The San Francisco 49ers held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter but ended up falling 20-17 to the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday's NFC Championship Game.

Afterward, Jimmy Garoppolo admitted he was dealing with a lot of emotions in what could very well be his final game with the 49ers.

"[The emotions] hit pretty hard in the locker room," Garoppolo said. "I think these next couple of days it will really start to settle in a little bit. Emotions are high after a game win or loss, and it's one of those things you've got to be glad it happened, smile from it, and think about the good things. We'll see what happens in these next couple days, weeks, whatever, but I love this team. Just the fight and the battle in this team throughout the entire year has been really impressive. I love those guys."

San Francisco traded a second-round pick for Garoppolo in 2017 and then signed him to what was at the time a record-breaking five-year, $137.5 million contract.

Garoppolo has one year left on his contract, but the 49ers traded up to draft Trey Lance with the third overall pick last spring.

"I love Jimmy," Kyle Shanahan said. "I'm not going to sit here and make a farewell statement or anything right now. There's a lot of stuff on my mind. Jimmy has battled his ass off, he battled today and he did some unbelievable things today. I love coaching Jimmy."

Mike Singletary says that he once vetoed a trade that would have sent Ben Roethlisberger to the San Francisco 49ers.

The former 49ers coach told The Athletic that the front office told him in 2009 that they had a deal in place with the Pittsburgh Steelers to acquire Roethlisberger, but that he declined because this was shortly after the quarterback had been accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a woman in Lake Tahoe.

"I had been telling the team I wanted a team of character," Singletary said. “I felt I had to be true to that. But if I could do it again, I'd do it differently."

Sean McVay insists Kyle Shanahan isn't in his head.

The Los Angeles Rams are 3-7 against the San Francisco 49ers since McVay and Shanahan took over their respective teams. The Rams have lost six straight to the 49ers.

"No," McVay said when asked if Shanahan was in his head. "What I do have is respect for these guys. They've done a great job. You look at it, you've got to play well in that three-and-a-half hour window that we're allotted. You look at the last time we played them — didn't finish the game. But this is a really good football team. We have a lot of respect for them, but we're competing and preparing to the best of our ability to see if we can advance. But this is a really good team. Kyle's an excellent coach. He's got great players, great coaches, good schemes, so that's why they're in the NFC Championship."

The San Francisco 49ers changed the play call from a pass to a rush on their 3rd and seven with 1:03 remaining in their win over the Green Bay Packers. The 49ers didn't want to have an incomplete pass that would stop the clock and give Aaron Rodgers enough time to get into field goal range.

“So we called the pass, the pass I liked," said Kyle Shanahan. "I let them go to the line and then I just thought, It’s not worth it. I’ve seen it with Aaron. We had a motion on, but once we got to the line, I thought I was gonna call a timeout. So I let us start the motion and then I called time. Then I was like, ‘Guys, we gotta run it. At least if we don’t get five yards, at least I know we’re going to overtime. We’ll let it run down to 15 seconds or whatever and punt.”

Deebo Samuel instead ran for a first down to put the 49ers in field goal range for Robbie Gould to make a 45-year field goal for the win.

The Kansas City Chiefs opened as 6.5-point favorites over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship while that line quickly moved to -7 at most sports books.

In the NFC Championship Game, the Los Angeles Rams opened as 3.5-point favorites.

The Chiefs were the only favorite to win in the divisional round.

The Bills nearly made it four outright upsets, something that has never happened in the divisional round during the Super Bowl era. 

The San Francisco 49ers' victory over the Dallas Cowboys was the most-watched NFL Wild Card game on any network in seven years.

CBS Sports and Nickelodeon averaged 41.496 million viewers across both networks.

This year's broadcast was up +35% versus last year’s comparable game. The audience peaked with more than 50 million viewers (50.229) for the game’s conclusion. 

The Cowboys-Lions Wild Card game in 2015 brought in 42.320 million viewers. 

The San Francisco 49ers have asked Trey Lance to play the role of Aaron Rodgers in scout team practices this week.

"We need Trey to be very aggressive, let it rip," Kyle Shanahan said. "Hopefully if he does make some mistakes in practice, our defense will catch it and make him pay. But we need him to be aggressive in everything he does because Aaron doesn't miss many of those opportunities when they're presented to him."

Jimmy Garoppolo is set to play through a thumb and shoulder injury in Saturday's divisional playoff contest.

Lance has spent time during his rookie campaign attempting to imitate different quarterbacks during practice, from Kyler Murray to Kirk Cousins and now Rodgers. The rookie has said there is a benefit in his development from studying other quarterbacks in his practice role.

Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a "slightly" sprained right (throwing) shoulder during Sunday's playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys.

The San Francisco 49ers quarterback was already playing through a torn ligament in his right thumb.

Kyle Shanahan believes Garoppolo will be able to practice when the team resumes those sessions on Tuesday.

"He should be fine for practice," Shanahan said. "He had to play through some pain and stuff, but he ended up checking out all right. Just a slight shoulder sprain and he should be good for [Tuesday's] practice."

The 2021 NFL Divisional Round times and odds have been set following the Wild Card Round.

Saturday, January 22
4:30PM CBS
Cincinnati Bengals at Tennessee Titans (-3.5)

Saturday, January 22
8:15 PM FOX
San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers (-5.5)

Sunday, January 23
3:00 PM NBC
Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3.0)

Sunday, January 23
6:30 PM CBS
Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs (-2.5)

The Wild Card Weekend schedule is set beginning with the Cincinnati Bengals hosting the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday afternoon and concluding on Monday Night Football when the Los Angeles Rams host the Arizona Cardinals.

Here is the TV schedule and current lines for each game:

Saturday, 3:30 PM, NBC
Las Vegas Raiders at Cincinnati Bengals, -6.5

Saturday, 7:15 PM, CBS
New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills, -4.5

Sunday, 12:00 PM, FOX
Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, -9.0

Sunday, 3:30 PM, CBS
San Francisco 49ers at Dallas Cowboys, -3.0

Sunday, 7:15 PM, NBC
Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs, -12.5

Monday, 7:15 PM, ESPN
Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams, -4.5