GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Head coach Matt LaFleur was willing to admit two things the day after the San Francisco 49ers embarrassed -- his word -- the Green Bay Packers on Sunday: He and his staff got outcoached, and they need to get back to feeding running back Aaron Jones every way possible.
Taking responsibility has been one of the hallmarks of LaFleur's first season.
And until recently, so was involving Jones.
"We got schemed up, and they did a much better job coaching than we did," LaFleur said Monday. "We had way too many mistakes. Even when we had chances, we had too many mistakes, so I mean all around it was just a bad effort."
In what was billed as a matchup of two of the best teams in the NFC -- and for that reason it was flexed into the Sunday night game -- the Packers fell flat in a 37-8 loss that saw the Packers set lows for offensive futility. They failed to convert a third down while quarterback Aaron Rodgers was in the game, going 0-for-14 until backup Tim Boyle finally converted one in the final minute. Rodgers finished with only 104 yards on 20-of-33 passing and was sacked five times.
It was the fewest yards Rodgers has ever had in a game with at least 30 pass attempts. His previous low (161) came in the Week 9 loss at the Chargers. His 3.2-yard average per attempt was his career low in an NFL start.
And Jones was a nonfactor, especially in the passing game.
He was targeted only once and did not have a catch. In fact, dating to the loss to the Chargers, Jones has only one catch for minus-1 yard. That, after his seven-catch, 159-yard, two-touchdown game against the Chiefs on Oct. 27.
"I think we definitely need to involve him more," LaFleur said Monday of Jones. "I think a little bit yesterday was a product of that scheme. There's not a lot of [opportunities] for the backs, and then when we try to get the ball to the backs out of the backfield, they did a nice job of having vision on our halfbacks.
"That falls on me right there. I gotta do a better job of making sure he's in the game when some of those plays are called for the halfbacks."
Jones, who is second on the team in receptions (35), has seen his involvement in the passing game shrink with the return of receiver Davante Adams from a four-game absence because of turf toe. Adams has 21 receptions on 33 targets over the last three games.
"I do think we've maybe been overly reliant to put him in spots to get the ball," LaFleur said. "I just think we have to do a better job as a staff."
Said Rodgers after the game: "I'm sure we'll talk about that moving forward and some stuff that's worked in the past, but we had a lot of plays on the call sheet that we liked and we were trying to get off and get called. Being behind the sticks all night was tough, I'm sure, on Matt's play-calling."
LaFleur also will have to figure out how to replace right tackle Bryan Bulaga, who avoided a major knee injury but is still expected to miss time after his right leg got rolled into early against the 49ers. Alex Light replaced Bulaga and finished the game, but LaFleur suggested he may explore other options. The most likely would be to move Billy Turner from right guard to right tackle and insert Lucas Patrick at right guard.
The Packers (8-3) have two straight games against 2-9 teams, at the New York Giants on Sunday and home against the Washington Redskins the following week.
"Anytime you get embarrassed like that, you find out what you're made of," LaFleur said. "You find out a lot about people in times of adversity. I think this will be a good test for our football team. Hopefully, we'll become better for it. Certainly, there's a lot of work to be done. We've got to use every moment from today until we play the Giants to get it done."