Notes from miserable 49ers defeat vs. Packers

The San Francisco 49ers’ season is on the ropes after a 38-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

San Francisco entered the game shorthanded with quarterback Brock Purdy, defensive end Nick Bosa and left tackle Trent Williams all ruled out due to injuries, and they looked defeated from the jump. They were barely competitive in the first half, and it didn’t get better over the final 30 minutes.

Here are our notes from each quarter of a dreary defeat for the 49ers:

Not a great start for the shorthanded 49ers. Jake Moody slipped on the kickoff and gave Green Bay great field position to start.

– Ji’Ayir Brown whiffed a tackle on a sweet spin move by Packers RB Josh Jacobs. He has to be better at bringing ball carriers down in the open field.

– Nice stop in the backfield by Fred Warner after a couple of big runs by Green Bay. Warner has to be at his best in this one.

– First third-down of the game for the Packers and they get an easy completion for a first down. The 49ers brought their first blitz.

– Not great. Deommodore Lenoir is down for the 49ers. The last thing they need is another injury at a key position.

– Fun play design by the Packers leads to an easy TD on their opening drive. The 49ers’ defense did not acquit itself well on its first series with Nick Bosa. They struggled to create pressure and tackle near the line of scrimmage.

Razzle dazzle from Brandon Allen on his first snap. The 49ers went with a seven-step drop, Allen stepped up through pressure and got a shovel pass off to George Kittle.

– Second-and-1 turns into second-and-6 thanks to a false start on rookie right guard Dominick Puni. They can’t squander opportunities to operate out of second and short. They got to third-and-5, then Allen took a sack to force a punt. Not a good start.

– Nice open-field tackle by Dee Winters on a checkdown. It looks like the Packers are looking to take the top off the defense, but the 49ers are doing a nice job of taking away those deep throws.

– Jacobs has six broken tackles with four minutes left in the first quarter.

– Now something named Emmanuel Wilson is cooking the 49ers. They lost the edge on a run and he found 19 yards up the right sideline.

Winters just had Jacobs stopped for a loss of four or five, and Jacobs broke the tackle to get back to the line of scrimmage.

– Nice job by the 49ers to get off the field on a third down. They brought a blitz that freed up Sam Okuayinonu to get a hit on Jordan Love. Green Bay settled for a field goal to go ahead 10-0.

– Another penalty from Puni on a first down. He’s flagged for holding and it puts the 49ers in a first-and-20. This feels like the 2022 NFC championship.

Allen should have thrown an interception. His toss into the middle of the field went into a pile of Packers and it was dropped.

– Now Allen throws way short of the sticks on a third-and-15. They should put Josh Dobbs in.

– Sick tackle for loss by Malik Mustapha. He walloped Jacobs in the backfield for a loss of two.

– Third-and-11, easy pitch and catch for Love and Romeo Doubs on an in-breaking route. 29 yards and the Packers are rolling again.

– Another third-down conversion to Doubs. Their body language is terrible.

– Another third-down conversion to Doubs. This isn’t a typo. That’s three-for-three on third downs, all to Doubs on in-breaking routes.
Embarrassing. The 49ers are flagged for 12 men on the field because of a slow substitution. It was negated by an illegal shift penalty on Green Bay. After the dust settled the 49ers were flagged again for 12 men on the field. That’s coaching malpractice.

– Touchdown for Jacobs. It’s 17-0. This game is over if there’s not a substantial turnaround from San Francisco’s defense.

– The 49ers get their first first down of the game with 6:22 left in the second quarter. Kyle Juszczyk caught a short throw and turned it up for 14 yards.

– Another pre-snap penalty. Third-and-2 turns into third-and-7 after a false start on Jake Brendel. What a disaster. Three offensive line penalties have made life difficult on each 49ers drive.

– Trickery! A handoff, end around, flea flicker to a screen to Deebo Samuel for his first touch. Nice call by Kyle Shanahan and a good way to get Samuel a touch with blockers in front.

Not Jauan Jennings’s best rep. He caught a second-down throw just short of the sticks and then tried to make a player miss instead of falling forward for a first down. That brought up a third-and-1 where the 49ers jumped early AGAIN and put them in third-and-6.

– Big-time for Allen. He hit Kittle in the back of the end zone for a touchdown with just over a minute to go in the first half. That was a nice drive by the backup QB. He got the ball out of his hands quick and found open receivers for a handful of a big-time third-down conversions. More importantly it gives the 49ers defense an actual rest. They were on the field for 19:05, and their offense was on the field for only 4:22 before that series.

– The 49ers missed 15 tackles in the first half per the broadcast.

– Wow. Christian Watson dropped a touchdown. San Francisco got lucky after the Packers WR got in behind Isaac Yiadom.

– Two more deep shots and good coverage by Renardo Green and Deommodore Lenoir kept Green Bay from getting into the end zone or field goal range.

– Ricky Pearsall is returning punts with Jacob Cowing out.

An 87-yard kick return by Deebo Samuel is negated by a holding call on backup TE Eric Saubert. He’s having a rough year.

– Jordan Mason enters and goes for 16 yards on his first touch. They had 14 rushing yards as a team before that carry.

– Fourth-and-2, the 49ers go empty and Allen throws incomplete to McCaffrey on perhaps the most telegraphed throw in NFL history. An uncompetitive rep.

– It’s the 49ers turn for bad luck. A throw behind Doubs tipped up to Renardo Green, but Green couldn’t haul it in.

– Hey there’s Leonard Floyd. He got home on a third-and-5 where the 49ers only sent four and the DE wrapped him up for a big stop.

– Oh we’ve got a dot! Allen hit George Kittle on a play action throw up the seam. Hit Kittle in stride and Kittle rumbled for 31 yards into Packers territory. That was a nice throw.

Oof. Third-and-8, Allen’s throw goes through Samuel’s hands and it’s intercepted. Green Bay is in business at the 49ers 26 with a chance to put this one in a stranglehold.

– Now Green is flagged for pretty weak pass interference in the end zone on a third-and-2 incompletion. A field goal would’ve been an okay outcome for San Francisco, but they’ve gifted the Packers a first-and-goal at the 1. Green Bay scored on the next play. This one should be over at 24-7.

– Now Saubert has a third-down throw slip through his hands. That he’s the 49ers’ best option as the No. 2 TE is not a great sign for their roster. Jake Moody still connects on a 48-yard field goal to make it a two-score game. Nice answer from the 49ers offense. They probably can’t give up any more points if they want to win this one.

Whew. Another near interception for the 49ers. This time Ji’Ayir Brown can’t haul it in. Not his best game as a pro.

– Another penalty on a punt return. Pearsall has looked good in the return game, but none of his returns are counting because of flags. They’re up to 77 penalty yards.

A mess on third-and-11 with Allen under pressure and he throws it away. Another uncompetitive set of downs by the 49ers offense.

– Floyd has another sack, but it might just be too little too late for the 49ers defense. Love made a sick play to hold onto the ball after it looked like Floyd was going to knock it out.

– Speaking of fumbles, Allen did just that deep in 49ers territory. The impending score by Green Bay will be the nail in the coffin.

– There’s Jacobs’s third TD to make it 31-10. The 49ers just don’t have enough up front.

– McCaffrey finally breaks one and he fumbles. Packers recover. One of those games. One of those seasons.