Green Bay QB directs late scoring drive; S.F. loses its fourth consecutive game
GREEN BAY, WIS. >> Aaron Rodgers’ fourthquarter comeback ability wrecked what had all the makings of a 49ers upset Monday night.
The 49ers couldn’t hold a second-half lead as Rodgers guided the Packers to a 33-30, walk-off victory at Lambeau Field. Mason Crosby’s 27-yard field goal as time expired capped off the comeback and sent the 49ers (1-5) to their fourth straight defeat.
“It was a fun night, up until that last minute and seven seconds,” tight end George Kittle said.
That’s all it took for the Packers’ winning drive, and it started at their own 10yard line once Kevin King intercepted a C.J. Beathard third-down heave intended for Marquise Goodwin.
The Packers (3-2-1) pulled off the winning drive with several key plays, including one in which a DeForest Buckner third-down sack was nullified by a Richard Sherman illegal-contact penalty. Rodgers followed with a 21-yard scram-
ble to the 45, and a few completions later, he set up Crosby for the winning kick.
“We wanted the offense to go out and finish and we didn’t,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “To give Aaron a chance with the ball like that, he’s done that a lot of times.”
Sherman said the 49ers’ inability to close out the Packers is a reflection of not only their need to mature as a group but also a reflection of Rodgers, who he called “the best quarterback in football.”
“They gave him a shot to win the game and that’s all he needs,” Sherman added.
Rodgers pulled the Packers into a 30-30 tie with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams with 1:55 remaining.
“He found his groove,” linebacker Reuben Foster said of Rodgers. “He’s just a patient guy. When he scrambles, he finds somebody out of the blue. He’s a great visual quarterback.”
“We were very disappointed,” Shanahan said. “We had a chance to win and didn’t get it done. It hurts.”
While Rodgers racked up 425 passing yards (25 of 46, two touchdowns, no interceptions), Beathard was enjoying a bounceback performance after losing his first two starts upon replacing the injured Jimmy Garoppolo.
Beathard finished with a dud, however, as a second-and-3 pass got batted down and his third-down heave resulted in King’s interception at the 10.
Beathard was 16 of 23 for 245 yards with two touchdowns and the lone interception. His scoring strikes both went to Marquise Goodwin for the first two-touchdown game of his six-year career, scoring on 67- and 30-yard passes before halftime.
Running backs Matt Breida (14 carries, 61 yards) and surprise understudy Raheem Mostert (12 carries, 87 yards) had their way with the Packers most of the game, until crunch time in the fourth quarter when they couldn’t milk the clock.
The 49ers defense wilted in the final minutes only after it came through with several stops, including a goal-line stand midway through the fourth quarter. That was capped off when Rodgers’ fourthand-3 pass fell incomplete
from the 49ers’ 4-yard line. Jaquiski Tartt blitzed to hurry Rodgers, whose pass hit a no-look Williams in the back.
FINAL DRIVE >> How in the heck did the 49ers blow a great chance to score the winning points? After all, rookie Richie James’ kickoff return and a late-hit boosted the 49ers’ chances, as they started at their own 47 with 1:49 remaining.
But the 49ers stopped running the ball. They had racked up 174 rushing yards but still opted not to give it to Matt Breida or Raheem Mostert. Instead, they opened with a 7-yard completion to tight end George Kittle.
That set up a secondand-3 situation, and a subsequent pass that got batted down.
“We were moving the ball,” Shanahan said. “The time was lower. We felt good about it. We like it. It just got tipped.”
Then came the grand finale, a third-down pass that Beathard chucked 35 yards for an interception against an all-out blitz.
“It wasn’t ideally what we wanted,” Shanahan said. “They all-out blitzed us. We had to get rid of it. There were four options on the play but that wasn’t the one that we wanted.”
Added Beathard: “It was an all-out blitz. It was something me and ‘Quise had worked on. He just runs by the guy, the (defender) is squatting. It’s a play that if you hit it, it looks great. If you don’t, then it’s not great.”
DEEP STRIKE >> Goodwin delivered an emphatic stop to the Packers’ 17-point scoring spree with his first touchdown, and he returned for a second score before halftime to give the 49ers a 21-20 lead.
Three snaps into the 49ers’ third possession, Goodwin took off deep on a post route. Beathard patiently waited in the pocket and unleashed a pass that Goodwin caught up to at the 25-yard line for a 65yard touchdown reception. That cut the Packers lead to 17-14 in the final minute of the first quarter.
It was Goodwin’s longest catch since his 83yard touchdown reception that keyed the 49ers’ first win last season, a Nov. 12 win over the New York Giants. It was Beathard’s longest completion since an 82-yard catch-and-run by George Kittle two games ago at the Chargers.
Goodwin’s second touchdown came on a 30yard reception 6:05 before halftime. His season has been hindered by leg injuries, starting with a Week 1 thigh bruise at Minnesota and followed by a hamstring issue two games ago at the Los Angeles Chargers. He was inactive last game for the second time this season.
The last 49er with two touchdown catches in a game: Garrett Celek in 2015.
RUNNING MEN >> Breida, questionable because of last game’s left-ankle sprain, showed no hindrance and keyed an impressive rushing output that had the 49ers rack up nearly 200 yards.
What was more surprising was who spelled him: Mostert, a special-teams ace who was a surprise No. 2 rusher instead of Alfred Morris.
Morris was in uniform and watched from the sideline as the 49ers racked up over 100 rushing yards before halftime.
Mostert had five carries for 54 yards in the first half, highlighted by a 26yard run that set up Goodwin’s touchdown catch on the next play. He had 11 carries for 88 yards entering the final four minutes.
Mostert had only 13 carries for 36 yards in his previous 30 career games combined since 2015.
His previous singlegame high: 16 yards, on just one carry last year at Washington.
SACK MEN >> Buckner provided solid pressure once again, and it paid off in the third quarter with a sack. Buckner’s 4 ½ sacks this season are a career high, with 10 games to go. Sheldon Day recorded the 49ers’ first sack of Rodgers, who stepped up in the pocket on third-and-10 before Day tripped him up for a 5-yard loss in the second quarter. FIRST HALF MILESTONES >> The 49ers scored their most first-half points (24) since 2013, when they put up 28 against Jacksonville. Goodwin had the most first-half receiving yards (114) since Vernon Davis tallied 171 in 2013 against Arizona.