The 49ers had no business trying to beat the Packers in Week 12, which reveals a tough fact the Niners have to accept.
The Week 12 installment of the San Francisco 49ers looked far more like a team in contention for a top-five pick in the following year's NFL Draft than a team gunning for a postseason berth.
At 5-6, after suffering a lopsided and playoff chance-debilitating 38-10 road loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Niners look as if next year would be the focal point.
Not 2024.
Granted, head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad was beset by key injuries for this particular showdown. Quarterback Brock Purdy (shoulder), defensive end Nick Bosa (hip/oblique) and left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) were all unavailable, putting No. 2 signal-caller Brandon Allen in the game under center after not starting a game since 2021 when he was with the Cincinnati Bengals.
That said, those players' respective absences can't explain all the woes San Francisco displayed throughout all four quarters at Lambeau Field.
And the hard fact to swallow is this: The 49ers simply are not a good team this year and have little business keeping pace with top postseason contenders.
To quote Fox Sports' broadcaster Tom Brady during the game, "Bad football from the 49ers."
49ers' run defense was wholly terrible
Packers running back Josh Jacobs rumbled for a whopping 58 yards on 10 carries on Green Bay's first two possessions alone, finishing with 106 yards and an average of 4.1 yards per attempt.
Oh, and three touchdowns, too. There weren't any answers defending him.
Not having Bosa hurt matters, yes. But a shoddy run defense seemed to get even shoddier, and 20-plus missed tackles only highlight the roster-wide woes the 49ers are dealing with on that side of the ball.
49ers' stars can't carry the weight
Allen needed his offensive superstars to shoulder the load in support. Aside from a touchdown grab by tight end George Kittle, the bulk of San Francisco's star power on that side of the ball stayed quiet.
Running back Christian McCaffrey managed a mere 31 rush yards and lost a brutal fumble in the fourth quarter, while wide receiver Deebo Samuel was held to a mere 21 yards on one catch, even letting one would-be catch slip through his hands and into the waiting arms of Packers defensive back Xavier McKinney:
X gets INT No. 7!#SFvsGB pic.twitter.com/5j2XKwEZ83
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 24, 2024
On the defensive side of the ball, a sans-Bosa crop couldn't deliver that critical momentum-shifting play to complement the 49ers offense.
Bad teams (like the 49ers) help beat themselves
If one accepts the Niners as an inferior team, at least with so much firepower injured, the only legitimate way to beat a playoff contender like the Packers would be to play nearly mistake-free football.
Well, that didn't happen. At all.
In addition to the missed tackles, which have been a yearlong problem, San Francisco committed a whopping nine penalties for 77 yards. Three of them were uncharacteristic by rookie right guard Dominick Puni, who had been flagged just once on the season entering Week 12.
However, other penalties were inexplicable, including back-to-back 12-men-on-the-field calls against the 49ers defense that led directly to a Green Bay score.
Seriously, those are the kinds of instances uncommon at a high-school football game, not from a supposed Super Bowl contender.
Yet, here we are. And it reinforces the hard fact that the Niners are no longer a postseason contender and instead have to be ranked a shade above the bottom-feeding squads across the league.