The Green Bay Packers played extremely well on both sides of the ball, and rolled past San Francisco, 38-10, on Sunday.
We’re exactly one month away from Christmas.
The Green Bay Packers received an early gift from the San Francisco 49ers, though, on Sunday afternoon.
When these terrific rivals met at Lambeau Field, the 49ers were without Pro Bowl quarterback Brock Purdy, future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams, 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa and standout cornerback Charvarius Ward.
The Packers played extremely well on both sides of the ball, and those losses were too much for the 49ers to overcome as Green Bay rolled to a 38-10 win.
The Packers improved to 8-3, which amazingly is good for just third place in the NFC North. Detroit leads the division at 10-1, while Minnesota (9-2) is in second place.
San Francisco, which won the NFC last season, fell to 5-6.
Here’s the ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ from Green Bay’s impressive win.THE GOOD
JOSH JACOBS: The Packers decision to sign Josh Jacobs and move on from Aaron Jones last offseason was debated at great lengths.
Jones, of course, is an all-time Packer who ranks third in team history with 5,940 rushing yards.
But simply put, Jacobs is the better player.
Jacobs is extremely powerful and rarely goes down on first contact. He’s nifty in the hole. He can block, catch and put an offense on his hefty shoulders.
Jacobs had a sensational night against San Francisco, rushing for 106 yards on 26 carries while tying his career-high with three rushing touchdowns.
“He’s one of those guys that you want to have the ball in his hands,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said of Jacobs. “He does really good things when he has it.”
In the first half alone, Jacobs had 19 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown. He had runs of 18, 13 and 10 yards in the first half.
Jacobs then added a pair of 1-yard TD runs in the second half, even though he left the game for a stretch with cramps.
“He’s got a great vision and extraordinary — and it’s not that he’s a blazer — but he’s got extraordinary acceleration off his cuts,” Packers running backs coach Ben Sirmans said of Jacobs. “And I think that’s why he frees himself up so much particularly inside the box.”
SLAYING GOLIATH: The 49ers knocked the Packers out of the playoffs in 2019, 2021 and 2023. A year ago, Green Bay had San Francisco on the ropes, but blew a late lead and fell, 24-21, in the NFC Divisional playoffs.
So Sunday’s game certainly carried some extra motivation.
“It definitely sits with you through the offseason and then you obviously, you move on,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said. “Just knowing that that’s the team that knocked us out, we’re definitely hungry for this game.
