GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers didn't downplay what the Green Bay Packers' regular-season game at the San Francisco 49ers might mean.

"The way I look at it," Rodgers said in the days leading up to the Week 12 meeting at Levi's Stadium, "we've got to beat them once at their place at some point. It would be nice to do it now."

Of course, they did not. And it wasn't close: The Niners won by 29 points. So now, the Packers will have to try again. Actually, they get to try again.

They certainly earned it with their 28-23 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in an NFC divisional-round playoff game at Lambeau Field. Unlike the topsy-turvy AFC, which will be decided by the No. 2 seed and the No. 6 seed, the NFC is down to the top two seeds, which is what the Packers and Niners were when they met on Nov. 24.

This will be the Packers' first appearance in the conference championship game since the 2016 "run the table" season, which came two years after their NFC Championship Game collapse at Seattle.

The Packers will have their work cut out for them next Sunday in Santa Clara, California, as San Francisco opened as a seven-point favorite at Caesars Sportsbook.

This will be Rodgers' fourth NFC Championship Game appearance, and they've all been on the road.

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