It is always a good game when two teams fighting their way back into the playoff picture face each other as last night’s Dolphins-Panthers game showed, and like that game the winner of the Niners-Packers game will have a much better looking future than the looser. The Packers are fighting for a wildcard spot in the NFC as the Vikings are far out of striking distance for a team with a 5-4 record. Unfortunately for the Packers though they are tied for a wildcard spot with three other teams that have 5-4 records, seeing as it would be unlikely for all of those teams to loose this weekend they will loose precious ground with a loss to the Niners, ground they can’t afford to loose after that loss to Tampa Bay.

The Niners, on the other hand, would most likely end the week three games back from Arizona for the division if they loose seeing as Arizona is playing the Rams this Sunday so will most likely improve to 7-3. However, if the Niners beat the Packers to get to 5-5 and beat the Cardinals at Candlestick for the season sweep they will have a decent chance of winning the division as they would have the advantage in a tie breaker.

For this season-swinging match up the Niners game plan has to be pretty simple, get at Aaron Rodgers. If Rodgers has time to distribute the ball the Packers offense is as potent as any in the league, but that is a mighty big “if” for a team that leads the league in sacks allowed. If the Niners can disrupt the passing game of the Packers while continuing their superb run defense to keep their offense off of the field then they can force the Packers older secondary to try and keep up with a young receiving corps for 60 minutes, something they may have trouble doing late in the game.

Where the Niners get pressure on the quarterback from may need to change a bit this game though as it is fairly obvious that pressure from the Niner’s defense comes from Justin Smith and Aubrayo Franklin and I am sure the Packers will scheme to keep a tail back in the back field to help block those two. But with the Packers lack of healthy at the tackle position this is a great opportunity for Isaac Sopoaga and Kentwan Balmer to show the Niners why they don’t need to draft a replacement for them. Between them Sopoaga is the only one with a sack on the season and unfortunately I do mean “a sack” not “sacks.” That being said if neither of them can get pressure on tackles that are second string on a team that is having this much trouble protecting the quarterback then the Niners might need to look at what they want to do with the left side of their defensive line for the future.

As for the Niner offense they need to spend as much time on the field as they can, not just to keep Green Bay’s explosive offense off the field but to hopefully tier out the Packers relatively older cornerbacks and then force their safeties out of the box. One way to accomplish this is to force the corner backs to play the whole field by having some of the faster receivers, such as Jason Hill and Josh Morgan, run deep routes on them. Considering the age difference alone that should eventually open up shots down field and as soon as the Niners start completing the intermediate to deep passes it will force the Packers safeties, who aren’t know for their coverage skills, into the secondary and open up the run game for Frank Gore to eat up the clock.

The match up that I expect offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye to focus on this week is Vernon Davis against Packers linebackers and afore mentioned safeties. This is not a group of natural 3-4 inside linemen that the Packers are using so they have struggled in their pass defense this season as they have had more responsibility in coverage than they did in the 4-3 scheme they ran in previous years. On top of that, none of the Packers linebackers can match Vernon Davis’ athleticism and size. Nick Barnett and A.J. Hawk give up about 3-inches in height and .3 seconds on their 40 time to Davis. Combine that with the fact that Alex Smith’s success in deep passes has come almost exclusively to Vernon Davis in the seam and that adds up to a very potent weapon for Raye and this offense.

Let’s not forget about how good of a team the Packers can be though. They are still loaded with talent on both sides of the ball and still have one of the better home field advantages in the league, especially as it gets colder. To win this game the Niners are going to need to find out how the Packers defense was so dominant against the Cowboys last week and find a way to get first downs, if the Niners can get first downs and keep themselves out of third and long situations they can help take the passionate Green Bay crowd out of the game.

This is going to be a very tough but winnable game for the Niners, they don’t need to play that much better than they did last week to win. The defense is starting to look solid again and a little more consistent down-to-down than they had in the games against the Titans, Texans, and the Falcons. The key will be if the Niner offense can stay on the field and put up some points, a bit of an “if” considering the offense has once again been slowing down just as it did in Shaun Hill’s last couple of starts. If the offense doesn’t start to turn it around, however, then it may be time for Singletary to put his money where his mouth is in regards to his praise for Nate Davis, if Davis has a chance to be the clubs future then they will need to see what they have in him either this year or early next year because if he isn’t the future then the Niners will need to find one.