Three Takeaways From the 49ers' 34-17 Week 9 Loss to Packers

Thursday Night Football for the San Francisco 49ers was practically a preseason matchup.

Thursday Night Football for the San Francisco 49ers was practically a preseason matchup. 

The Green Bay Packers absolutely destroyed the half-strength 49ers at Levi's Stadium, which was to be expected. Since this game was such a predictable outcome, today's takeaways will be limited to three.

So here are three takeaways from the 49ers' 34-17 Week 9 loss to the Packers.

The game should've been postponed

Aside from Green Bay fans, Thursday Night Football was a complete disaster to watch for everyone. It was just so one-sided and clear as day that a bunch of the 49ers players did not want to be there. Their performance and body language looked as if they were banking on the game being postponed, which it should have been.

There was just hardly anything to learn or to really hold too much against the 49ers. Kyle Shanahan had to operate without any of his usual skill position guys, a backup quarterback and left tackle. The fact the 49ers were only +7 underdogs entering the game is a massive shock. 

They had no business being in this game and the same can be said about the Packers since it is now being revealed by Adam Schefter that the Packers have a player who tested positive for COVID-19. Now everyone on the field from Thursday Night is at risk. 

Great going, NFL.

Richie James Jr. needs more touches

One of my biggest pet peeves with Shanahan is that he his heavily biased with his personnel decisions. He just doesn't give every player a fair shot and he exposed himself against the Packers when wide receiver Richie James Jr. went off for nine catches, 184 yards and a touchdown. James Jr. needs more touches. He definitely deserves to see the field over Trent Taylor and maybe even takeaway some snaps from Kendrick Bourne.

I wrote about it last season prior to the 49ers' acquisition of Emmanuel Sanders that James Jr. needs to be utilized more. He has the talent to succeed under Shanahan with his great speed and smooth route-running. Not to mention that he can be used as a gadget player, which can be pooled together with Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. It can be a three-headed monster that the defense will be second-guessing where the ball is going. Alas, Shanahan will continue to be stubborn and not roll out the best players available. 

Mike McGlinchey's song of the season is "Baby Come Back" by Player

Starting right tackle Mike McGlinchey was one of very few offensive starters left out there for the 49ers. Considering all of the backups and players playing out of position, this was the perfect game for McGlinchey to step up and look good. Well, that didn't happen. In fact, he looked just as average-to-below-average as the rest of the offense. McGlinchey still gave up some pressures and was whiffing badly.

2020 has not been a good year for McGlinchey, even though he couldn't resist going to Twitter to tweet "I'm still here" after one or two decent performances. The best way to describe his season is with the song "Baby Come Back" by Player. He is singing that song to Joe Staley for his leadership and guidance as well as to opposing pass rushers that keep blowing by him or putting him on his behind. "Baby Come Back" to the pass rusher so he can get another rep against them. 

As a matter of fact, this song would work well for the 49ers as a whole. It can work for all of their injured players, Staley, and even DeForest Buckner. Heck, even McGlinchey himself since he hasn't came back to the podium to speak to the media or hasn't tweeted about his performance in the last two weeks. Quite a coincidence I guess.