Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is taking some time to look back at his team’s 37-8 regular season loss to the 49ers in order to “ensure it doesn’t happen,” but 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is taking a different approach to connecting that game to this weekend’s title tilt.
Shanahan said on Monday that he believes that game has “zero relevance” and noted that the Packers have reeled off six straight wins since that November game. As a result, his message to the team when it comes to remembering that game was a simple one.
“Don’t be that stupid,” Shanahan said, via ESPN.com. “That’s not real. This is about Sunday’s game . . . There’s so many stories like that. And this is the NFL, so no team, the game before never matters like that. There are four teams left and that’s four very, very good teams and it’s going to be a hard game for all of us. Also, our players -- the type of guys they’ve been all year -- I’m not concerned about that. They’ll have to answer that question, I’m sure, a lot. But I don’t think that will be a worry for our players, which means it won’t be for me.”
This will be the 37th playoff rematch between teams that had a 25-point margin of victory in a regular season meeting. The team that won in the regular season is 22-14 in those meetings, which works to support Shanahan’s belief that what happened in November has no direct bearing on what will happen this weekend.