Everything Changed for Packers on Cold Saturday Night Four Years Ago

Let’s turn back the clock to January 2022.

It’s a cold, snowy Saturday night at Lambeau Field. The Green Bay Packers are the NFC’s top seed after a 13-4 regular season. A familiar foe, the San Francisco 49ers, are coming to town. They had been a thorn in Green Bay’s side over the years, but this year was going to be different.

The Packers were able to compile their 13-win season despite missing David Bakhtiari, Za’Darius Smith and Jaire Alexander for almost the entirety of the season. Those three standouts were supposed to be back in the lineup to give the team a boost, as was veteran pass rusher Whitney Mercilus.

Green Bay’s defense had an embarrassment of riches in a season that was billed as the last dance with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.

On offense, Rodgers finished another spectacular season that eventually resulted in his fourth and likely final MVP award of his Hall of Fame career.

No, he had not beaten the 49ers in the playoffs during his career, but the 49ers were not nearly the powerhouse they had been in the previous three matchups in the postseason.

The 49ers, who beat Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys in Dallas the previous week, were a good team, but this Packers team looked set up to right the wrong of losing the previous year’s NFC Championship Game at home. This team was going to have a true homefield advantage after the restrictions of COVID-19 wiped out any advantage the Packers may have had against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

With a wind chill of 0 and 79,132 fans in attendance, any conceivable advantage was in Green Bay’s favor.

One major announcement was made prior to the game when Bakhtiari was ruled inactive after making his season debut in the regular-season finale. Of course, we know now Bakhtiari’s knee injury would eventually ruin what could have been a Hall of Fame career.

While Bakhtiari was an All-Pro, the Packers earned the best record in the conference without him, due in part to the surprising performance of his stand-in, Yosh Nijman.

This was where the Packers made their first mistake.

Billy Turner, who had played right tackle all season, moved to left tackle in Bakhtiari’s place, and Dennis Kelly was tabbed to start at right tackle. Nijman was on the bench.

You would not have known it was a mistake based on the opening drive.

In front of a rocking Lambeau Field, the Packers got the ball first and marched right down the field. The 10-play, 69-yard march was capped by AJ Dillon rumbling into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

Green Bay’s defense took the field for the first time and made a statement of its own. The 49ers went three-and-out and lost 11 yards. On third down, Smith, playing for the first time since Week 1, tripped Jimmy Garoppolo for a sack.

Rodgers and the Packers had to have smelled blood as they crossed into 49ers territory on the ensuing possession. Forcing Garoppolo to beat them in the elements at Lambeau had to be a high priority. A field goal would have given them what would have felt like a commanding lead. A touchdown, and fans would have started making their plans to be in the house the following week for the NFC Championship Game.

Instead, the game turned on its head with one fateful play. Rodgers hit fan-favorite Marcedes Lewis in the flat on first down for what looked like it would be a short gain.

San Francisco 49ers middle linebacker Fred Warner (54) causes Green Bay Packers tight end Marcedes Lewis (89) to fumble. | William Glasheen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Instead, Lewis had the ball knocked out of his hands by Fred Warner, and the 49ers recovered.

There would be no double-digit lead early, and the Packers punted on three of their next four possessions.

They had a chance at points at the end of the half when Rodgers found Aaron Jones for 75 yards. Jones might have had a chance to score had he sprinted for the pylon, but a field goal seemed like a sure thing for a 10-0 halftime lead.

In the first of a multitude of special-teams blunders, Mason Crosby’s 39-yard field goal on the final play of the first half was blocked.

The teams traded field goals in the second half, and the Packers took a 10-3 lead deep into the fourth quarter.

After Rashan Gary and De’Vondre Campbell stuffed Elijah Mitchell on fourth-and-1 with 6:14 remaining, it felt like the Packers had everything they needed to salt away an ugly playoff win.

Instead, the game turned uglier. Green Bay’s offense went three-and-out and lost 9 yards on the ensuing series. Green Bay’s punt was blocked by Jordan Willis and recovered by Talanoa Hufanga for a touchdown to tie the game. Willis blew through long snapper Steven Wirtel while personal protector Henry Black fanned out in coverage rather the stay into block.

San Francisco 49ers defensive end Jordan Willis (94) blocks a punt against Green Bay Packers punter Corey Bojorquez. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wis / USA TODAY NETWORK

The stadium fell silent, and Green Bay’s offense did nothing to wake them back up. Rodgers’ last postseason pass as a Packer was thrown toward Davante Adams in tight coverage and fell harmlessly incomplete.

Replays would show Allen Lazard streaking open across the middle and likely would have had a chance to put them in position for a game-winning field goal.

Instead, the 49ers were getting the ball with a position to kick a game-winner of their own.

Green Bay’s defense had a chance to make another stand when the 49ers faced third-and-7 from the Packers’ 38. Considering the snowy conditions, a field goal of more than 50 yards would have been no easy proposition.

Kyle Shanahan dialed up a run play to Deebo Samuel. Alexander, playing with an injured shoulder, missed a tackle, and Samuel rumbled for a first down.

Two plays later, Robbie Gould kicked a 45-yard field goal that knocked the Packers out of the playoffs.

San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould (9) celebrates after his game-winning kick against the Green Bay Packers. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

As if the special teams had not made enough mistakes on the night, they only had 10 on the field for the season-deciding play.

It may not have felt like it at the time, but that game turned out to be a turning point for the franchise.

They have not played a home playoff game since that night. The last four seasons, the Packers won more than 10 games just once.

The following season, the Packers lost a win-and-in game against Detroit at Lambeau Field in what turned out to be Rodgers’ final game with the team.

Matt LaFleur said after the team’s most recent playoff loss, two weeks ago at the Bears, that getting a home playoff game was something that was going to be important to getting over the hump. To accomplish that, the Packers must win the NFC North and snap a three-year streak of being the seventh seed. While the Packers haven’t won the division since 2021, each of their rivals has won it at least once.

They’re a relatively mediocre 37-30-1 in that time frame, and a dreadful 1-3 in the postseason. Nonetheless, LaFleur was given a contract extension to remain coach.

Since transitioning to Jordan Love as the starting quarterback, the Packers have been a good team but never a great team.

That has shown up in the playoffs, where the Packers have failed to advance further than the divisional round.

The 2021 Packers felt like the end of an era when Gould’s field goal went through the uprights.

As it turns out, it was. That’s the last time the Packers were a legitimate Super Bowl contender. It’s the last time they were a great team.

Great teams win championships, and that’s the form the Packers need to rediscover.

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