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The San Francisco 49ers come from behind to avoid an upset against the Green Bay Packers, while Lamar Jackson leads the Baltimore Ravens past the Houston Texans in the divisional playoffs.
The San Francisco 49ers survived a serious scare to reach the NFC Championship game courtesy of a 24-21 victory over the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday.
The NFL playoff favourites trailed by seven points heading into the final quarter, but scored 10 unanswered points in the fourth to avoid an upset against the lowest seed in the NFC Conference.
Quarterback Brock Purdy led the match-winning drive which was finished off by in-form running back Christian McCaffrey for his second touchdown of the game, putting his side back ahead with only 67 seconds left on the clock.
Linebacker Dre Greenlaw then produced an interception – his second of the game – to secure the victory as the 49ers moved to within one match of Super Bowl 58.
The Packers were left to rue a number of missed opportunities throughout the match as their hopes of being crowned Super Bowl champions for the first time since 2010 were ended.
For the 49ers, it was the first time in 31 attempts that they had won after trailing by seven or more points heading into the final quarter under head coach Kyle Shanahan, while it was Purdy’s first fourth-quarter comeback of his burgeoning career.
San Francisco will face the winner of Sunday’s NFC divisional playoff match between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Detroit Lions.
© Reuters
One of those teams could face the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl next month after Lamar Jackson led his side to a 34-10 home victory over the Houston Texans.
Jackson threw for two touchdowns and ran in for two more of his own to earn just the second playoff win of his career and take the Ravens to the AFC Championship game.
Baltimore ended the regular season with the best record in the entire NFL and showed no sign of rust having had a bye in the first round of the playoffs, with their defence managing to limit the influence of Houston’s star rookie quarterback CJ Stroud.
The MVP favourite Jackson stole the headlines with his four-touchdown display, though, also registering his third 100-yard rushing game in the playoffs to overtake Colin Kaepernick for the most by a quarterback in NFL history.
Baltimore’s win saw them secure a home AFC Championship game for the first time in their 28-year history, while the city will host their first such match since the Baltimore Colts did so in 1970.
Either the Buffalo Bills or defending champions the Kansas City Chiefs will make the trip to Baltimore for that game, with those two teams going head to head in their divisional playoff on Sunday.
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