Instant analysis: This Packers win is one worth celebrating

There is always risk in overselling wins early in the season, but what the Green Bay Packers were able to accomplish on Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium is worth celebrating.

Matt LaFleur’s Packers beat a physical, talented and well-coached San Francisco 49ers team in their home opener and on a short week, and they did it without three of the team’s best players while facing mountains of in-game adversity.

All things considered, Sunday night’s 30-28 win might be the best regular-season victory in LaFleur’s tenure as head coach.

The Packers overcame a lot of factors working against them.

LaFleur lost a day of prep by playing the Monday night game but still had to get the Packers ready for a long trip out west to play an unbeaten 49ers team returning home for their first game at Levi’s Stadium in almost a year and their first home game with fans since January of 2020.

Then an injury hit. Already without All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, the Packers were dealt a blow when backup left tackle and Pro Bowl guard Elgton Jenkins couldn’t practice due to an ankle injury and was eventually ruled out on Saturday. Unfazed, LaFleur and the Packers patched together an offensive line featuring an undrafted free agent with zero career starts at left tackle and a second-year left guard and two rookies with a combined zero career starts in true road games.

The Packers didn’t get pushed around at the line of scrimmage on either side of the football. In fact, the battles in the trenches – assumed to be a massive advantage for the 49ers – were at worst a draw and probably a solid win for the visitors. Yosh Nijman, Jon Runyan, Josh Myers and Royce Newman held up just fine as the Packers leaned on the run and the quick passing game on offense, and the defensive front – led by Kenny Clark and Preston Smith – had four sacks and allowed only 67 rushing yards. Keep in mind, the defense was without two-time Pro Bowler Za’Darius Smith for the second straight week.

Joe Barry’s group gave up the late go-ahead touchdown drive, but there were encouraging signs. The defensive line got knockbacks in the run game and pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo was fairly consistent throughout the contest. At least two questionable penalties extended scoring drives. As was the case coming out of Monday night’s second half, there is plenty to build on here as the Packers attempt to next the step on defense.

And what about responding to adversity? Even after the Packers let the 49ers take their first lead of the contest with 37 seconds to go, Aaron Rodgers and the offense struck back in a flash, using a pair of big completions to Davante Adams to set up Mason Crosby’s 51-yard field goal try. The veteran kicker hit it right down the middle as time expired to turn a disheartening 28-27 loss into a galvanizing 30-28 victory.

Without Bakhtiari, Smith and Jenkins, the Packers probably could have been forgiven for a poor performance on the road in a house of horrors against a strong opponent. But instead of folding, the Packers struck first and took the game to the 49ers early – and then responded the right way when momentum inevitably swung back to the home team.

Rodgers said after the game that the way his team played on Sunday night “legitimized” the Packers and helped highlight that Week 1 really was an anomaly. It’s hard to know exactly how much a win on Sept. 27 can really mean for a team over a grueling 17-game schedule, but it’s equally hard to simply dismiss what the Packers accomplished this week as just another game. LaFleur’s team showed true championship mettle. And for a team that has fallen short at the Super Bowl’s doorstep the last two years, anything building towards the ultimate goal is something worth celebrating.

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