49ers vs. Packers: 3 ways San Francisco stops Aaron Rodgers

The 49ers would be wise to look back at 2019 to see the blueprint of stopping Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, which they’ll have to do this Sunday.

There’s one key highlight point for the San Francisco 49ers in contrast to the two quarterbacks they’ve faced thus far in 2021, the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts.

Neither is Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Not even close.

In what’ll effectively be the Niners’ biggest test of the young season to date, it would help if defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans and Co. look back to the kind of success his team had against Rodgers in 2019, both during the regular season and in the NFC Championship game.

San Francisco won both matchups in a decisive fashion, in case you forgot, and Rodgers played a minimal role in whatever offense Green Bay was allowed to muster.

But that was two seasons ago. This is now. And the 49ers already have big question marks ahead of them, particularly at cornerback where rookie Deommodore Lenoir has become a de facto No. 1 option, not by choice. Same at running back, too, where now-injured Raheem Mostert is out for the year with a knee injury and not too long after fans recall him running rampant over the Packers in the NFC Championship. Maintaining control of the clock with the ground game might not be as big an option for the Niners as it was in January of 2020.

Hence, Rodgers will see the field quite a bit this weekend in a prime-time Sunday Night Football showdown, but the Niners can still deploy a quality game plan to stop him.

Here’s how.