GREEN BAY, Wis. – Kyle Shanahan and his first-year defensive coordinator, Nick Sorensen, lined their faces with playsheets for a sideline chat. Shanahan was sizzling. There was no hiding why.
The 49ers’ matted protection drew back-to-back penalties for having 12 males on the sphere from its personal 10-yard line. That arrange an inevitable landing by the Inexperienced Bay Packers: the primary of Josh Jacobs’ three 1-yard landing runs of their 38-10 rout at Lambeau Subject.
It was the 49ers’ most lopsided street loss in Shanahan’s eight seasons, and it was the Packers’ largest margin of victory of their 74-game historical past with the 49ers.
Past the penalty doubletake, loads else went unsuitable Sunday for the 49ers (5-6) as they misplaced a second straight sport, with one other street sport looming subsequent Sunday night time in Buffalo.
With quarterback Brock Purdy (shoulder) and left deal with Trent Williams (ankle) unable to swimsuit up, it wasn’t within the 49ers’ finest curiosity to drive Purdy’s fill-in, Brandon Allen, right into a high-scoring affair with the host Packers (8-3).
And with Nick Bosa lacking his first sport, the 49ers’ protection figured to look inferior — however not incompetent. Down 10-0 and unable to cease Inexperienced Bay’s floor sport, the 49ers bafflingly drew consecutive penalties. Linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, previously of the Packers, was summoned to the sideline after that second penalty. Two snaps later, Jacobs scored, giving Inexperienced Bay a 17-0 lead with 6:33 till halftime.
Security Ji’Ayir Brown blamed “miscommunication” for the additional personnel and linebacker Fred Warner termed it “unacceptable, across the board.”
Shanahan defined it two-fold. The preliminary too-many-men penalty was the results of the Packers bringing in a large receiver rather than a good finish, then rapidly snapping the ball earlier than the 49ers may change from their base protection to nickel with an additional defensive again. “It was a strategic play by them but one I feel shouldn’t have been allowed. They didn’t give us time to sub on that,” Shanahan stated.
It’s the follow-up penalty that was extra damning, as a result of the officers did permit the 49ers time to substitute, and Shanahan acknowledged: “The second one was on us.”
What Shanahan blamed much more was the 49ers’ run protection that allowed 169 yards and three touchdowns, in addition to their 9 penalties after which a trio of second-half turnovers that led to Inexperienced Bay’s ultimate three touchdowns.
The 49ers misplaced fumbles on consecutive one-play drives within the fourth quarter, first by Allen on a sack on the Niners’ 9-yard line, then by McCaffrey on a 23-yard catch-and-run to midfield.
Allen known as his fumble “just brutal,” citing slick situations greater than the damaged center finger on his left (non-throwing) hand from a apply mishap three weeks in the past. McCaffrey (11 carries, 31 yards; three catches, 37 yards) stewed further lengthy at his locker after the sport, saying of the offense below Allen: “We have to be a lot better for him. I have to be a lot better.”
Allen was 17-of-29 for 199 yards with an interception, a landing cross, and the misplaced fumble. Counterpart Jordan Love was 13-of-23 for 163 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers.
The 49ers littered Lambeau with turnovers, penalties, accidents, and missed tackles — hallmarks of a nasty workforce, which they’ve turn into solely a yr after marching towards the Tremendous Bowl, a run that included a comeback playoff win over the Packers.
“One thing led to another and it went downhill,” stated proper guard Dominick Puni, noting he was “just off-beat, off-key” in drawing three penalties.
Regardless of the gradual begin and lots of errors, there have been indicators of hope at occasions Sunday.
George Kittle, a Wisconsin native, scored his first-ever landing at Lambeau Subject to bail the 49ers out of a first-half funk and pull them inside 17-7. Allen capped the 11-play, 65-yard drive by discovering Kittle over the center as soon as he slipped previous linebacker Quay Walker. It was Allen’s eleventh profession landing cross, and his first since 2021 as Joe Burrow’s backup in Cincinnati.
Kittle’s 3-yard scoring catch was his eighth landing this season. He has scored in seven of 9 video games he has performed, having missed final Sunday’s loss at Seattle and a Week 3 loss at Los Angeles due to hamstring accidents.
Kittle caught all six passes Allen threw to him, together with a back-shoulder snare. His 21-yard catch led to the 49ers’ different factors: Jake Moody’s 48-yard discipline aim, slicing their deficit to 24-10 with 2:12 left within the third quarter.
Allen led a pair of promising drives into Packers’ territory earlier within the third quarter, just for one to finish on a fourth-and-2 incompletion to McCaffrey and the opposite to be halted by Xavier McKinney’s interception of a third-down cross that went off Deebo Samuel’s palms. The Packers parlayed that turnover into Jacobs’ second landing run, which was arrange by Renardo Inexperienced’s pass-interference penalty ultimately zone.
Jacobs’ first landing run got here after the too-many-men penalties. At that time, Allen and the 49ers had run solely six offensive performs, they’d been outgained 197-21, they usually had possessed the ball all of 4 minutes, 22 seconds ( whereas the Packers had it the opposite 19:05).
The Packers generously led solely 17-7 at halftime, denied an even bigger margin when Christian Watson dropped a possible 49-yard landing catch on the 5-yard line with 30 seconds to go.
Leonard Floyd sacked Love twice, however the protection didn’t create a takeaway. They allowed a 67-yard landing drive to open the sport, with tight finish Tucker Kraft scoring on Love’s 11-yard landing cross. Jacobs’ 18-yard acquire up the center on his first carry set the tone for that opening drive and the sport. He had 106 yards on 26 carries.
Becoming a member of the 49ers’ damage listing: cornerback Inexperienced (neck), defensive deal with Jordan Elliott (concussion), linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (knee), and guard Aaron Banks (concussion). Vast receiver Ricky Pearsall hobbled off on the play earlier than Inexperienced Bay’s interception with a leg concern, and he had no receptions for a second straight sport.
It was the 49ers’ third-largest margin of defeat below Shanahan (39-10 vs. the Rams in September 2017; 40-10 vs. the Dallas Cowboys in October 2017).
“That’s about as bad as it can get, probably the worst I’ve been a part of,” Warner stated. “And you know, even then it was still 17-7 after the first half. Ten-point game, still had everything in front of us. We just didn’t make the plays we needed to.”
Initially Revealed: November 24, 2024 at 4:26 PM PST
