49ers Vs. Packers: A Prospector's Guide

For those that are new since late last season, every week during the regular season (and I suppose now the playoffs!), I ran a post last year called 49ers Vs. Team: Random Stats. Previously that had been known as "A Prospector's Guide." The latter is a little cheesy I suppose, but one can never have enough cheesy things in their life, so I decided to switch back to that. Nobody really got the joke of Random Stats sounding like "Random Task" from Austin Powers, so the joke's dead I suppose.

The 49ers send out a game release each week, which includes 300+ pages of content each week. While there is plenty we already know, there is often some random tidbits that are interesting to read. So, every Wednesday morning (for Sunday games), I'll have the Prospector's Guide for you to check out during your first coffee of the day. It opens with a brief description of the game courtesy of the release, followed by connections between the two teams, series highlights and a rundown of the year-to-date basic stats comparison. For this first game it will look at last year's stats.

The San Francisco 49ers open the 2012 regular season on the road against the Green Bay Packers. This marks the 62nd game between the two clubs, but the second on opening weekend. In 1976, the 49ers defeated Green Bay 26-14 at Lambeau Field, in their only other opening day match up.

In the franchise's 62-year history, San Francisco has posted a 32-29-1 record on opening day, including wins in two of the last three seasons.

The 49ers are led on defense by Defensive Player of the Year candidates DT Justin Smith and LB Patrick Willis. On the other side of the ball, QB Alex Smith, RB Frank Gore and TE Vernon Davis lead an offense looking to build on last season's momentum.

COACHING CONNECTIONS

• 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, tight ends coach Reggie Davis, and assistant secondary coach Greg Jackson were teammates with Packers secondary/safeties coach Darren Perry on the San Diego Chargers in 1999. 49ers quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst was the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach on the Chargers staff that season as well.

• 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has been on various staffs with Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers starting with the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars (USFL) from 1984-85 and again with the New Orleans Saints from 1986-91. Fangio then served as the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers while Capers was the head coach from 1995-98. Capers had Fangio as his defensive coordinator again with the Houston Texans from 2002-05.

• Fangio coached Packers linebacker coach Kevin Greene in Carolina in 1996 and again in 1998.

• 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman was with Capers and the Panthers in three different capacities; defensive quality control/ strength & conditioning assistant in 1995, defensive assistant in 1996, and offensive quality control coach in 1997-98. Roman re- united with Capers in Houston as the tight ends coach in 2002-03 and quarterbacks coach in 2004-05.

• 49ers assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Brad Seely was the special teams coach under Capers and the Panthers from 1995-98. Seely was also the special teams coach with the New Eng- land Patriots in 2008 while Capers served as New England's special assistant/secondary coach.

• 49ers secondary coach Ed Donatell was on the Green Bay staff with Packers wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett from 2001-03.

49ERS-GREEN BAY AREA CONNECTIONS

• 49ers secondary coach Ed Donatell served as the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers from 200-03.
• 49ers quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst is from Madison, WI and coached the quarterbacks at Wisconsin - Platteville staff in 1987 and was a graduate assistant at the University of Wisconsin staff in 1988.

PACKERS-NOR CAL CONNECTIONS

• Head coach Mike McCarthy was the 49ers offensive coordinator in 2005.
• Defensive coordinator Dom Capers coached the defensive backs at San Jose State in 1977 and the University of California from 1978-79.
• Outside linebackers coach Kevin Greene played for the 49ers in 1997.
• Quarterbacks coach Ben McAdoo was the assistant offensive line/quality control coach in 2005 for the 49ers.
• Secondary/safeties coach Darren Perry coached the defensive backs for the Raiders from 2007-08.
• QB Aaron Rodgers is from Chico, CA and attended the University of California.
• WR James Jones is from San Jose, CA and attended San Jose State.

COLLEGIATE CONNECTIONS

• BUCKEYE BROTHERS - 49ers S Donte Whitner (2003-05), WR Ted Ginn Jr. (2004-06) and G/T Alex Boone (2005-08) played with Packers LB A.J. Hawk (2002-05) at Ohio State.
• LONGHORN LINEAGE - 49ers CB Tarell Brown and Packers RB Cedric Benson played together for two seasons at Texas from 2003-04. Brown was also a Longhorn with Packers TE Jermichael Finley from 2005-06.
• RED RAIDERS - 49ers WR Michael Crabtree and Packers QB Graham Harrell were teammates at Texas Tech from 2007-08.

Series Highlights
Matchups: 61
Series Record: Packers lead series 34-26-1
49ers Away Record vs. Packers: Packers lead series 23-10
First Meeting: 11/26/50, Packers win 25-21, at GB
Last Meeting: 12/5/10, Packers win 34-16, at GB
Current Streak: Lost 8
Longest 49ers Win Streak: 7 (12/10/50 - 12/5/54)
Longest Packers Win Streak: 8 (10/14/96 - Present)
Most 49ers Points: 48 - 2 times (Last 12/7/58), 48-21, at SF
Most Packers Points: 41 (10/23/60), 41-14, at GB
49ers Shutouts: 1 (12/5/54), 49ers win 35-0, at SF
Packers Shutouts: 2, Last 11/19/67, Packers win 13-0, at GB

2011 Statistics