Packers’ defense is offensive

By JERRY TAPP

Here are some of the numbers that helped define the Packers 37-20 road playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, January 19.

• Well, the Packers ended the 2019 season going 14-0 when they kept their opponents under 24 points in a game; they were 0-4 when the opposition scored 25 or more points.
• Green Bay finished the 2019 campaign 14-4 (regular season and playoffs). Three of their four losses were road games in California… two to San Francisco, one to the L.A. Chargers. The 2020 regular season has only one trip to California for the Pack: they travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers in 2020!
• The Packers have now lost four of their last five NFC Championship Game contests. The 17-point defeat this year to the 49ers was the second largest margin of defeat for the team in an NFC/NFL title game. They lost by 23 points to the Atlanta Falcons in the 2016 (season) NFC title contest.
• Green Bay has now lost five of their last seven road playoff games. The Pack is 9-14 (.391) in road playoff games in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).
• Green Bay is 2-6 vs. the Niners in their last eight matchups (regular season and playoffs).
• The score at the end of the first quarter was San Francisco 7, Green Bay 0. Since 2000, the Packers are 4-7 in playoff games when they do not score in the first quarter.
• Green Bay was behind 27-0 at halftime. They are 2-48 in their history when they are behind by 20 points or more at halftime in a game.
• The Packers allowed three sacks of Aaron Rodgers. The team is 8-10-1 (.447) over the past two seasons (all games) when they allow three or more sacks in a game.
• Aaron Rodgers threw a pair of interceptions. Green Bay is 8-10 (regular season and playoffs) in games when Rodgers has two or more interceptions. The Packers are 2-7 in playoff games when Rodgers has one or more interception.
• Green Bay did not have a takeaway in the game. They are 16-41 (.281) since 2000 in games where they did not have a takeaway. In their last 19 games where they did not have a takeaway (regular season and playoffs) the Packers have only won two of those games.
• The Packers ended the season 12-0 in games when they had at least one takeaway… they were 2-4 in 2019 in games when they did not get a takeaway.
• With a pair of TDs in the game, Aaron Jones set the Packers all-time record for most TDs in a single season (regular season and playoffs) with 23. It was the 18^th time in NFL history that a player had 23 or more TDs in a season (regular season and playoffs). The last player to do it before Jones was in 2018 when the Rams’ Todd Gurley had 23 TDs. LaDainian Tomlinson holds the NFL record with 33 total touchdowns in the 2006 season.
• Forty-Niners running back Raheem Mostert had four touchdowns in the game. He became only the third player to score four or more TDs against the Packers in a game. The others: Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams in 2008 and the Bears’ Bobby Douglass in 1973.
• Mostert had 220 yards rushing in the game on 29 carries. The 220 yards rushing is the third highest in a game against the Packers. Tommy Wilson (Rams) had 223 yards rushing in a game against the Pack on 12-16-1956 and the Rams Tommy Bell had 221 yards rushing in a 9-24-1989 contest against Green Bay.
• San Francisco finished the game with 285 yards rushing. The Packers are 1-37 in their history when a team gains 250 or more yards rushing (regular season and playoffs). The only game they won when the opponents rushed for 250+ yards was in 1965 against the Vikings; they had 251 yards rushing in that game, won by the Packers, 24-19.
• Davante Adams had nine receptions for 138 yards. He now has 20 games in his career (regular season and playoffs) with 100 or more yards receiving. That places him seventh on the all-time Packers list; James Lofton tops the list with 33 100-yard receiving games. Adams now holds the Packers record with four playoff games with 100 or more yards receiving.
• Rookie Jace Sternberger (pictured above) caught a touchdown pass from Rodgers in the game. It was not only his first NFL TD, but also his first NFL reception.
• Rodgers had a pair of TD passes and set the team record for most playoff TD passes with 40, passing Brett Favre who had 39 with the team. His 40 playoff TD passes ties him with Peyton manning for fourth on the all-time list. Tom Brady tops the list with 73 followed by Joe Montana with 45 and Brett Favre with 44 (Favre had five career playoff TD passes with the Vikings in addition to his 39 with the Packers).
• Rodgers ended the game 31-for-39 (79.5%) passing for 326 yards and a 97.2 Passer Rating. The 79.5 completion percentage was the second highest in a playoff game in his career (it is the 10^th highest completion percentage in any game of his career, regular season or playoffs). The Packers are now 7-1 in playoff games when Rodgers has a Passer Rating of 100 or better… they are now 3-7 in playoff games when his Passer rating is below 100.
• Green Bay had only 62 yards rushing in the contest. For the season, the team was 10-1 in games when they had 100 or more yards rushing; 4-3 in games when they had less than 100 yards on the ground.
• The Packers did not lose back-to-back games in 2019. The last time they went an entire regular season without losing back-to-back games was in 2014. They finished that year 13-5 and lost to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.