Aaron Rodgers: These were not the same 49ers

The Green Bay Packers rolled to victory 34-17 against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on Thursday night. The Packers got ahead 34-3 before the 49ers scored a few times to make the end score look respectable.

But the Niners’ rough performance was understandable given the context of all their injuries. George Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo are on injured reserve. Kyle Juszczyk, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and Raheem Mostert are some of their other players who did not play. Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas have been on IR since early in the season.

Aaron Rodgers recognized the challenges facing the 49ers.

“They’re obviously depleted on both sides of the ball,” Rodgers said in a postgame interview with Erin Andrews. “They’ve had probably one of the worst injury years I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not the same football team that we saw twice last year, but they still have possibly the best middle linebacker in the game and a lot of pride.”

Just because San Francisco is in a tough spot doesn’t mean Rodgers was about to take it easy on them. Rodgers went 25/31 for 305 yards and four touchdowns. Green Bay is now 6-2, and Rodgers is putting together yet another MVP-quality season. The Niners have been doing their best to hang on but are now 4-5.