San Francisco 49ers: Previewing the Green Bay Packers
Oh boy.
San Francisco 49ers faithful are already being put to the test this year, as the team has been absolutely crushed in back-to-back outings in confidence shaking ways the likes of Meek Mill hasn’t even witnessed.
Coming off a game at Heinz Field against the Steelers that was disappointing to say the least, the 49ers had to stay out on the road and try to bounce back against a fierce Arizona Cardinals’ defense and a surging offense led by Carson Palmer.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch the game and have it sitting on the DVR, you probably don’t want to watch it.
Why? The first two drives read something like this:
- Drive 1: 3 plays, -1 yard, holding penalty, Colin Kaepernick pick-six.
- Drive 2: 4 plays, 11 yards (10 on one play), Colin Kaepernick pick-six.
I’ll skip the rest of the game, and hope you will too.
It was an utter collapse on nearly all fronts, with questionable decisions from Kaepernick, the offensive line, the coaching staff and their play-callers, and the secondary.
While I’m not going to be one of the increasing number of people yelling at the 49ers via Twitter to start Blaine Gabbert, it can certainly be agreed upon that Kaepernick is regressing fast.
After showing a lot of promise in Alex Smith‘s absence in 2012, the 49ers, and a lot of fans, decided they would be better served moving on from Alex Smith and going with Kaepernick full-time.
Since then, Kaepernick has spent the last two seasons causing the fans and coaching staff to scratch their heads as to what happened with the budding star’s performance.
While no one can be quite sure, coach Jim Tomsula has publicly defended his four-interception QB this week, saying he is still the starter going forward.
Getting back to the issue at hand, the Packers. The 49ers are home for the first time since their Monday night black-out at the ‘Big Bell-bottom’ (as Chris Berman so painfully insisted on throughout the game), and will be looking for a huge win to get back to .500 and start fresh before another big road trip to New York.
However, this is far from a soft game, as the Green Bay Packers, hot off their Monday night dismantling of the Kansas City Chiefs, are still undefeated and certainly don’t plan on losing to a team suddenly at the bottom of the league. Former Cal Bears’ standout Aaron Rodgers is on fire as of late, throwing five touchdown passes this week against a decent Chiefs’ defense.
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Rodgers always comes back to the Bay looking to prove himself, after growing up in Northern California, and having been passed on by the 49ers in the 2005 NFL Draft. Imagine if the 49ers had chosen Rodgers over the likes of Alex Smith in the draft? Talk about one choice that could have completely altered the current landscape of the league. Fun fact, the 49ers third-round pick that year was a running back from Miami by the name of Frank Gore.
Although the previous few paragraphs were dedicated to one player, the Packers do indeed have other big-time players that the 49ers will have to watch out for.
Star receiver Jordy Nelson was one of the NFL’s several key losses to injury in the preseason this year, (which lends itself to another whole debate pundits have gotten into), but the 49ers’ secondary is still in for a tough time. Rodgers is to 2015 as Drew Brees was to 2010. In other words, Rodgers spreads the ball around and thus far has completed passes to four different receivers, two tight ends, and two running backs.
If you think this is frustrating for your fantasy team, imagine trying to be a defender playing zone defense, having to be prepared for just about anyone to spread out wide or go deep at any moment. Now maybe some slack can be cut for the 49ers giving up 90 points over the last two weeks?
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Not really. 90 points in just two games is never going to put your team in a position to win. Even if Kaepernick can get his mojo back (or find it in the first place), this week is still going to be one of the hardest games outside of Seattle all year.
If the 49ers hope to get even at 2-2, they will need to establish Carlos Hyde and the run game early and often. If Kaepernick is forced to throw all game, even 25 or more times, look for a Green Bay secondary to jump all over him.
By all means, be confident. Be excited to root on your team. Don’t let the bandwagon fans come back after they leave.
In other words, this won’t be the 2013 Divisional Playoff game with Kaepernick running for 180 yards, or the 2014 season opener with Kaepernick throwing for 400 yards.
This week may just be painful to watch.
If the 49ers pull off what would be quite the upset, by all means, call me out on my predictions.
As 49ers’ fans, let’s hope it’s wrong.
38. 49. Final. 10. 42