NFC Championship, 2012: San Francisco 28 Atlanta 24

Game information
San Francisco overcame a 17-point deficit, the largest comeback ever in an NFC Championship Game, to earn their sixth Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. It was their first road playoff win in 24 years. Ironically, the previous biggest comeback in NFC Championship history was the Falcons overcoming a 13-point deficit in the 1998 NFC title game. This marked the seventh year in a row where the NFC Champion came from the division that faced the AFC East in the regular season.

Atlanta dominated the first quarter, mainly on plays by receiver Julio Jones, who caught five passes for 100 yards, including a 46-yard touchdown catch on their opening drive, and a 27-yard reception on their next drive to set up a Matt Bryant field goal. Following a punt, Matt Ryan hit Roddy White for a 23-yard gain on the last play of the first quarter. Then he threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jones on the first play of the second, giving the Falcons a 17–0 lead.

This time San Francisco struck back with an 80-yard scoring drive, with Frank Gore rushing for 20 yards and Vernon Davis catching a pass for 27. LaMichael James finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run. Then, after forcing a three and out, Colin Kaepernick rushed for 23 yards and completed three passes to Davis for 48 yards, the last a 4-yard touchdown pass to make the score 17–14. But Atlanta stormed back as Ryan completed five passes for double-digit gains on their next drive, the last one a 10-yard score to tight end Tony Gonzalez with 25 seconds left in the half.

The 49ers took the opening kickoff and drove 82 yards, with Kaepernick completing two passes to Randy Moss for 38 yards and one to tight end Delanie Walker for 20. Gore completed the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, cutting their deficit to 24–21. On Atlanta's ensuing possession, cornerback Chris Culliver gave San Francisco a great chance to tie or take the lead by intercepting a pass from Ryan and returning it to the Falcons 25-yard line. But San Francisco failed to gain a first down and came up empty when David Akers hit the uprights on a 38-yard field goal try. Later on, the 49ers got another scoring opportunity when outside linebacker Aldon Smith recovered a fumble from Ryan on his own 40-yard line. They subsequently drove deep into Falcons territory, but once again they failed to score when Dunta Robinson stripped the ball from Michael Crabtree on the 1-yard line as he tried to get in for the go-ahead score, and linebacker Stephen Nicholas recovered it.

With 12 minutes left in regulation, Ted Ginn Jr.'s 20-yard punt return gave San Francisco the ball on the Falcons 38-yard line. Five plays later, Gore scored his second touchdown on a 9-yard run, giving the 49ers their first lead of the game at 28–24. Atlanta responded with a drive to the 49ers 13-yard line, but consecutive incompletions on third and fourth down caused a turnover on downs with just 1:13 left in the game.

Atlanta managed to force a punt and get the ball with 13 seconds to go. Ryan completed a pass to Jones on the final play, but he was tackled at the 49ers 35-yard line as time expired.

Kaepernick completed 16 of 21 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown, along with 21 rushing yards. Davis caught five passes for 106 yards and a score. Gore rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan completed 30 of 42 passes for 396 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception. Jones caught 11 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns, while White had seven receptions for 100 yards. Gonzalez caught eight passes for 78 yards and a score.

This was the second postseason meeting between the 49ers and Falcons. Atlanta won the only prior meeting 20–18 in the 1998 NFC Divisional playoffs.

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