Packer Central

Packers vs. 49ers: Time, TV, Preview, Playoff Picture, Prediction

The Green Bay Packers (7-3) will host the San Francisco 49ers (5-5) today at Lambeau Field. Here’s what you need to know before kickoff.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love will face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love will face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Lambeau Field. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers will battle on Sunday at Lambeau Field. The Packers are big favorites because the 49ers have been ravaged by injuries.

Here’s what you need to know about the 74th matchup in the history of the rivalry.

Packers-49ers: The Vitals

Records: The Packers are 7-3 and the 49ers are 5-5.

Where: Lambeau Field.

Date and time: Sunday at 3:25 p.m.

Coaches: Green Bay – Matt LaFleur (63-30, sixth season). San Francisco – Kyle Shanahan (72-54, seventh season).

Weather: It’s a typically gloomy November day in Green Bay. According to WBAY, it will be cloudy and 43 degrees with an east wind at 10 mph at kickoff.

Tickets: Let SI Tickets get you into the game without any fees. As of Sunday morning, the most inexpensive ticket costs $178.

The line: Injuries pushed the line to Packers by 5.5.

Power rankings: In Packers On SI’s Consensus NFL Power Rankings, the Packers are eighth and the Niners are 14th.

What Channel for Packers-49ers?

TV: Fox, with Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play), Tom Brady (analyst) and Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi (sidelines).

Can you watch?: Probably. This is Fox’s Game of the Week, and it will be televised nationwide other than the Pacific Northwest and Arizona. Here’s the broadcast map.

Radio: Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) and Larry McCarren (analyst) will have the call on the Packers Radio Network. Find a station here or tune into Channel 85 or 225 on Sirius.

Compass Media Networks will have the national broadcast with Ted Emrich (play-by-play) and Brian Baldinger (analyst).

Packers-49ers: Preview

Last week, it was fair to ask if Packers-Bears was a rivalry because Green Bay had so thoroughly dominated the series. This week, it’s fair to ask if Packers-49ers is a rivalry because San Francisco has won every important game for more than a decade.

Yes, the Packers have won four of the last five regular-season games overall and seven of the last eight regular-season games played at Lambeau Field.

The playoffs are another matter, of course. The 49ers have won five in a row in the postseason, including Shanahan’s 49ers knocking out LaFleur’s Packers in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

The Packers were on the cusp of reaching the NFC Championship Game last year. They led 21-14 after three quarters and had a chance to extend their lead to 24-17 with about 6 1/2 minutes remaining. But Anders Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal, the 49ers stormed down the field for the go-ahead touchdown and Jordan Love was intercepted by Dre Greenlaw.

49ers 24, Packers 21.

“I think just ending the season, getting into the playoffs and being knocked out by the 49ers, whoever it would have been, that game is definitely going to sit with you,” Love said this week.

“That’s what you’ve got to sit with all offseason is going back, watching that game, trying to see what you could have done better, could have done differently in that game. It definitely sits with you through the offseason and then, obviously, you move on. Just knowing that that’s the team that knocked us out, we’re definitely hungry for this game.”

A victory would improve Green Bay’s record to 8-3 and bolster its spot in the playoff chase. The 49ers, who have reached the NFC Championship Game or Super Bowl in four of the past five seasons but have been hammered by injuries, would fall to 5-6 with a loss.

“I think that we definitely are trying to get a little bit of revenge with how our season ended last year,” receiver Christian Watson said. “We’re definitely looking at it as it’s a pretty big game for us, so definitely excited to see them again.”

NFC Playoff Standings

Here’s a look at the relevant teams in the NFC playoff race entering Sunday.

1. Detroit Lions: 9-1 (first place, NFC North)

2. Philadelphia Eagles: 8-2 (first place, NFC East)

3. Arizona Cardinals: 6-4 (first place, NFC West)

4. Atlanta Falcons: 6-5 (first place, NFC South)

5. Minnesota Vikings: 8-2 (second place, NFC North)

6. Green Bay Packers: 7-3 (third place, NFC North)

7. Washington Commanders: 7-4 (second place, NFC East)                                        

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8. Los Angeles Rams: 5-5 (second place, NFC West)

9. Seattle Seahawks: 5-5 (third place, NFC West)

10. San Francisco 49ers: 5-5 (fourth place, NFC West)

11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 4-6 (second place, NFC South)

According to the NFL, the Packers have a 79 percent chance to reach the playoffs. If they can beat the 49ers, that would rise to 88 percent. If they lose, that would fall to 61 percent.

The 49ers have a 25 percent chance to make the playoffs. If they lose, that would fall to 15 percent.

Packers-49ers: Prediction

It’s not who you play but when you play them.

The Packers couldn’t possibly be playing the 49ers at a better time, with the makings of an all-star team either inactive or on injured reserve.

The 49ers will play without quarterback Brock Purdy and receiver Brandon Aiyuk on offense, defensive end Nick Bosa, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Charvarius Ward and safety Talanoa Hufanga on defense, and punter Mitch Wishnowsky on special teams.

Left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) is expected to play but didn’t practice this week, tight end George Kittle (hamstring) will play after sitting out last week and running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles) is back but hasn’t found his All-Pro form.

Say what you will about Purdy’s physical toolbox, but he is No. 1 in NFL history in passer rating, completion percentage and yards per attempt. On the other side of the ball, Bosa, Hargrave and Ward were Pro Bowlers last year, Hufanga is a former All-Pro and Greenlaw was the hero of the 49ers’ playoff win over Green Bay last year.

Typically, the hungry and desperate team wins matchups between relative equals. The 49ers, their playoff hopes on increasingly thin ice, are the desperate team. But with Love facing a beat-up 49ers defense and Green Bay’s defense facing backup quarterback Brandon Allen, there’s no reason on God’s Green Earth for the Packers to lose this game.

Packers 27, 49ers 10

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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.