The Green Bay Packers got some revenge against the team that ended their season last year.
It didn’t matter to the Packers that the San Francisco 49ers team they defeated 38-10 on Sunday was not the same group that beat them in last season’s NFC divisional playoffs.
Josh Jacobs ran for 106 yards and matched his career high with three touchdowns for the Packers. The 49ers were missing several key players, including injured quarterback Brock Purdy, three-time All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, and four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Nick Bosa.
“It’s the NFL,” said Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who completed 13 of 23 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. “They’ve got other good players. We’ve had injuries. Guys are banged up. You’ve got to go find a way to win, no matter who’s out there. It’s tough for them, but we’ll take the win.”
The shorthanded 49ers (5-6) turned the ball over three times, committed nine penalties, and missed many tackles.
“To have those three turnovers, and all three led to touchdowns with 21 points,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “You top that with the penalties and stuff, that’s how you get embarrassed like that.”
A few Packers players who weren’t with the team last season played big roles.
Jacobs became the first player in the last 55 regular-season games to rush for 100 yards against the 49ers. It was the longest a team had gone without allowing a 100-yard rusher since 1955.
Justin Fields rushed for 103 yards for the Chicago Bears against the 49ers on Oct. 31, 2021. Aaron Jones ran for 108 yards in the Packers’ 24-21 NFC divisional playoff loss to San Francisco last season.
Jacobs scored all three of his touchdowns from 1 yard out.
“I came here because I’d seen them winning,” said Jacobs, who spent his first five seasons with the Raiders. “And I haven’t won a lot in my career, and that was a big thing for me when I’m making a decision.
But not only that, man, being around these guys and seeing how hungry they are, seeing how much of pros they are on a day-to-day basis and how much it means to them, man, it makes me want to play harder, it makes me want to give everything I have.”
Xavier McKinney broke up a fourth-down pass to stop one 49ers scoring chance and had a 48-yard interception return to set up Jacobs’ second touchdown. The former New York Giants safety has seven interceptions this season, tying with Detroit’s Kerby Joseph for the NFL lead.
“It’s been as advertised,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of the two free-agent additions. “Those guys have just been instrumental in our ability to win games.”
San Francisco’s defense had only four players who were part of the playoff victory over Green Bay: Fred Warner, Deommodore Lenoir, Tashaun Gipson, and Robert Beal. Purdy’s shoulder injury led the 49ers to start 32-year-old Brandon Allen, making his 10th career start and first since the 2021 regular-season finale with Cincinnati.
Allen went 17 of 29 for 199 yards with one touchdown, one interception, and a lost fumble.
Love threw touchdown passes to Tucker Kraft and Malik Heath as the Packers (8-3) scored their highest point total since beating the Chicago Bears 38-20 in their 2023 opener.
The Packers scored on each of their first three series. With 6 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter, the 49ers trailed 17-0 and had run just six offensive plays.
“I thought we got out of our gaps a number of times,” Shanahan said. “I thought we had way too many missed tackles. Just them being able to control that clock the first half was one of the worst ones I’ve been a part of as far as a half.”
San Francisco cut the lead to 17-7 on Allen’s 3-yard touchdown pass to George Kittle with 1:02 left in the second quarter. The 49ers’ only other points came on Jake Moody’s 48-yard field goal.
The 49ers missed chances to close the gap.
A holding penalty on Eric Saubert wiped out Deebo Samuel’s 87-yard kickoff return that would have given the 49ers first-and-goal to start the second half. That drive ended when McKinney broke up a pass intended for Christian McCaffrey on fourth-and-2 from the Green Bay 39. The 49ers held McCaffrey to 31 yards on 11 carries.
San Francisco got into Green Bay territory again later in the third when Allen threw a pass that went through Samuel’s hands and was intercepted by McKinney.
Green Bay turned the interception into a touchdown, extending its lead to 24-7. The Packers continued to add to their lead from there.
“We started to build some momentum there at the end of the half,” Allen said. “The second half, had some drives going, and just penalties and turnovers really killed us.”
