for picks! Where are you leaning, Eric?

Williams: It's fair to wonder if the Packers are thinking about the fact that the 49ers are looking for their fifth straight victory over Green Bay in the postseason. Add in San Francisco has been waiting two weeks at home to play and are heavy favorites, and will the Packers put up much of a fight?

However, Green Bay is a young team with nothing to lose, led by a quarterback in Love playing his best football at the end of the season. I give Green Bay a puncher's chance to keep the game close. I like the 49ers, 30-24. 

Who ya got, Carmen?

Vitali: I hate that I have to make a pick in this game. I've talked a lot about how the Packers are surprising people when they shouldn't be given their plethora of young talent that seems to now get it and like you said, they have nothing to lose. I don't know if I trust the defense against all of San Francisco's playmakers, though, so ultimately, I'm going with the 49ers in a close one, too — 34-31.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.