SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Brett Favre's touchdown pass to Donald Driver gave Green Bay an 11-point lead in the third quarter Sunday and the Packers held off a final San Francisco comeback attempt to record a key 20-14 decision over the 49ers.
San Francisco quarterback Jeff Garcia tried to lead the 49ers to a late victory for the second straight week, but ran out of downs at the Green Bay 11 with 26 seconds remaining.
On fourth and seven and the game on the line, Green Bay double covered star San Francisco receiver Terrell Owens double covered near the back of the end zone and Garcia wound up misfiring on a pass intended for tight end Eric Johnson.
The win kept the Packers (11-3), who clinched the NFC North title two weeks ago, tied with Philadelphia and Tampa Bay for the best record in the NFC. The 49ers (9-5) clinched the NFC West title last week, but likely lost any chance of a first-round playoff bye.
The teams are familiar playoff rivals with the Packers having won four of the five postseason meetings since the 1995 season.
Green Bay has now won nine of the last 10 meetings overall since 1995 with Favre at the helm. The lone win for San Francisco came here in the 1998 wild card round when Owens caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Steve Young with three seconds remaining, lifting the Niners to a 30-27 victory.
On Sunday, Owens had a 45-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter and grabbed two pom-poms from a 49ers cheerleader to celebrate. Garcia followed with the two-point conversion run to pull the Niners within 17-14.
Green Bay's Ryan Longwell then kicked a 28-yard field goal to increase the Packers' lead to 20-14 with 4:31 left in the fourth quarter, setting up San Francisco's final, futile drive.
Last week, Owens caught two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the winning eight-yarder with 12 seconds left, in the Niners' 31-27 win at Dallas.
