As is his recent custom, San Francisco 49ers coach Mike
Singletary responded to several postgame questions Sunday by saying
he needed to look at the film.
GREEN BAY, Wis.
As is his recent custom, San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary responded to several postgame questions Sunday by saying he needed to look at the film.
This time, he took it a step further when asked about his secondary. “I have to look at the film,” he said, “to look at what the heck happened.”
What the heck happened is that the Green Bay Packers shook off a slow start and began shaking off 49ers defenders. They pulled away for a 34-16 victory behind quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns.
The 49ers (4-8) aren’t out of the race—at least not in the pudding-soft NFC West. They are two games out with four games to play after St. Louis and Seattle, both 6-6, won Sunday.
If the 49ers lose to Seattle at Candlestick next Sunday, they would be mathematically eliminated from the division race. They would be three games out with three to play, but Seattle would hold the tiebreaker edge by virtue of sweeping the two head-to-head matchups.
If the 49ers are going to seize their playoff hopes, they will have to hold on tighter than they did against the Packers. A sensational catch-and-run by Donald Driver, typified the 49ers’ defensive frustrations. Driver shook off three tackle attempts on his way to a 61-yard touchdown.
He caught the ball just inside in the 40-yard line, where he slipped away from strong safety Reggie Smith, then free safety Dashon Golson. As his final act, Driver bowled over Goldson and cornerback Nate Clements as he crashed into the end zone.
What the heck happened?
“We’ve got to tackle better,” 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown said. “We’ve got to get him down. If he makes a good catch, we’re the last line of defense. So we have to make that tackle.”
To Rodgers, it was a thing of beauty.
“One of the best plays I’ve ever been a part of,” he said. “Donald made one of the most amazing catch-and-runs I’ve ever seen.
“… He was at about the 20 and I was thinking, ‘Go down! Go down! Don’t get drilled.’ Then he broke another tackle.”
Driver, who had 122 receiving yards, made the play of the day despite waking up with a case of food poisoning. (Bad chicken wings, he said.) His long touchdown came on the opening drive of the third quarter and gave the Packers a 21-13 lead.
“All I know is when I caught it, I just started making moves,” Driver said. “Unfortunately, you don’t know what kind of moves you make until you watch the film.”
The play demonstrated why the 49ers wouldn’t be hanging around much longer. Rodgers took control of the game and, with a 135.1 passer rating, registered his fourth consecutive game of at least a 110 rating.
“For them, (the 14-13 halftime score) was a little too close for comfort and they came out slinging the ball,” Singletary said. “Obviously, that was a good call on their behalf.”
Driver’s touchdown set the tone for a second half in which the 49ers’ ballyhooed defense couldn’t stop Green Bay, not even when it mattered most. In the fourth quarter, when the 49ers were desperate to get the ball back down by two scores (31-16), the Packers essentially took the ball and went home.
They held the ball for 17 plays and took 8:35 off the clock. Nose tackle Aubrayo Franklin suffered a groin strain during the third quarter and was replaced by Ricky Jean Francois. So the Packers mostly ran directly through the middle of the 49ers’ defensive line, churning out 74 yards on the game-clinching drive.
Green Bay settled for a Mason Crosby field goal on that drive, making it 34-16, but the damage was done.
“To pretty much impose their will, move the ball when they want to, it’s embarrassing,” said linebacker Takeo Spikes, who was credited with a career-high 17 tackles. “It’s embarrassing.”
The 49ers haven’t won at Lambeau Field since 1990, when they triumphed behind Joe Montana. With Troy Smith at quarterback Sunday, the offense couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain. The 49ers went 3 for 12 on third-down chances and were outgained in yardage 410 to 269.
“Some Sundays, things are clicking and sometimes they aren’t,” said Smith, who was 10 for 25 for 194 yards with one touchdown and one interception. “Green Bay is an incredible team in all phases of the game. I have to give them respect.”
The 49ers have lost eight straight games to the Packers overall.
Playing their first game without running back Frank Gore (fractured hip), the 49ers struggled to finish drives. Their lone touchdown came on Smith’s 66-yard pass to Vernon Davis with 1:26 to play in the second quarter.
The 49ers’ longest play from scrimmage this season had them trailing only 14-13 at halftime.
But the 49ers knew it should have been better, considering their good early field position. In the second quarter, for example, they had a first-and-goal at the 2. But rookie running back Anthony Dixon ran for no gain, Smith took an 8-yard sack, and a third-down play broke down.
So the 49ers settled for Jeff Reed’s second field goal of the day and a 6-0 lead—but against the Packers, the 49ers needed touchdowns. “We just came up a little short in the red zone,” said receiver Michael Crabtree, who had three catches for 45 yards. “We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board.”
The 49ers would have to win the remainder of their games just to match last season’s 8-8 record. Still, linebacker Patrick Willis is hoping a strong finish can get the team to the playoffs for the first time in his career.
“We have four games left and I’m not going to count us out until they tell us we’re done,” he said. “We’ll continue to fight, and I’ll continue to get the guys around me to fight with me.”
— Story by Daniel Brown, San Jose Mercury News
