49ers Top Packers in Thriller, Head to NFC Championship Game

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The 31st time was the charm for the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers entered Saturday's NFC divisional round playoff matchup with the Green Bay Packers 0-30 under coach Kyle Shanahan when trailing by seven-plus points entering the fourth quarter. But quarterback Brock Purdy led the first fourth-quarter comeback of his career to lead the Niners to a 24-21 win over the Packers at Levi's Stadium.

Running back Christian McCaffrey scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:07 left, allowing the 49ers to overcome a 21-14 deficit to defeat a pesky Packers squad and advance to the NFC Championship Game, where they'll host the winner of Sunday's NFC divisional playoff game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions on Jan. 28.

The 49ers marched 69 yards on 12 plays in 5 minutes, 10 seconds. After struggling most of the night, Purdy was 6-of-7 for 47 yards and carried twice for 11 yards on the game-winning drive, which was capped by McCaffrey's 6-yard touchdown run for the final margin.

After all, the Packers were the youngest team in the league and few expected Jordan Love's first season as the starting quarterback to even get this far.

But despite Saturday's disappointing loss to the top-seeded 49ers, the window for this team is just beginning to open. Consider all the young skill players the Packers have around Love -- receivers Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and Bo Melton, along with tight ends Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave -- will be together for multiple years to come.

And running back Aaron Jones showed down the stretch that he still has plenty left in the tank to come back for another run.

Anders Carlson's missed field goal from 41 yards in the fourth quarter was the rookie kicker's 10th missed kick in the past 12 games of the season, including both field goals and extra points.

Joe Barry will be back as defensive coordinator. It once seemed like he was a sure thing to be fired, but it would be a surprise now after the way the Packers finished the season despite the 49ers' last drive.

Consider this quote from LaFleur last week when asked about Barry: "I couldn't be happier. I know what Joe Barry is all about in terms of the resiliency. There's tough moments, and there's tough moments in every season. I felt like I know what we have in him and was confident that if anybody could kind of right the ship, so to speak, it was him."

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Gallery Credit: Dave Roberts

South Dakota Born NFL Players of this Century

While not a traditional powerhouse Nation Football League feeder, South Dakota has produces a fair number of football players that went on to the big time in the NFL.

Here are some that have played on various teams over the last couple of decades.