Packers vs. 49ers: Breaking Down Green Bay's Game Plan

The Green Bay Packers travel to take on the San Francisco 49ers in the premier NFL game of Week 1.

These two teams met in the first week last year, and again in the divisional round of the playoffs. The 49ers won the first matchup, 30-22, while the second meeting was a 45-31 trashing of the Packers. 

With San Francisco likely to be one of the best teams in the league again this year, Green Bay will need a specific game plan in order to pick up this victory on the road. Today we'll break down exactly what the Packers need to do in order to go into San Francisco and come away with a season-opening victory.

Run the Football Successfully

The Packers were extremely unsuccessful in getting anything going on the ground in either game against the 49ers last year. As you can see in the chart below, their running backs were rather disappointing in both matchups:

When Aaron Rodgers leads the team in rushing yards, something has gone very wrong. While the 49ers did boast the best run defense in the league last year according to Pro Football Focus (paid subscription), Green Bay is going to need to be able to run the ball successfully.

The key here will be not to abandon the run if it isn't working early in the game. Even if the Packers find themselves down by a touchdown or two, they simply can't go to an all-pass offense. The 49ers simply have too good of a defense, and a one-dimensional offense cannot succeed against them.

If Green Bay can successfully pick up yards on the ground, it'll be able to control the clock and make its offense all the more dangerous.

Keep Rodgers Upright

As obvious as this might sound, keeping Rodgers upright has to be a top priority for Green Bay.

No quarterback was sacked more last year than Rodgers, who was sacked a ridiculous 51 times. With defensive end Justin Smith and outside linebacker Aldon Smith, the 49ers have sophisticated pass-rushers who know how to get after the quarterback.

That means rookie David Bakhtiari, Don Barclay and Evan Dietrich-Smith are going to need to play the best games of their lives in order for Green Bay to have any chance in this game. 

Stop the Read-Option at All Costs

Alex Smith was the quarterback of the 49ers when these two teams met in the first matchup, so the read-option wasn't too big of a problem. However, when Colin Kaepernick got the start in the playoffs, the results were disastrous for Green Bay.

As you can see in the chart above, Kaepernick set an NFL record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in the playoffs. Simply put, the Packers didn't have the personnel to stop Kaepernick and the read-option last year.

However, the addition of defensive end Datone Jones through the draft, along with the development of outside linebacker Nick Perry, should help. However, stopping the 49ers' high-powered offense is going to be a team effort.

Let's take a look at Kaepernick's 56-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that really broke the game open.

As you can see from the picture above, the Packers are playing in their base 3-4 defense.

When the ball is snapped and Kaepernick fakes the handoff, linebackers Erik Walden and Brad Smith and safeties Charles Woodson and Morgan Burnett (off the screen) all go after the running back.  The only player who is left to make a tackle is cornerback Tramon Williams, who is absolutely getting dominated by the wide receiver.

In order for the Packers to slow this down, the entire defense needs to become more disciplined and stick to its run-pass keys once the ball is snapped. As long as it can do that, it should have a good chance at keeping Kaepernick from putting up huge numbers on the ground once again.

If Green Bay can do these three things, it should be able to put up enough points and get enough stops to come out of San Francisco with a Week 1 victory.