Aaron Rodgers grew up rooting for the 49ers, a team he has never beaten in the playoffs
JR Radcliffe
"Not as disappointed as the 49ers will be that they didn't draft me."
Aaron Rodgers, a native of northern California, had just been asked in 2005 how disappointed he was that he didn't get taken in the NFL draft by his childhood rooting interest, the 49ers. San Francisco had the No. 1 overall pick in 2005, and Rodgers — a product of the nearby University of California — was one of the top candidates to land in that coveted slot.
Instead, the 49ers drafted Alex Smith out of Utah, and Rodgers was left to wait for hours before he heard his name called. He then delivered the quip that will live forever.
Rodgers famously tumbled all the way to No. 24, where the Green Bay Packers and first-year general manager Ted Thompson were waiting to take a franchise-defining risk and select a quarterback despite having a capable Hall of Famer at that spot on the roster in Brett Favre.
As Rodgers heads into what could be his final postseason with the Packers, after a tenure that included a Super Bowl, (at least) three MVPs and (at least) five NFC championship games (six if we're counting 2007 when he wasn't the starter), it's fitting that he gets one more crack at the 49ers, a team that has a 3-0 playoff record over Rodgers-led Packers teams but also the team that passed on a chance to short-circuit his Packers legacy before it even began.
Before Green Bay, Rodgers' entire career had been in 49ers country
Rodgers was born in Chico, California, roughly 165 miles north of San Francisco. He played multiple sports for Pleasant Valley High School, then played two years at nearby Butte Community College when he didn't get a Division I scholarship offer.
Residents of Chico find themselves having to choose fairly regularly between the local rooting interest and Rodgers when the 49ers and Packers square off.
After Butte, Rodgers was given the opportunity to play quarterback at Cal, just across the bay from San Francisco and slightly north of Oakland in Berkeley. He became a top-flight NFL prospect under the tutelage of quarterback guru Jeff Tedford.
But whether it was Tedford's reputation of developing quarterbacks who can only play within a certain system, Rodgers' temperament or some other factor, the 49ers elected to choose the other top QB prospect in the 2005 draft with the first pick.
Rodgers has admitted he dreamed of playing for the 49ers as a kid. Is it possible it could have happened this offseason, too, when Rodgers and the Packers were at odds and it was unclear if Rodgers would quarterback the Packers in 2021?
In the aftermath of news that Rodgers was unhappy and pondering not returning to the Packers in April of 2021, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweeted that the 49ers had reached out to the Packers about trading for Rodgers, though the inquiry went nowhere.
Alex Smith was thrown into a very different situation than Rodgers
Smith started nine games that year but wasn't immediately effective and struggled with injuries, something that would haunt him throughout his career. The 49ers didn't even have a winning record with Smith until 2011, after the Packers and Rodgers had claimed a Super Bowl title. In fact, the 49ers didn't truly hit a groove until Colin Kaepernick replaced Smith — Kaepernick (born in Milwaukee, by the way) was the key component that helped San Francisco bypass the Packers in the 2012 and 2013 playoffs, with the former season ending with a Super Bowl appearance.
It doesn't mean Rodgers, who served as Favre's understudy for three seasons and didn't exactly light the world on fire in his limited opportunities those first few years, would have flourished under the play-now circumstances that faced Smith.
A Bleacher Report deep-dive into Packers culture reported that Rodgers always held it against coach Mike McCarthy that the 49ers franchise chose Smith; McCarthy was San Francisco's offensive coordinator at the time of the decision. McCarthy became Packers head coach the following season, in 2006.
The connections between the 49ers and Packers are sort of eerie
Both franchises have been fortunate to go back-to-back with Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Rodgers was witness to the Joe Montana and Steve Young eras before himself completing the back half of the Favre/Rodgers era in Green Bay.
"That was so important for me, as far as setting dreams and goals was being able to watch the late '80s and early '90s 49ers teams, which were obviously fantastic," Rodgers told NBC's Mike Tirico. "I remember sitting down, we'd have a big Super Bowl party, and watching (Joe Montana) and 'The Drive.' Then thinking, even at 5, 6 years old, 'That's what I want to do. I want to go out and be like that.' "
It's not just the Hall of Fame quarterback tandem or the Kaepernick or Rodgers connections that bind the 49ers and Packers.
When the teams met in the NFC championship game after the 2019 season, it pitted new Packers coach Matt LaFleur against his brother, Mike LaFleur, who was 49ers passing-game coordinator at the time. Mike LaFleur is now offensive coordinator for the New York Jets.
The last two Packers Super Bowls have featured head coaches with 49ers ties. McCarthy, of course, led the Packers to the championship after the 2010 season, and Mike Holmgren, who led the Packers to the Super Bowl crown after the 1996 season, had also previously been an offensive coordinator in San Francisco and was part of two Super Bowls there.
Jared Goff, another Bay Area native who became the first overall draft pick 10 years later, said he was upset at age 10 when Rodgers wasn't taken by the 49ers first overall. The Packers got the best of Goff in the playoffs in 2020 when he was quarterbacking the Los Angeles Rams; he's now with the Lions and split two games against Green Bay this season.
Rodgers vs. the 49ers
Rodgers is 6-6 overall against San Francisco since taking the Packers helm, including a 3-2 mark at Lambeau and a 1-1 record vs. San Francisco with Smith suiting up for San Francisco.
But that ledger includes the 0-3 mark in the playoffs, and only one of those games has been close. In the 2013 postseason, Phil Dawson's field goal as time expired lifted the 49ers to a 23-20 win at Lambeau in the wild-card round.
Still, the Packers have beaten the 49ers on the road in each of the past two regular seasons, including a 30-28 thriller earlier this year. Rodgers was shown celebrating on the sideline enthusiastically after Mason Crosby's game-winning field goal.
More:The Packers' joyous celebration shows the special nature of this comeback win over the 49ers
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JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.