The San Francisco 49ers prepare to play their first NFL playoff game this season as they will face the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round. The 49ers obtained the No. 1 seed, so they will be well-rested coming into this game where on the other hand, the Packers are coming off of a beat-down to the Dallas Cowboys.

In that Green Bay win, they did something unconventional to start as they won the coin toss and instead of deferring to the second half like most teams do, they elected to receive. It worked out as they scored a touchdown to start and was the beginning of the end for the Cowboys. Love would finish the game throwing for 272 yards to go with his three touchdown passes.

San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked by the media Thursday if the plan is to take the ball out of the hands of Love to start the game.  There was no hesitation as his answer was “Nope.”

Shanahan won't change strategy against Love, Packers

Photo: Kyle Shanahan with playbook with Packers logo in the back

Shanahan seems to brush away the notion of gaining rhythm to start the game as a team can gain momentum at any point of the contest. At the end of the day, the head coach expressed that it is all about playing “good football” that determines if you will score or not according to Kevin Patra of NFL.com.

“I think he can have rhythm in the beginning of the third quarter, too,” Shanahan said. “I think he had some good rhythm on the second drive, also. I don't think it's because he started with the ball personally, but that's just everyone's preference. It's always good to get up to a big lead. It's also good to score at the end of the second quarter and get the ball first, just like Dallas did, which would've got them right back into it if they did score in the opening third and Green Bay didn't answer. If I felt our team was struggling in something that would change your mind. I usually think that's just coincidence. When you play good football, usually you score. When things don't happen, you don't.”

Shanahan prefers the traditional advantage of the coin toss

For Shanahan, the traditional way of handling the coin toss is what he will do in the case they win it. He mentions how getting a “two for one” as in the possibility of getting the final possession in the first half to score and then getting the ball to start the second half is the way to get the “advantage.”

“Yeah, just to kind of lap them. That's the advantage,” he said. “If not, I think it usually plays out even. But you've got a chance to get an extra possession. I didn't used to know this or think it, but just listening to people for the last 15 years. I didn't think about it all growing up or when I first got into the league, but watching it all now and really studying it since I was in Atlanta, I just feel pretty strong about it.”

Despite having a great teams the past several years, the 49ers are trying to make it to the Super Bowl which will be the first time since 2020 where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. However, they will first have to get through the red-hot Packers led by Love.