Aaron Rodgers has plenty of regular-season success vs. 49ers

While the 49ers have repeatedly stymied Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs, he has had a multitude of successful regular-season outings.

There’s probably a good chunk of the San Francisco 49ers fanbase thinking Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ proverbial kryptonite is the red and gold.

To a small extent, this is true. At least when evaluating when the games matter most, the playoffs.

Rodgers has faced the Niners three times in the playoffs, losing each contest, with the first two coming against the former head coach Jim Harbaugh-led squad back in 2013 and 2014 when quarterback Colin Kaepernick was able to steal the media thunder out from under Rodgers.

And, of course, there was the 2020 NFC Championship game when running back Raheem Mostert ran rampant over Green Bay, while San Francisco’s formidable defense sacked Rodgers three times, forced three fumbles and cruised to a 37-20 victory en route to Super Bowl LIV.

But to think the 49ers have “owned” Rodgers, especially including the regular season, would be a false narrative. With both teams squaring off again in Week 3 for a prime-time Sunday Night Football bout at Levi’s Stadium, the future Hall of Famer will look to build upon what’s mostly been a solid history against the team for which he grew up rooting.

Aaron Rodgers has impressive regular-season history vs. 49ers

True, Rodgers has had the luxury of facing off against some awfully bad Niners squads, including the depleted and injury-riddled San Francisco team on Thursday Night Football a year ago.

Overall, in eight regular-season games, Rodgers is 5-3 with only one loss, in 2019, over the last four meetings. You’d have to go back to the 2012 and 2013 seasons for the last time Rodgers lost back-to-back regular-season outings against the 49ers.

During that entire span, Rodgers has put up some impressive numbers against his boyhood squad:

• 65.8 completion percentage
• 2,336 passing yards
• 18 touchdowns against 2 interceptions
• 106.9 passer rating

The only time Rodgers’ passer rating dipped below 90 during a regular-season game was in 2019 when the Niners handed his team a 37-8 drubbing in what essentially turned into a postseason preview.

Still, the overall body of work Rodgers has had in non-playoff games against San Francisco has been impressive.

49ers have one Aaron Rodgers weakness to exploit in Week 3

Based on the simple numbers, Rodgers likely pulls off a Week 3 win over the 49ers, right?

Maybe. We’ll see on that. But if we look at what happened in 2019, there’s a trend worth evaluating.

That year, the Niners sacked Rodgers a whopping five times. But even then, it doesn’t tell the entire story, although the 23 sacks he’s suffered at the hands of San Francisco is second most for any non-NFC North opponent over his career.

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What’s more telling from that game is the fact Rodgers averaged just 3.2 pass yards per attempt, by far the lowest in any game, regular season or playoffs, he’s faced the 49ers. Of all the other games, Rodgers’ pass-attempt average was at least above 6.6 yards, while he had an average of 9-plus yards in four games.

Perhaps it was the combination of the pass rush and a sticky defense that particular outing, not allowing whatever weapons Rodgers had at his disposal to get open.

Sure, it’s cliche to suggest that’s precisely what the Niners need to do to hand Rodgers his fourth regular-season loss to San Francisco in his career (all defenses want to boast a pass rush and sticky defense, correct?).

Yet, by looking at his career numbers, it might be the only way the 49ers pull off a victory this Sunday.