Brock Purdy made the trip to Green Bay when the San Francisco 49ers visited the Packers on Sunday afternoon. Although he was wearing street clothes, the star quarterback was dealing with a shoulder injury.

EDGE rusher Nick Bosa joined left tackle Trent Williams in also being sidelined for this all-important NFC matchup. Meanwhile, Pro Bowl cornerback Charvarius Ward missed his third straight game as he continues to mourn the death of his child.

These were the key backdrops as the 5-5 49ers faced a must-win game against Green Bay.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. knew they would have to deal with it. Green Bay started this game on a high note with a 7-3 record. It was a near-touchdown favorite against the reigning NFC champions. Jordan Love and Co. also wanted revenge after losing to San Francisco in the playoffs last season.

From almost the beginning, Green Bay was the much better team. It dominated the first quarter and took a 10-0 lead after 15 minutes. In that first quarter, the Packers racked up 87 rushing yards, while the 49ers offense had three plays. Their defense also missed a whopping 10 tackles in the opening stanza.

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Relying on veteran journeyman Brandon Allen under center, the 49ers were able to make a game of it for a while. Allen connected with George Kittle on a touchdown in the second quarter to make it 17-7. San Francisco also drove in the third quarter in an attempt to make it a one-score game.

At that point, Deebo Samuel dropped a perfect pass from Allen, leading to an interception by Packers safety Xavier McKinney. This was pretty much all she wrote as the 49ers fell 38-10. Here are some takeaways from the 49ers’ latest loss.

Missed tackles plague San Francisco 49ers

All told, the 49ers missed 15 tackles in the first half alone on Sunday. That just won’t work in today’s NFL.

Packers running back Josh Jacobs did most of the work in this regard, gaining 106 yards on 26 attempts while scoring three touchdowns. That masked an otherwise pedestrian play by quarterback Jordan Love. He completed 13 of 23 passes for 163 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

At the very least, San Francisco’s injury-plagued secondary held its own in this game. However, those missed tackles played a major role as San Francisco fell to 5-6 on the season via a 28-point loss.

San Francisco 49ers couldn’t overcome injuries

Being without six Pro Bowl performers, San Francisco was already behind the proverbial eight ball in this one. Obviously, the fact that Purdy couldn’t go would make this a tough task. Allen held his own, completing 17 of 29 passes for 199 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Those other absences were even more striking. Allen was sacked just twice in the game. That’s a testament to how Jaylon Moore performed in replacing the injured Trent Williams as the quarterback’s blindside protector. Even then, San Francisco had to rely on the quick passing game a little more than it would have liked. The second sack also resulted in Allen losing a fumble. A few plays later, Jacobs scored his third touchdown of the game to put the ball away.

As we saw last week when he made up San Francisco’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Bosa not being able to go played a major role. Jordan Love was sacked twice and hit three times. He had a clean pocket the entire game.

San Francisco 49ers season on the brink

San Francisco now holds sole possession of last place in the NFC West. They are one game behind both the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks after the latter defeated the former on Sunday.

Regardless of injuries, these 49ers are now in must-win mode heading to Buffalo to take on the streaking Bills next week. The hope is that Purdy, Williams and Bosa can go along with that.

But things don’t get any easier for the 49ers from there. They will face the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams at home after the Thanksgiving weekend holiday. The 49ers will then close out their season with appearances against the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions and Arizona Cardinals.

At 5-6, the 49ers need to win five of these games to even have a legitimate shot in the NFC Playoff race.

That’s compounded by how great the NFC North has been this season. That division will likely field three playoff teams. The trio of the Detroit Lions (10-1), Minnesota Vikings (9-2) and Green Bay Packers (8-3) are all at least three games ahead of San Francsico in the win column. Minnesota and Green Bay have already defeated the 49ers this season, meaning they also hold the tiebreaker.

As of that point, the Washington Commanders are 7-5 and would be the last playoff team if the season ended today.

The easiest path to earning a playoff spot for San Francisco will likely come through the NFC West. However, the team is now 1-3 within the division.

This isn’t to say the San Francisco 49ers’ season is over. But it’s definitely on the edge. That’s for sure. Sunday’s loss to Green Bay adds another layer to this.