GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Brandon Allen didn’t get nearly enough help from his more recognizable San Francisco 49ers teammates as the 32-year-old journeyman quarterback made his first start in nearly three years.
Now, the defending NFC champions find themselves at 5-6 and last in the NFC West.
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San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) avoids a tackle during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
San Francisco 49ers safety Ji'Ayir Brown (27) breaks up a pass intended for Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) stops Green Bay Packers linebacker Quay Walker (7) during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brandon Allen (17) fumbles and recovers the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brandon Allen (17) looks to throw during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brandon Allen (17) avoids the tackle against Green Bay Packers defensive end Kingsley Enagbare (55) during the first half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Allen did a decent job Sunday filling in for the injured Brock Purdy before losing a fumble on a strip-sack by Lukas Van Ness in the fourth quarter of the 49ers’ 38-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers. But on a day when San Francisco’s regulars had to be sharp in Purdy’s absence, the 49ers were sloppy.
Allen threw a 3-yard pass to tight end George Kittle for San Francisco's lone touchdown.
“I thought he played well,” Kittle said. “We just have to play better.”
That will be necessary if the Niners want to get back to the playoffs. And it would help if they could get healthier.
Right now, San Francisco (5-6) looks like a team missing many of its biggest stars.
Purdy didn’t play Sunday because of a shoulder injury. An ankle injury sidelined three-time All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams. Four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Nick Bosa was out with a hip/oblique issue. And All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey still appears slowed by Achilles tendinitis.
Coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t have any immediate update after the game on Purdy’s potential availability for next week, when the Niners visit AFC East-leading Buffalo.
“He’s been rehabbing the whole time here,” Shanahan said. “I’m sure we’ll take him through some stuff early Monday and Tuesday and get a better idea then.”
Allen joined the 49ers last year but hadn’t thrown a pass in a game for them before Sunday. His previous start was for the Cincinnati Bengals in their 2021 finale.
He went 17 of 29 for 199 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception. He fumbled twice, losing one. The interception went through the hands of Deebo Samuel before Green Bay’s Xavier McKinney picked it off.
The 49ers didn't use the injuries as an excuse.
San Francisco committed three turnovers, had nine penalties and missed 15 tackles in the first half alone. McCaffrey was limited to 31 yards on 11 carries and three catches for 37 yards.
Asked to name the most disappointing part of the game, Shanahan saw no need to limit himself.
“The whole game was,” Shanahan said. “So to label the biggest one — just the first half, the run defense was just real disappointing. I thought we got out of our gaps a number of times. I thought we had way too many missed tackles. Just them being able to control that clock the first half was one of the worst ones I’ve been a part of as far as a half.”
San Francisco struggled to bring down Josh Jacobs, who finished with 106 yards rushing and three touchdowns. He became the first player in the past 55 regular-season games to rush for 100 yards or more against the 49ers. It was the longest a team had gone without allowing a 100-yard rusher since 1955.
Then-Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields rushed for 103 yards against the Niners on Oct. 31, 2021.
Jacobs had 91 yards rushing by halftime.
“That’s about as bad as it can get,” Niners linebacker Fred Warner said of the first half. “It was probably the worst I’ve been a part of.”
The Niners trailed 17-7 and got the ball to start the second half. That’s when they had their costliest penalty.
Eric Saubert was flagged for holding to wipe out Samuel’s 87-yard kickoff return that would have given the 49ers first-and-goal. They ended up turning the ball over on downs at Green Bay’s 39-yard line.
The Niners then turned the ball over on three of their next five series, including McKinney’s interception and fumbles from Allen and McCaffrey. Green Bay scored touchdowns after each of those turnovers.
“We started to build some momentum there at the end of the half,” Allen said. “The second half, had some drives going and just penalties and turnovers really killed us.”
As bad as things look for the Niners, they're still in contention to win the NFC West. Thanks to Arizona's loss at Seattle, San Francisco remains one game out of first place.
“It’s one game at a time,” McCaffrey said. “Each day you’ve got to wake up, look yourself in the mirror and get better, whether you win or lose. Speaking for me personally, that’s what I’m going to do.”
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San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) avoids a tackle during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
San Francisco 49ers safety Ji'Ayir Brown (27) breaks up a pass intended for Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) stops Green Bay Packers linebacker Quay Walker (7) during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brandon Allen (17) fumbles and recovers the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brandon Allen (17) looks to throw during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brandon Allen (17) avoids the tackle against Green Bay Packers defensive end Kingsley Enagbare (55) during the first half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Negotiators gathered in Busan, South Korea, on Monday in a final push to create a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution.
It's the fifth time the world's nations convene to craft a legally binding plastic pollution accord. In addition to the national delegations, representatives from the plastics industry, scientists and environmentalists have come to shape how the world tackles the surging problem.
“We must end plastic pollution before plastic pollution ends us,” Kim Wansup, South Korea's minister of environment, said during the opening session.
The planet is “ choking on plastic, ” according to the United Nations. It's polluting lakes, rivers, oceans and people's bodies.
“Don’t kick the can, or the plastic bottle, down the road," U.N. Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen said in a message aimed at negotiators.
This “is an issue about the intergenerational justice of those generations that will come after us and be living with all this garbage. We can solve this and we must get it done in Busan,” she said in an interview.
The previous four global meetings have revealed sharp differences in goals and interests. This week's talks go through Saturday.
Led by Norway and Rwanda, 66 countries plus the European Union say they want to address the total amount of plastic on Earth by controlling design, production, consumption and where plastic ends up. The delegation from the hard-hit island nation of Micronesia helped lead an effort to call more attention to "unsustainable” plastic production, called the Bridge to Busan. Island nations are grappling with vast amounts of other countries’ plastic waste washing up on their shores.
“We think it’s the heart of the treaty, to go upstream and to get to the problem at its source,” said Dennis Clare, legal advisor and plastics negotiator for Micronesia. “There’s a tagline, ‘You can’t recycle your way out of this problem.’”
Some plastic-producing and oil and gas countries, including Saudi Arabia, disagree. They vigorously oppose any limits on plastic manufacturing. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of primary polypropylene, a common type of plastic, accounting for an estimated 17% of exports last year, according to the Plastics Industry Association.
China, the United States and Germany led the global plastics trade by exports and imports in 2023, the association said.
The plastics industry has been advocating for a treaty focused on redesigning plastic products, recycling and reuse, sometimes referred to as “circularity.” Chris Jahn, International Council of Chemical Associations secretariat, said negotiators should focus on ending plastic waste in the environment, not plastic production, to get a deal. Many countries won’t join a treaty if it includes production caps, he said.
To continue to progress and grow as a global economy, there are going to be more plastics, Jahn added.
“So we should strive then to keep those plastics in the economy and out of the environment,” Jahn said.
The United States delegation at first said countries should develop their own plans to act, a position viewed as favoring industry. It changed its position this summer, saying the U.S. is open to considering global targets for reductions in plastic production.
Environmental groups accused the U.S. of backtracking as negotiations approached.
Center for Coalfield Justice executive director Sarah Martik said the United States is standing on the sidelines rather than leading, putting “their thumb on the scale throughout the entirety of the negotiations.” She hopes this does not derail other countries’ ambition.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a national strategy to prevent plastic pollution Thursday, but Martik said she thinks too many of the measures are voluntary to make a difference.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, said it's a mistake for the United States to settle for the lowest common denominator proposals, just to get some kind of agreement.
Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the committee chair from Ecuador, recently proposed text for sections where he thinks the delegations could agree.
The production and use of plastics globally is set to reach 736 million tons by 2040, up 70% from 2020, without policy changes, according to the intergovernmental Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Research published in Science this month found it is still possible to nearly end plastic pollution. The policies that make the most difference are: mandating new products be made with 40% post-consumer recycled plastic; limiting new plastic production to 2020 levels; investing significantly in plastic waste management, such as landfills and waste collection services and implementing a small fee on plastic packaging.
The treaty is the only way to solve plastic pollution at this scale, said Douglas McCauley, professor at UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley. McCauley co-led the research.
Margaret Spring, chief conservation and science officer for Monterey Bay Aquarium, said plastic pollution used to be considered largely a waste problem. Now it is widely viewed as an existential crisis that must be addressed, said Spring, who represents the International Science Council at the negotiations.
“I’ve never seen people’s understanding of this issue move as fast, given how complex the topic is,” she said. “It gives me hope that we can actually start moving the dial.”
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Environment activists shout slogans during a rally calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which set to be held in Busan from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Environment activists march during a rally calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which sets to be held from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 in Busan, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. A signs at center reads "Let's end plastic pollution." (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)
An environment activist wearing a suit prepares for a rally calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which set to be held in Busan from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Environment activists prepare for a rally calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which sets to be held in Busan from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Environment activists perform a human sign calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which sets to be held from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 on the beach in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)
Environment activists stage a rally calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which sets to be held from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 in Busan, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)
Children attend a rally calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which sets to be held from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 in Busan, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)
Environment activists shout slogans during a rally calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which sets to be held in Busan from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
FILE - A classic American car drives past garbage in Havana, Cuba, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)
FILE - Indian rag pickers look for reusable material at a garbage dump filled with plastic and other waste material on the outskirts of Jammu, India, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand, File)
FILE - Garbage collected en route to Mount Everest is piled before it is sorted for recycling at a facility operated by Agni Ventures, an agency that manages recyclable waste, in Kathmandu, Nepal, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Sanjog Manandhar, File)
FILE - A pedestrian carries takeaway food in a plastic bag in Hong Kong, March 13, 2024.(AP Photo/Louise Delmotte, File)
FILE - Recyclable collectors work at the Lixao open-air dump in Santo Antonio do Descoberto, Goias state, Brazil, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
Environment activists stage a rally calling for a strong global plastics treaty ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution which sets to be held from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 in Busan, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (Son Hyung-joo/Yonhap via AP)
