For the first time since 1990 the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on top of that quarterback Alex Smith set a franchise record for passes thrown without an interception thrown with 185 which broke Steve Young‘s record and David Akers at the end of the first half tied a NFL record with a 63-yard field goal.
In the first half offensively the wide receivers got involved early and often. Michael Crabtree had five catches for 53 yards, Randy Moss had three catches for 45 yards and a touchdown and Mario Manningham caught three passes for 24 yards. Combined the trio caught 11 passes, gained 122 yards and had a touchdown.
As for the running game Frank Gore had eight carries for 33 yards and Kendall Hunter added four carries for 17 yards. At thehalf the two combined for 12 carries and 50 yards.
Akers added three field goals of his own one from 40, 43 and 63.
Meanwhile the only points for the Packers at half time came on a touchdown pass to Jermichael Finley. At that point it was a 16-7 lead.
In the second half the offense changed strategy and went more to the run and Gore had some nice runs including a 23 yard touchdown run right after Navorro Bowman picked off a pass by Rodgers. He also had a 16 yard run and a 21 yard run as well and finished the game with 16 carries for 112 yards and the touchdown.
Hunter nearly scored a touchdown on the ground himself, yet did not keep his feet in bounds before being knocked out-of-bounds. After a penalty and a short completion to Moss, Vernon Davis made an outstanding catch between two defenders for a four yard touchdown catch. On that particular scoring drive the 49ers offense had three plays of over 20 yards which includes a catch by Davis, a catch by Crabtree and a run by Gore.
On the day for Smith he completed 20 of 26 passes to go along with two touchdown passes.
The 49ers defense held the vaunted Packers offense to 14 points and 45 yards rushing. Aaron Rodgers had a very good game throwing the football as he went 30-44 for 303 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Yet, the biggest play that got the momentum turned in their favor came on a special teams play.
Randall Cobb returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown and instead of a pat tacked on a successful two point conversion. There was a flag on the play for an illegal block in the back and after a conference the flag got picked up even after replays showed that Terrell Manning did indeed push Anthony Dixon from behind.
After the 49ers went three and out there was an opportunity to tie the game up for the Packers and that was when Bowman made the biggest play of the game as he intercepted a pass for the only turnover of the game.
There was one last chance for the Packers to tie the game up with just over four minutes left. Ahmad Brooks came up with a big sack and cornerback Chris Culliver made an outstanding play defending wide receiver Jordy Nelson one-on-one.
Greg Jennings had a quiet game with five receptions for 34 yards.
This win is a great start to the season for the 49ers and next week the team will take on the Detroit Lions in Detroit.
