Packers’ Aaron Rodgers on rematch with 49ers: ‘We’ve got to play a lot better, obviously’

The Green Bay Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night and will head to their first NFC Championship Game since the 2016 season. Their opponent in that last conference championship was the Atlanta Falcons, where Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator.

Three years later, Rodgers and the Packers will once again try to get past Shanahan, who is now the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

This weekend's bout will be a rematch of Week 12's contest when the Packers went into Levi's Stadium and were embarrassed by Shanahan and his 49ers to the tune of 37-8.

Rodgers was 20-of-33 for 104 yards with one touchdown. He was sacked five times by the 49ers' punishing defense.

Rodgers is well-aware that those kinds of numbers won't be enough to beat a red-hot 49ers team primed for a title run.

"Yeah, we've got to play a lot better, obviously," Rodgers said after beating the Seahawks 28-21. "They're a great football team, have a great front, obviously get after the passer and don't need to rush a lot of guys to do that. Excellent pass rush and really good on the back end, smart. They time the pass rush really well.

"Obviously, their offense has got a number of studs. Jimmy's (Garoppolo) had a really nice season. Got a bunch of backs who have had really good years. Their rookie receiver (Deebo Samuel) is a really good player. Obviously, picking up Emmanuel (Sanders) was a really nice pickup. And then you have the tight end (George Kittle).

"So, one of those games where we know every possession's going to be really important. It's going to be loud, but this is where it gets really fun. There's only four teams left, and we're one of them, and we've got a legitimate chance."

Matt LaFleur became the first Packers rookie head coach to lead his team to the playoffs. Now, he is one win away from a Super Bowl. He'll have to find a way to do what he couldn't do just seven weeks ago and upset the favored 49ers.

After speaking with LaFleur, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported after Sunday's game that the Packers coach believes he'll have to change his game plan this time around. LaFleur will try to find things other teams have been able to do well against the 49ers and try to implement those strategies this weekend.

"I think there's a lot to learn," LaFleur told reporters after Sunday's game when asked about that first meeting with the 49ers. "First of all, that's a really good football team, and we know that we're going to have to be at our absolute best in order to compete with them. I think, unfortunately, last time, for whatever reason, we weren't."