The San Francisco 49ers worst fears came to pass this week. They got thoroughly dominated on the road in Green Bay, losing to the Packers 38-10. This game marks a low point for this season and the Kyle Shanahan era in San Francisco. It’s San Francisco’s worst loss by margin of defeat since Week 7 of the 2018 season when they lost 39-10 to the Rams. To put it into perspective, only three players from that game are on the 49ers roster today: George Kittle, Kyle Juszczyk, and Fred Warner.
Needless to say, this was one of the worst losses of the Kyle Shanahan era, and if the 49ers don’t get some of their key pieces back soon, things could get even worse shortly. This game vindicated much of what was being said in the defense of Brock Purdy. The 49ers offense couldn’t consistently move the ball without him, and the defense without Nick Bosa didn’t get any pressure on Jordan Love. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for San Francisco this game.
Josh Jacobs Dominates
The 49ers defense prides themselves on being able to stop the run. That didn’t translate to on-the-field success against Green Bay this week, though. Josh Jacobs tore apart this Niners defense, rushing for 106 yards and three touchdowns. It was the first time in 55 regular games that the Niners allowed someone to rush for over 100 yards against them. The 49ers got out-schemed all day in the run game. They were either out of position or just ineffective at holding their ground against Green Bay’s offensive line. Whenever Jacobs reached the second level, the 49ers simply couldn’t tackle him. They missed 15 tackles on Jacobs alone in this game.
For the whole game, they missed a total of 22 tackles for the game, with fifteen of those coming in the first half, and ten coming in the first quarter. It was a disastrous performance for a defense that’s supposed to be one of the best units in football. The 49ers defense looked broken on Sunday. They were already missing a ton of key pieces like Talanoa Hufanga, Javon Hargrave, and Charvarius Ward, but Nick Bosa’s injury proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Without him, the 49ers look like one of the worst defenses in football, and if they don’t get him back soon, things are going to get ugly for this defense.
Jordan Love didn’t even have a particularly great game, as he completed just 56.5% of his passes for less than 200 yards. That didn’t end up mattering. The 49ers didn’t get much of a pass rush on Love, only sacking him twice, with both coming from Leonard Floyd. All around, the 49ers defense had an awful day. They got no help from their offense, but it still doesn’t excuse how poorly this defense played on every level.
49ers Offense In Shambles
The 49ers were just as ineffective on offense as they were on defense this game. They were without Brock Purdy and Trent Williams and both losses were felt greatly. 49ers backup Quarterback, Brandon Allen, was already playing through a broken thumb, and against a Packers defense that completely shut down Christian McCaffrey, he had almost no chance to succeed out there. Brandon Allen finished with 199 passing yards, a touchdown, a pick, and a lost fumble. Both of his turnovers were arguably not his fault. His interception came off the hands of Deebo Samuel, and on the fumble, he got strip-sacked from his left side on a broken protection scheme.
It was clear from the get-go that the 49ers couldn’t establish the run against Green Bay in this game like they could in the past. They ran for just 44 yards this game on 16 carries. The Packers made it as hard as possible on Brandon Allen and unfortunately for him, he could not overcome the numerous mistakes that the offense made. The 49ers only real chance of a comeback vanished the moment Xavier McKinney caught that interception, and after that point, the game was over. Brock Purdy was missed due to the 49ers struggles with staying on schedule offensively. Trent Williams was also missed in both run and pass protection.
Final Thoughts
The San Francisco 49ers are being left for dead by most NFL pundits after this game and rightfully so. They were thoroughly dominated in all three phases of the game by the Packers and their issues that were present all season long came crashing down on them on Sunday. If the 49ers can’t get back Purdy, Williams, or Bosa for next week’s game against the Buffalo Bills, then a similar result to this game should be expected next week.
