Santa Clara

The team that was so bad a year ago that the coaching staff got rewarded with a week coaching the Senior Bowl in Alabama is now playing for the championship in the Super Bowl on Feb. 2 in Miami against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Aaron Rodgers’ latest failure in the NFC championship game kept him out of the Super Bowl once again, the Packers’ season ending just short with an another forgettable playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, 37-20 on Sunday.

The excitement has been building all weekend.

In addition to its regular weekend service, Caltrain will add a southbound express train before the game to the Mountain View Station. That express train departs from the San Francisco Station at 1:40 p.m. 

For the Blue Chip Sports Lounge in San Jose, the NFC Championship Game is already a big win.

The Niners (14-3) first playoff game in six seasons and first ever at Levi's Stadium turned into a lopsided one as top-seeded San Francisco turned a pair of second-half turnovers by Minnesota (11-7) into 10 points.

In all, the good outshone the bad moments. Garoppolo posted three games with four TD passes and ranked third in the league with 8.4 yards per attempt.

Garoppolo will carry a much bigger burden when he makes his first career playoff start for San Francisco as the 49ers host the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday in their first playoff game since the 2013 season.

The team says the end zones at Levi's Stadium will be changed for the post season and painted red with gold lettering, with plans in the works to arrange half-time entertainment and a giveaway for fans.

After four straight losing campaigns, including only 10 wins in coach Kyle Shanahan's first two seasons, the 49ers went from 4-12 to 13-3 this season.

California and Illinois will both be looking to end bowl droughts when they square off Monday in the Redbox Bowl at Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.

Another DoorDash delivery driver was caught on video stealing packages from porches.