San Francisco 49ers dodge upset, top Green Bay Packers - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Christian McCaffrey scored his second touchdown on a 6-yard run with 1:07 to play, and the San Francisco 49ers mounted their first second-half comeback of the season to defeat the Green Bay Packers 24-21 in a divisional round playoff game on Saturday night.

After spending the regular season as front-runners, the Niners (13-5) needed to come from behind for a change, and Brock Purdy and McCaffrey did just enough on the last drive to send San Francisco to its third straight NFC Championship Game. The Niners will host the winner of Sunday's game between Tampa Bay and Detroit next weekend for a spot in the Super Bowl.

Purdy went 6 for 7 for 47 yards on the decisive drive, converting a third down to Brandon Aiyuk and then a 17-yarder to Chris Conley.

«It's a team effort,» Purdy said during his postgame, on-field interview. «The defense was out there, making stops, and we were like, 'man, we've got to do something.' For myself, it was like 'calm down, go through your reads, take what they give you and put a drive together.'»

McCaffrey finished it with his run on third-and-short, and the 49ers' defense held on from there, with Dre Greenlaw intercepting Jordan Love for the second time to seal San Francisco's fifth straight playoff win over Green Bay (10-9).

That last throw across his body was one of the few mistakes by Love, who had given the Packers the lead with two touchdown passes in the third quarter. But his first full season as the starter in place of Aaron Rodgers had a disappointing ending.

Love had put the Niners in the unusual spot of playing from behind. Green Bay converted a third-and-15 when Ambry Thomas was called for a 41-yard pass interference call against Bo Melton. Love and Melton then