49ers vs. Falcons: Keys to Victory for Each Team in NFC Title Game

One team accomplished the near-impossible to get here. The other sort of did the same thing—and with a quarterback playing in his first-ever playoff game, no less.

Sunday's NFC Championship Game is definitely going to be a battle.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan comes into this one on the heels of his first-ever playoff win. He earned it in dramatic fashion over the Seahawks, driving down the field to set up the game-winning field goal with just eight seconds remaining. The San Francisco 49ers, however, laid a beating on Green Bay on Saturday night as quarterback Colin Kaepernick set a record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a playoff game in a 45-31 victory.

But only one of them can move on. Here's a look at what each team needs to do to earn a trip to New Orleans.

49ers: Continue to be Dynamic on Offense

San Francisco won in the divisional round because of Colin Kaepernick, and because Green Bay couldn't find a way to stop him on the ground. But it also won because Green Bay couldn't find a way to stop his air attack, either.

Though the 49ers got to this point because of a second-ranked defense that only allows 17.1 points per game, they got past the Packers because their offense had its most explosive game of the season. And it picked the perfect time to have it. While all of the pundits were focusing on whether Kaepernick would be able to thwart the pressure of playing in his first postseason game, Kaepernick showed them that no one on the inside was focusing on the pressure or the expectations.

The young QB victimized the Packers in any and every way. Not only did he rush for a record 181 yards and two touchdowns, but he added 263 yards in the air and another two TDs. He and Michael Crabtree were electrifying, hooking up for both of those scores in the second quarter for the game-tying and go-ahead touchdowns. They put Green Bay away early, and they'll need to do the same thing to Atlanta.

Yes, the 49ers won this game because of Kaepernick—but really, they won it because they were dynamic. They were no one-trick pony, and the Packers didn't have enough to stop all of the weapons San Francisco put on the table.

Falcons: No Defensive Lapses

At the end of the third quarter on Sunday, it seemed as though Atlanta had that game in the bag. It didn't even let Seattle get on the scoreboard until almost midway through the third quarter, and it took a 27-7 lead into the final frame.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Atlanta's defense—which had been rock-solid all day—allowed three unanswered touchdowns to kick off the fourth quarter and looked on helplessly as the Seahawks took an improbable 28-27 lead with 31 seconds left in the game. Fortunately, Matt Ryan had the fortitude to march the Falcons back down the field again, and Matt Bryant had enough ice in his veins to send the game-winning 49-yarder through the uprights.

But Atlanta can't let it come down to that again.

There are plenty of positives to take from Sunday's game. One of them was that the Falcons were able to put up 30 points on the NFL's best defense; the other is that they were able to victimize that top defense when it mattered the most. That should certainly give them confidence coming in against the nation's second-best unit.

They can't, however, expect lightning to strike twice. If they spot San Francisco 21 fourth-quarter points, chances are this one is going to end badly.

Atlanta entered Sunday's game with the league's fifth-best defense, and it collapsed at the worst time. It was extremely disappointing for a unit that had been so air-tight up to that point, and it cannot afford another lapse like that this weekend. Statistically, San Francisco's offense may rank below Seattle's in terms of points scored per game, but given what we saw last week, we know that Kaepernick is capable of lighting it up.

The Falcons contained Russell Wilson for almost three quarters on Sunday. It's not a question of whether they can do the same to Kaepernick; it's a question of whether they will. And if they do, they could find themselves with a Super Bowl berth.