This isn’t any coincidence — it all starts at the top.
There’s a reason the 49ers and Packers keep finding themselves in these situations.
After upsetting the Cowboys in the Wild Card round, the Packers travel to face the 49ers, who had a bye as the No. 1 seed, in the Divisional round on Saturday night.
The two franchises share a deep playoff history going back to the heydays of Brett Favre and Steve Young.
Under the teams’ current brass, the 49ers eliminated the Packers in the Divisional round after the 2021 season as well as in the NFC Championship after the 2019 season.
The rosters Saturday will be far different, but there is one distinct constant: the leadership.
The combinations of 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and president/general manager John Lynch as well as Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst have been in charge of their teams through the whole stretch.
It demonstrates just how important it is to find the right head coach-general manager pairing – even more important than finding the quarterback.
There are a lot of similarities in how both leadership groups have restored their teams to right back among the league’s elite.
Both found the right quarterback, though not necessarily the most acclaimed quarterback — in both cases, a choice that was criticized by the public — and surrounded him with talent.
Jimmy Garoppolo started at quarterback for the 49ers and Aaron Rodgers for the Packers in both the Jan. 2020 and Jan. 2022 games. The teams now meet again with new quarterbacks that have gone against the grain.
The Packers, after trading up to No. 26 to draft Jordan Love in 2020, let him sit for three years before finally making him the starter this season, a practice that has largely gone missing across the league. There were ample questions at the time about why the Packers didn’t simply just use the draft pick to surround Rodgers with more weapons — especially from Rodgers himself — and whether Love would be ready to replace him following his trade to the Jets this past offseason.
But with LaFleur’s guidance and Gutekunst’s roster around him, Love thrived. He finished with a 64.2 completion percentage for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, elevating his play down the stretch. He was clinical in the win over the Cowboys, throwing for 272 yards, three touchdowns and a near-perfect 157.2 passer rating.
Would Love’s development have gone so seamlessly without the LaFleur/Gutekunst leadership in place throughout? Love has been aided by an exciting group of young receivers, a top-end running back and elite offensive line and an innovative offensive mind as his mentor.
The 49ers similarly set up quarterback Brock Purdy for success.
A former Mr. Irrelevant as the last pick in the draft, Lynch provided Purdy one of the best supporting casts in the NFL — including likely the best running back in the league, game-changing receivers and a stellar offensive line. And like Love’s, Purdy’s development has been guided by an innovative offensive mind in Shanahan.
The Lynch-Shanahan brain trust even was able to weather the colossal error that was the Trey Lance pick at No. 3 in 2021. The 49ers hardly missed a step because of it as Lynch and Shanahan found other ways to win.
That dynamic is what makes this offseason so intriguing for the Giants and Jets. Both teams’ leaders — Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen for the Giants, Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas for the Jets — will return next season.
But how confident is anyone that either team’s leadership is a long-term keeper?
Daboll and Schoen share a close relationship, having arrived together from the Bills. But their early results — both on the field and in the draft/free agency — have been mixed.
Saleh and Douglas under normal circumstances likely would have been candidates for firings, but they were endorsed by Rodgers, meaning owner Woody Johnson endorsed them, meaning they will return. The Jets are forgoing the chance to pursue multiple high-level candidates — Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh, among others — in retaining Saleh.
If Love or Purdy began their careers with the Jets’ leadership duo, how confident would you be that they would have succeeded? Likely not very.
The 49ers overcame their Lance pick and are now the Super Bowl favorites with Purdy. The Jets took Zach Wilson one pick before Lance, and their leadership group can’t even crack .500.
What’s the point of a quarterback if you can’t trust the people developing and supporting him?
The 49ers and Packers are prime examples: Their MVPs are their people in charge.
It all starts with leadership. Nothing is more important.
Today’s back page
Wink stop
Where could former Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martidnale end up next?
The better question might be which team and head coach will be willing to work with his big personality?
Martindale’s Giants tenure ended in a bitter split after two seasons amid a reported rift with Daboll. According to The Post’s Paul Schwartz, Martindale, along with his loyal assistants Drew and Kevin Wilkins, at times undermined Daboll’s authority and circumvented the chain of command.
Going back to his Ravens tenure, it’s the second consecutive time the 60-year-old Martindale left a team due to a personality clash. Martindale did not see eye-to-eye with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, and the two parted ways after four years together.
Martindale led the Ravens to the 19th-ranked scoring defense in the NFL in his final season in 2021, and the team has produced the No. 3 and No. 1 scoring defenses the past two seasons without him.
Now, Martindale leaves the Giants having delivered the 26th-ranked scoring defense in 2023.
Do those results make it worth the potential headaches he might bring?
Martindale has established himself as a culture changer and a character whom players rally around, but how many head coaches will want to place their faith in someone who’s now fallen out with his past two bosses?
His next team likely needs to be a team looking for a culture reset.
That could be the Eagles, who fell apart in the second half of the season before being eliminated by the Buccaneers in the Wild Card round. The Eagles’ late-season switch from Sean Desai to Matt Patricia as defensive play-caller was disastrous, and if head coach Nick Sirianni keeps his job, he likely will need a new defensive coordinator.
The Eagles’ defense, which collapsed down the stretch, badly needs fresh life and new ideas, and Martindale would be a strong option to deliver it.
The NFC East could provide other intriguing openings for Martindale. If Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is hired as a head coach, they could be in the market for a big-personality coordinator. But head coach Mike McCarthy will be operating as a lame duck after Jerry Jones committed to retaining him for 2024.
The Commanders will soon hire a new head coach, and subsequently will need a new defensive coordinator.
The Jaguars’ defense struggled during the team’s second-half collapse, and defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and his staff were fired as a result. Does head coach Doug Pederson see Martindale as the answer? Martindale reportedly interviewed with the team this week.
At this point in his career, coaches know exactly what Martindale is: a big personality with a distinct, blitz-heavy defensive scheme.
They know what they would be getting if they hired him. So who will be Martindale’s new boss?
To Saudi and back
How will Jordan Henderson be welcomed back into European soccer?
The longtime Liverpool midfielder and captain made a move over the summer to Saudi Pro League, which has lured big-name soccer stars with outrageously high salary offers — similar to how Saudi-backed LIV Golf has attracted top players.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar were among those to make the move.
Henderson is one of the first stars to want to backtrack.
Henderson has agreed to terminate his $443,000-per-week deal with his club Al Ettifaq after less than six months and reportedly is finalizing a transfer to Dutch side Ajax. Henderson would be taking a massive pay cut in the process.
Henderson, 33, took a lot of criticism for the move to Saudi Arabia. He’s long been an outspoken advocate for the LGBT community, and was ridiculed for joining a league in a country with a poor human rights record.
Henderson’s spell in Saudi Arabia proved that while the pay days might be nice, moves to controversial leagues can be extremely damaging to a player’s personal brand and public standing.
Sometimes, the personal cost is greater than the financial reward.
What we’re reading 👀
🏀 Jalen Brunson (30 points) returned to the lineup, Julius Randle (31) helped pace the scoring and the Knicks (24-17, 7-2 in the OG Anunoby era) turned away the Rockets. The Post’s Mike Vaccaro recorded the hopeful energy inside Madison Square Garden.
⚾ Darryl Strawberry said he “hope[s] and pray[s]” the Mets re-sign Pete Alonso and that Alonso sticks around to break his franchise home run record.
🏀 Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic died Wednesday at the age of 46 after suffering a heart attack at a team dinner the night prior. The Warriors’ game against the Jazz was postponed.
⚾ The Post’s Joel Sherman asks: Are the mighty Yankees really going to play the “no one believed in us” card?
⚾ The Yankees rotation is set with the official signing of Marcus Stroman, but there are questions about durability and the depth beyond the top five.
🏒 Kaapo Kakko, free from trying to justify his lofty draft status, can be exactly what the Rangers need, writes The Post’s Larry Brooks.
🏀 The reeling Nets (16-24) lost again as the Trail Blazers’ Anfernee Simons scored on Mikal Bridges at the buzzer. Could Dejounte Murray help?
🏈 The Jets have been cursed for years by offensive line injuries. What can they do to avoid them?
📻 The Post’s Andrew Marchand dials one up on the departure of WFAN’s program director and how the station still matters.
🏀 The Raptors’ rebuild-on-the-fly is done after trading Pascal Siakam, and they did pretty well, says The Post’s Stefan Bondy.
🎾 Learn the name of Alex Michelsen: The next new hope for American men’s tennis is into the Australian Open third round at the age of 19.
