Packers' cathartic victory over 49ers began back in March

Green Bay knocked off the 49ers in a de facto playoff game, perhaps closing the door on their Super Bowl window for good.

Good morning!

After weeks of waiting for a dominating performance, the Green Bay Packers finally found their rhythm against the reigning NFC champions, the San Francisco 49ers. While the game meant plenty to both teams, the Niners needed a victory in the worst way to avoid falling to the bottom of their division and far removed from the playoff conversation. Accordingly, the Packers' 38-10 victory nearly guarantees that they won't have to see San Francisco again this season.

Today's edition of The Leap explains how the Packers' win has roots dating back to the offseason and looks at the quick turnaround the team has to make before a Thanksgiving tilt with the Miami Dolphins.

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The quiet star of the Packers' win was their general manager

Jason B. Hirschhorn: The players on the field and the coaches working along the sidelines and up in the box deserve the lion's share of the credit for Green Bay's dominating victory over San Francisco. They will always have the most direct impact on the team's success or failure and, outside of a few isolated moments, they delivered on Sunday.

The 49ers have vexed the Packers for some time. Sure, Green Bay has notched some wins over Kyle Shanahan's crew, but the most important games went San Francisco's way: the NFC Championship Game during Matt LaFleur's first season as a head coach, the final playoff game of the Aaron Rodgers era, and last season's divisional-round tilt.

Given that background, the 49ers had grown into arguably the chief adversary for LaFleur's Packers. No opponent has cost Green Bay more in the biggest moments of late, and that history framed the entire lead-up to last night's game.

Accordingly, when the Packers fired the 49ers' Super Bowl aspirations into the sun courtesy of a 38-10 curb stomping, the moment undoubtedly felt cathartic for the members of Green Bay's organization who had lived through those dark moments. Given the roster uncertainty San Francisco faces this offseason -- Brock Purdy's contract, Trent Williams' potential retirement, Deebo Samuel becoming a possible cap casualty -- Sunday might well have closed the team's championship window.

One of those people, general manager Brian Gutekunst, didn't play a snap or call a play Sunday, but he made the victory possible.

In the recent past, the Packers had a major hole at the safety positions. They also had a run game that, while effective when Aaron Jones could play, too often had to operate without the star ball carrier.

Gutekunst responded this offseason by making a series of sweeping decisions. On defense, he signed Xavier McKinney to one of the largest contracts at his position. On the other side of the ball, Gutekunst made the unpopular decision to cut Jones in order to make room for Josh Jacobs, a veteran running back coming off his worst season.

McKinney and Jacobs carried the team through most of Sunday's game. The former hauled in his seventh interception of the season, the most by any Green Bay defender since Charles Woodson had that many in 2011 as the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Jacobs rushed for over 100 yards and three touchdowns, bringing his season totals to 944 and seven, respectively. Beyond the raw numbers, each had game-changing plays -- McKinney's fourth-down pass breakup chief among them -- that swung the contest in the Packers' favor.

More to the point, the arrival of McKinney and Jacobs has reshaped Green Bay. Opposing offenses now fear attacking vertically because the risk of a turnover has skyrocketed. Similarly, opposing defenses must now respect the Packers' ground game on a down-to-down basis in a way they didn't always have to in the past. Both of those dynamics have made life easier for the rest of McKinney and Jacobs' respective units.

And this version of the club only exists because Gutekunst constructed the roster this way -- along with other moves that deserve acclaim as well -- starting in early March and continuing into the spring.

Short turnaround will challenge Packers more than usual

JBH: The Packers benefited from the good fortune of playing the 49ers without Nick Bosa, Brock Purdy, and Trent Williams in Week 12. Four days later, Green Bay might find itself in a very similar situation when the Dolphins come to town.

Already, the Packers face the prospect of defending Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle without top cornerback Jaire Alexander who missed all of this past week while nursing a knee injury. Rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, the team's flashiest playmaker at the second level, also couldn't suit up for Sunday due to hamstring issues. Green Bay could realistically face another opponent without either on the field.

And the Packers absorbed another significant blow when wide receiver Romeo Doubs departed Week 12 with a concussion.

"That's unfortunate because I thought Rome was really having himself a really great game," LaFleur said during his postgame press conference. "He came out, made some critical plays. That third down and long was pretty special where he almost got out the back side. He is very, very consistent. If we don't have him, that's a big loss."

The Packers have the depth to handle some of those potential absences, but they will have a much more difficult time accounting for all of them at once against a capable opponent like Miami. The Dolphins have the receiving corps to take advantage of a secondary without Alexander and the speed and eye candy at running back to expose the linebackers who lack Cooper's athleticism. And for all the explosiveness offered by Jayden Reed and Christian Watson, Doubs' reliability over the middle remains a focus for Jordan Love.

The Packers will still enter the game as favorites, but that doesn't mean the margin for error doesn't shrink considerably if at least some of those injured players don't return in time for Thursday.

Parting shot

JBH: Less separates the Packers from the other top NFC teams than you probably realize: