Can 49ers keep up early-game dominance to stop upstart Packers in their tracks?

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Jan 20

SANTA CLARA — Landing the first punch has been one of the 49ers' most powerful attributes in a 12-5 regular season that earned the top seed and a first-round bye in the NFC.

Continuing the Mike Tyson trend will make for a lot less drama Saturday night against the Green Bay Packers (10-8) Saturday night in a divisional playoff game at Levi's Stadium.

Given Green Bay's 48-32 wild card road win over Dallas, the No. 7 seed is to be taken seriously. No need to be concerned about that score, since even in the 49ers' five losses, none of them appeared as if they were overlooking their opponent.

Overconfidence won't be a problem, nor will an unwanted flood of excess intensity leading to mistakes, not with coach Kyle Shanahan being all about preparation and what's on tape.

"You can get caught up in the emotion of the playoffs," running back Christian McCaffrey said. "It's about the Xs and Os. It's about executing on every play. He makes it about that. Whatever those emotions you have, he kind of squashes that with the intent of executing every play that's called."

The surest way to demoralize Green Bay is with an early body blow. The Packers are playing on short rest, traveling to the West Coast and coach Matt LaFleur kept most practices at a walkthrough pace.

There's an element of mental and physical fatigue the Packers will face against a fresher, healthier and frankly superior team. The last thing the 49ers need is for Green Bay to hang around until halftime or later and then get the idea that the win over Dallas was the start of something big.

Striking first has been a 49ers calling card. They've got 10 touchdowns and two field goals on their opening possession through 17 games. They've outscored opponents 76-40 after each team has had the ball and have a plus-92 point differential in the first quarter (115 to 63) as opposed to 56 in the second quarter, 18 in the third quarter and 67 in the fourth quarter.

The 49ers' quick-start personality was in evidence in Week 1, when Pittsburgh won the toss, elected to receive and went three-and-out on the first possession. That was followed by a 57-yard touchdown drive by the 49ers with Brock Purdy throwing an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk. And while it's a stretch to suggest the sequence offered a road map to the 2023 season, it was the impetus for a 30-7 road win that served notice to the rest of the NFL.

The Steelers were one of 11 teams to win the coin toss against the 49ers and the only one that didn't defer. The six coin tosses won by the 49ers were all deferred so the offense could open the second half.

Fred (Tails Never Fails) Warner was 4-5 in coin tosses in games where the 49ers were the visiting team.

Green Bay, by contrast, has elected to receive four times in winning 12 coin tosses, including an opening scoring drive in their wild-card win over Dallas and another in a Week 12 road win over eventual division champion Detroit.

Asked if he'd consider receiving the ball if winning the toss Saturday night, Shanahan's answer was succinct.

"Nope," he said.

As much as Shanahan likes scoring on the first possession, deferring gives his team the possibility of what he calls "lapping them" by scoring on the last possession of the first half and the opening possession of the second half.

That happened twice this season, getting a field goal and a touchdown against Jacksonville and two touchdowns against Philadelphia — two of their biggest wins of the season.

Unless it was a preseason game, Shanahan said he can't remember ever electing to receive since becoming head coach of the 49ers in 2017. Warner said he's never met at midfield with orders to receive the opening kickoff.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan signals from the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) — Coach Kyle Shanahan presides over an offense that has 10 touchdowns on its first possession in 2023.

"It's always good to get up to a big lead," Shanahan said. "It's also good to score at the end of the second quarter and get the ball first (in the second half)."

The six times the 49ers deferred resulted in three touchdowns and three punts to open the second half.

Shanahan doesn't put any more importance on the opening drive than any other possession — it's like choosing his favorite offspring — and the 49ers aren't expecting the Packers to go into a turtle position and take their beating if they happen to fall behind quickly. Playoff football usually isn't that easy.

But quick starts have been rocket fuel for the 49ers whether they admit it or not in terms of executing a prepared script and being focused and ready to play. Shanahan has a saying posted in the locker room "Do Right Longer" and may as well have another that says "Do Right Early."

With 10 touchdowns in 17 games, the 49ers have touchdowns on 58.8 percent of their opening possessions. Contrast that with 36.5 percent (50 of 137) the rest of the time, not including clock-killing possessions at the end of first half or game.

"We're all juiced up and ready to go for the first drive," Purdy said. "Our mindset with getting on a team pretty quickly and doing the little things right from the jump, that's a big emphasis that we have here."

Tight end George Kittle explained how quick starts can work on the psyche of an opponent.

"The defense is saying, 'We can't do that again,; and the offense is like 'We have to score,' " Kittle said. "When you put points on the board early, you get in the rhythm. I'm OK with a one-play drive — letting Christian or Deebo take it to the house — but to have a nice 10-play drive out there, get their defense worn down, it's always huge. Then when your defense goes out and gets a three-and-out, it gets the stadium lit up."

McCaffrey, whose game-week approach is as methodical as his game-day persona is mercurial, doesn't get caught up in the possession game. He cites the 49ers' win against Philadelphia as an example, with two non-scoring possessions followed by six consecutive touchdowns that essentially buried the Eagles' season.

"Each game is different, each play has a life of its own," McCaffrey said. "Whenever you (score first), it means a lot, but it's not over. Go back to the Philly game when it took us a while to get going. Whatever the game brings us, it's just important to be prepared for every situation and one play at a time."

True enough, but when faced with an inferior opponent, a well-placed left hook in the first round helps remove any doubt.