Packer Central

Josh Jacobs, Xavier McKinney Lead Packers’ Blowout Victory Over 49ers

Josh Jacobs ran for three touchdowns as the Green Bay Packers clobbered the injury-plagued San Francisco 49ers 38-10 on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) celebrates after rushing for a first down against the 49ers.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) celebrates after rushing for a first down against the 49ers. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ big free-agent additions, Xavier McKinney and Josh Jacobs, are the gifts that keep on giving.

Jacobs rushed for three touchdowns and McKinney made two game-changing plays in the second half as the Packers took care of business with a 38-10 victory over the bruised-and-battered San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

The 49ers lined up without eight injured starters, including quarterback Brock Purdy and defensive end Nick Bosa, and lost a starting cornerback during the opening series. Backup quarterback Brandon Allen was surprisingly sharp considering this was his first start in almost 35 months, but the Packers rolled to a 17-0 lead and the 49ers didn’t have enough horses to keep up.

Green Bay improved to 8-3 and will host the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving night. Miami is 5-6 but has won three in a row, with the Tua Tagovailoa-offense having caught fire.

The 49ers fell to 5-6, the defending NFC champions’ playoff hopes still looking strong because of the mediocrity of the NFC West.

Green Bay led 17-7 at halftime but the 49ers were in scoring position to start the third quarter. On fourth-and-2, Allen’s pass to Christian McCaffrey was broken up by McKinney.

San Francisco’s next possession crossed midfield but, on third-and-7, Allen’s pass went through the hands of Deebo Samuel and was intercepted by McKinney, whose 48-yard return set up the Packers at the Niners’ 26.

The Packers took advantage for what turned out to be the clinching touchdown. On third-and-1 from the 17, Jordan Love took a shot to Romeo Doubs. The good? Cornerback Renardo Griffin was flagged for pass interference, setting up first-and-goal at the 1. The bad? Doubs suffered a concussion.

Jacobs plowed into the end zone on the next play to make it 24-7.

Lukas Van Ness’ strip/sack of Brandon Allen set up Jacobs’ third touchdown of the game, matching his career high.

Keisean Nixon’s strip of McCaffrey set up the exclamation mark, Love’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Malik Heath that made it 38-10 with 4 minutes to go.

A win is a win and the scoreboard showed a blowout but, on the whole, it probably was tighter than the Packers desired considering the 49ers’ injury problems and the short turnaround to Thursday.

With streaking Miami coming to town, Jacobs had to carry a heavy load (26 carries for 106 yards) and the concussion could keep Doubs out. Cornerback Jaire Alexander (knee) and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (hamstring), who were inactive, might not be available, either.

That being said, Green Bay took a big step toward returning to the playoffs by dispatching the team that knocked it out of last year’s playoffs.

Love was 13-of-23 for 163 yards and two touchdowns. For the first time this season, he did not throw an interception – though the Niners had a couple opportunities.

The Packers led 17-7 at halftime.

On a 43-degree afternoon, the Packers barely broke a sweat in rolling to a 17-0 lead against the team masquerading as the powerhouse 49ers.

The Packers scored on their opening possession, with Tucker Kraft taking a tight end screen for an 11-yard touchdown. He broke a tackle at the 5 and powered his way into the end zone.

The 49ers, with Allen starting for the first time since the final game of the 2021 season, went three-and-out on their first possession.

Green Bay tacked on a field goal on the ensuing possession, with back-to-back runs of 9 and 19 yards by Emanuel Wilson setting up Brandon McManus’ 51-yard field goal.

The 49ers went three-and-out again, and Green Bay cruised down the field for a touchdown to lead 17-0. Love converted three consecutive third downs with completions of 29, 10 and 15 yards to Romeo Doubs. On first-and-goal at the 1, Jacobs overpowered safety Malik Mustapha for the touchdown.

At that point, Green Bay led 197 to 21 in total yards, 104 to 1 in rushing and 13 to 0 in first downs.

Allen and the Niners got cooking late in the half. A double-reverse screen to Deebo Samuel gained 21 yards, and Allen converted a pair of third downs to George Kittle. The last of those was a 3-yard touchdown in which Green Bay’s pass rushers stalled at the line of scrimmage.

Christian Watson dropped a 49-yard touchdown pass just before halftime, so the margin was only 17-7 at the break.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.