49ers schedule release: Ranking 5 most challenging games in 2021
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: Week 3 — 49ers vs. Packers (SNF)
Packers record in 2020: 13-3, first place in NFC North
It’s almost by default since any Green Bay Packers team will be a major threat as long as quarterback Aaron Rodgers is actually playing and hasn’t forced himself out of town yet.
But for now, despite all the talk, he’s still going to be there. And perhaps, not unlike last year, he’ll have a fire in his belly to prove Green Bay’s front office just how valuable he is to that franchise.
Yes, the Packers beat the Niners 34-17 on Thursday Night Football last year. But San Francisco was shorthanded, both because of COVID-19 and all those injuries piling up late in the season. The hope is the 49ers will revert back to what happened in 2019 when they demolished Green Bay twice, first in the regular season and then again in the one-sided 37-20 NFC Championship game in a contest where the score made it seem closer than it actually was.
In fact, the Niners have won six out of their last nine contests against the Packers dating back to 2012.
At the same time, though, Green Bay’s 13-3 finish last year along with Rodgers’ MVP campaign is reason enough to worry about this game in a big way.
True, it’ll be San Francisco’s home opener and the first time fans are back in the stadium since that NFC Championship bout two seasons ago. And EDGE Nick Bosa returns, too.
Yet that won’t be enough to prevent the 49ers from circling this as a major hurdle this upcoming season.