49ers improve to 10-1 after throttling Packers 37-8 on Sunday Night Football

So much for the increasingly obsolete narrative the San Francisco 49ers "haven't played anybody" in 2019.

The Niners now find themselves 10-1 after knocking off the now-8-3 Green Bay Packers 37-8 in front of a national audience on Sunday Night Football, ensuring they'd stay atop the NFC playoff picture as the No. 1 seed and doing so in dominant fashion.

San Francisco got off to arguably the best start possible on its first defensive stand, as linebacker Fred Warner sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and forced a fumble in the process. EDGE Nick Bosa, who finished the night with his eighth sack of the year later in the game, scooped it up and returned it to the Packers 2-yard line, which led to running back Tevin Coleman getting a 2-yard rushing touchdown the following play:

That was one of two touchdowns the 49ers would score in a completely one-sided first half. The other, a 42-yard catch-and-run touchdown from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to wide receiver Deebo Samuel, was a thing of beauty:

The Niners found themselves up 23-0 over the first half, which included Rodgers taking three sacks. In total, Rodgers would be sacked five times while going 20-of-33 for 104 yards, one touchdown against zero interceptions for a 75.8 passer rating. Garoppolo, meanwhile, was 14-of-20 for 253 yards, two touchdowns with zero interceptions and a passer rating of 145.8.

The Packers managed to answer back in the third quarter, getting a touchdown pass from Rodgers to wide receiver Davante Adams following a couple of 49ers defensive penalties. The score, paired with a successful two-point conversion, made it 23-8 in favor of San Francisco.

All Garoppolo and the 49ers needed to respond back from the Packers score, however, was two plays and a 61-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Kittle to make it 30-8:

Rodgers and the Packers tried to respond the following drive, which was aided by a couple of questionable defensive penalties against San Francisco. One gave Green Bay a fresh set of downs after a failed 4th-and-10 try, but another fourth-down attempt resulted in a combined sack by defensive tackle Arik Armstead and safety Jaquiski Tartt.

Armstead recorded two sacks on the night, giving him 10 on the season and making him the first Niners defender to reach that point this season.

After the sack, the 49ers managed to chew up a huge chunk of clock late in the fourth quarter, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown run by Raheem Mostert to put the proverbial "dagger" in Green Bay's chances and to make it 37-8.

That score convinced the Packers to sit Rodgers in favor of backup quarterback, Tim Boyle, for the rest of the game. And both teams seemed content to run out the clock from that point onward.

San Francisco will face two exceptionally tough challenges in coming weeks, starting off with a Week 13 road contest against the 9-2 Baltimore Ravens before visiting the also-9-2 New Orleans Saints the following week.

But if these three games are the toughest part of the Niners' 2019 season, beating the Packers in dominant fashion sure bodes well.

• Written by:
  Peter Panacy
  Peter Panacy has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like Bleacher Report, Niner Noise, 49ers Webzone, and is occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM The Game and the Niners' flagship station, KNBR 680. Feel free to follow him, or direct any inquiries to his Twitter account.
  All articles by Peter Panacy
  @PeterPanacy

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