Green Bay has been cold, brutal place for 49ers

If Jim Harbaugh wears a red neckerchief on Sunday at Lambeau Field, take that as a bad omen.

The red bandanna is an enduring image from one of the most dramatic playoff games in 49ers history. George Seifert wore it, an odd and surely ineffective way to fight off sub-freezing temperatures, in the last game he ever coached for the 49ers.

The 49ers and their fans are downplaying this weekend's January trip to Green Bay, as though it's just some other road game. Harbaugh was weary of weather questions before they even began. The fans are feeling confident, thanks to their team's 3-0 record against the Packers in the past 16 months.

But a trip to Lambeau in January is a whole different experience.

The 49ers and Packers have a rich playoff history, all of it occurring in the past two decades. The two longtime franchises had never played in the postseason until Brett Favre and Steve Young met for the first time in January 1996. Since that time, the Packers have a 4-2 playoff advantage over the 49ers. The 49ers' only two victories came at Candlestick Park, along with two of their losses.

It is not true that the Packers are unbeatable at Lambeau Field in January. In the past 13 years, four teams have successfully invaded the Packers' once impenetrable January fortress: Atlanta in 2003, Minnesota in 2005 and the New York Giants in 2008 and 2012 (both victories prologues to Giants Super Bowl championships).

However, for the 49ers, Lambeau Field in January holds legendary misery.

49ers Head Coach George Seifert walks the sideline during the San Francisco 49ers vs. Green Bay Packers playoff game on January 4, 1997, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI. Seifert is wearing a red scarf to try and stay warm during the game. It was Seifert's final game as Head Coach of the 49ers. less 49ers Head Coach George Seifert walks the sideline during the San Francisco 49ers vs. Green Bay Packers playoff game on January 4, 1997, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI. Seifert is wearing a red scarf to try ... more Photo: Mike Maloney, San Francisco Chronicle Photo: Mike Maloney, San Francisco Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Green Bay has been cold, brutal place for 49ers 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Virtually all of that misery came in one memorable game on Jan. 4, 1997. Much of the 49ers' mystique and magic was destroyed in one freezing afternoon, a day that was the true unraveling of a dynasty.

It was a strange game from the start. Driven out of their own facility by torrential rain, the 49ers went to Tempe, Ariz. - borrowing the Cardinals' training site - to prepare for the game. That was an odd choice considering the 60-degree swing in temperature they would endure (about the same as predicted this weekend). The 1996 49ers had a 12-4 record, but had struggled to run the ball much of the season. They paid the price for that deficiency in their wild-card win against Philadelphia, when Young ran the ball in for a touchdown from the 1-yard line and took a shot to his ribs. Both he and Seifert called the injury a bruise in the week before the Packers game, but, in truth, the 49ers quarterback had two broken ribs.

Still, Seifert decided to start Young rather than inexperienced Elvis Grbac. The decision was part of a last hurrah for an aging team: Almost all of the key players were over 30 and desperate for one last shot at the Super Bowl.

The weather in Green Bay was completely miserable. The wind-chill temperature was 9 degrees. The rain and sleet created a brick red, ankle-deep mud on the field in which the players were quickly coated.

Young lasted just nine snaps before leaving the game in agony. Just as damaging was a twin loss on defense - Bryant Young was carted off the field with a neck injury. The 49ers fell behind 21-0 in the first half.

"In a game like that," tackle Steve Wallace said later, "it's amazing how if you're behind, you're a lot colder than the people that are ahead."

The 49ers changed their uniforms at halftime in a desperate attempt to get warmer.

"It was so cold," said cornerback Tyronne Drakeford. "A lot of guys, we let the weather get into our heads."

It was a complete and thorough beating, by a score of 35-14, by a team that went on to win its first Super Bowl since 1968 three weeks later.

After the game in the locker room, the players trembled violently from hypothermia as they tried to get dressed. Outside the stadium, owner Eddie DeBartolo and his personal muscle, Ed Muransky, got into a fight with drunken Packer fans.

Seifert came to the post-game podium still shaking from the cold. His red scarf, tied around his neck, reflected his red-rimmed eyes, from either the cold or tears. Seifert acted like a man who knew his run was over.

"I was done," he said later. "Emotionally, that last game did it."

For years, Seifert beat himself up over the fact that he started Young, rather than devising a game plan around Grbac. Really, it probably didn't matter. Because of Young's injury he didn't take many snaps in practice the week before. But, psychologically, the 49ers struggled without their leader on offense, a player who had carried them for most of the season.

Four days later, Seifert was forced out. His offensive coordinator, Marc Trestman - whose Bears team lost to the Packers last week to end his first season as an NFL head coach - was rudely fired by DeBartolo. Eleven months later, DeBartolo stepped down as owner. The 49ers lost to the Packers at Candlestick the next January. Two years after that muddy day at Lambeau, in January 1999, there was one last surge from the dynasty days - beating the Packers at Candlestick on Young's pass to Terrell Owens - before the 49ers succumbed to a long stretch of mediocrity.

The magic was over.

"We cannibalize ourselves a bit," Seifert said as he made his farewell.

Carmen Policy, speaking of the impossibly high expectations, said at the time: "The 49ers organization is in desperate need of psychotherapy."

But expectations dropped dramatically. The 49ers traveled to Green Bay again in January of 2002 for a perfunctory beating by Favre in the wild-card game. That playoff moment, and the next year's postseason, turned out to be fleeting blips of success in an otherwise lost decade. The 49ers were less in need of psychotherapy than good draft classes and a competent coach.

Now they have that. They're back on top. They are the favorites in Sunday's game.

But the men who came before them know that Lambeau is still a daunting spot, a place where magic can die.

Inside

The 49ers-Packers recent history, which includes three straight wins by San Francisco. B6

Rosters and regular-season stats for both teams. B6-B7

Scott Ostler plays the 'what-if' game based on 49ers' final result. B8

Capsule looks at the other playoff games. B9