The Green Bay Packers took advantage of facing an injury-riddled San Francisco 49ers team on Sunday, defeating them 38-10 at iconic Lambeau Field in Week 12’s “America’s Game of the Week,” with Tom Brady on the call.
While the Packers won by four scores, the 49ers had an opportunity to cut the deficit to one score early in the fourth quarter. However, San Francisco had a lost fumble on the first play of consecutive drives, giving Green Bay the opportunity to double its 14-point lead.
The Packers improved to 8-3 with the win, keeping up with the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North race as they each picked up wins earlier Sunday. The 49ers, meanwhile, fell to 5-6 as their hopes of repeating as NFC champs took another hit.
Check out below for all the biggest plays from the game and analysis from Brady, plus live commentary from FOX Sports writer Eric Wiliams.
Takeaways: 49ers are running out of time, Packers finding balance
Williams: With one of the NFL’s oldest rosters, San Francisco finished with a litany of unforced errors and turnovers — surprising for a team of this pedigree that played in the Super Bowl last season. Loser of two in a row, the 49ers are running out of games to save their season.
In an embarrassing road loss at Green Bay, San Francisco turned it over three times, which the Packers turned into 21 points. The 49ers dropped two potential interceptions on defense and finished with nine accepted penalties for 77 yards, including one that negated a long kickoff return by Deebo Samuel to start the second half and back-to-back flags for 12 men on the field defensively. Samuel also had a dropped pass that deflected into the hands of Green Bay’s Xavier McKinney for an interception.
The 49ers finished with 20 missed tackles on defense, as well. At 5-6, the only saving grace for the 49ers is they remain just a game behind the division leaders in the NFC West.
As for Green Bay, running back Josh Jacobs took over as the engine on offense for the Packers, giving them physicality, toughness and a chance to compete among the contenders in the NFC. Jacobs finished with 106 yards rushing and three touchdowns in a runaway win over San Francisco — the largest win for the Packers in series history. The 100-yard rushing game for Jacobs broke a streak of 54 consecutive games of the 49ers not allowing a player to rush for over 100 yards against them defensively.
Jacobs’ bruising running style provides the Packers with balance on offense to Jordan Love’s ability to create big plays in the passing game and should serve them well in cold-weather games at the end of the season, along with a possible deep playoff run.
