The Green Bay Packers are getting closer and closer to another postseason trip. On Sunday, they beat the San Francisco 49ers 38-10 at Lambeau Field, moving to 8-3 in the regular season. If the Packers go .500 the rest of the way, they will finish the season with a comfortable 11-6 record, probably enough to make the playoffs as a wildcard team.

What you would expect

This was the third time over the last six years in which the Packers faced a 49ers backup quarterback. In 2018, CJ Beathard helped the 49ers score 30 and the Packers needed magic from Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams to win 33-30. In 2020, Nick Mullens had no chance, and the Packers won 34-17 — it was 34-3 until garbage time. Can you see the trend? When the team is good, it makes injured teams pay. When it is mediocre, it might even win, but the performance will be, well, mediocre at best.

It wasn’t exactly a perfect performance by the Packers, but it was strong enough to clearly be the better team on the field, to win with a comfortable advantage, and to put themselves in a solid position in the NFC playoff race. There was even enough time to pull out the starters late in the fourth quarter — something particularly important with a short week coming up.

That's what good teams do when they face favorable situations. The Packers might not be a great team at this point, but they are really good. And their ceiling is great. At this point, this is all you can ask for. On Sunday, they delivered.

Offensive efficiency

A healthier Jordan Love is obviously a much better Jordan Love. After the bye week, the quarterback is much closer to his 100% physically, and the level of play shows exactly that. The passing offense suffered a little bit with multiple drops, but it was still a good overall performance.

The biggest example was Christian Watson’s huge drop late in the second quarter, when he could’ve scored an easy touchdown after a perfect throw from Love. The Packers finished that drive without points.

On Sunday, though, the offense was carried by an extremely productive performance from running back Josh Jacobs. He was the driving force of the unit, with both volume and efficiency. Emanuel Wilson also had some efficient runs.

According to Next Gen Stats, Jacobs forced more missed tackles against the 49ers than any other player in the league in any game this season. This was Josh Jacobs' third 100-rushing yard game as a Packer.

It was exactly the game that the Packers have wanted. Good play-by-play results, solid situational efficiency, productive redzone trips. The wide receivers could have certainly been better with their hands, but there's little reason to complain.

Questionable defensive approach, positive results

The Packers have Jeff Hafley, but in some moments it really looked like a Joe Barry-led defense. In the drive the 49ers scored in the first half, the Packers decided to play a really soft zone, allowing Brandon Allen to make several easy completions and gain some confidence. The run defense was stable in the first half, but it suffered early in the second.

Ok, the 49ers still had excellent weapons like George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings. But against a backup quarterback and a depleted offensive line, it’s time to be more aggressive — otherwise, when will you be?

But the Packers were able to do what they have done this season that they weren't with Barry: Generate turnovers. An interception by Xavier McKinney and forced fumbles from Lukas Van Ness on Brandon Allen, and from Keisean Nixon on Christian McCaffrey.

McKinney, by the way, was the brightest spot on the unit. He had a huge pass breakup covering McCaffrey and an interception in the third quarter. 

The Packers also got a solid individual performance linebacker Quay Walker. Outside of a dropped interception, he was highly effective and active.

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