Kyle Juszczyk became emotional as he discussed what returning to the NFC Championship Game meant for him and the San Francisco 49ers.
“It’s everything,” Juszczyk told reporters in the locker room after the 49ers defeated the Green Bay Packers 24-21 on Saturday night. “What’s difficult, as we’ve seen, is that when you lose an NFC Championship, you want to click your fingers and be there again, but you can’t. There’s a lot that needs to happen between the last loss and getting back there.”
After a 17-game season and a hard-fought playoff victory, the 49ers are back in the NFC title game for the third straight season and the fourth time in four years, looking to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since 2019.
Juszczyk, fighting back tears, he on, “And to finally be back there, you don’t take it for granted. You understand how difficult it is, and how much it means to these guys here who have been through it. So I feel emotional just thinking about it. We’re back, and it’s time to take care of business.
Brandon Aiyuk will make his third appearance in the NFC Championship Game, but the wide receiver has bigger goals than that.
“We’re trying to go further than that,” Aiyuk stated. “I had already gone there three times. Well, this is going to be the third time. We’re looking to conduct business because there is something on the other end of it.”
The 49ers are still reeling from last season’s NFC Championship Game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, and they have spent the entire offseason wondering what may have happened if quarterback Brock Purdy had not been injured early in the game. Purdy’s backup at the time, Josh Johnson, also left with an injury.
“Green Bay is a great team, and so to be able to pull through and finish that for us to get back to the NFC Championship, obviously, I think guys are healthy for the most part after this game, and we won it,” Purdy told reporters after the game. “We have been thinking about it. It has been in the back of our minds. We had a team to do it last year, and we believe we didn’t get a fair chance after the quarterbacks were injured in that game.
“So, I think we’re really excited for it, but we’re going to take it one day at a time, find out who we play tomorrow, and be ready to roll for it.”
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