We’re exactly one month away from Christmas.

The Green Bay Packers received an early gift from the San Francisco 49ers, though, on Sunday afternoon.

When these terrific rivals met at Lambeau Field, the 49ers were without Pro Bowl quarterback Brock Purdy, future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams, 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa and standout cornerback Charvarius Ward.

The Packers played extremely well on both sides of the ball, and those losses were too much for the 49ers to overcome as Green Bay rolled to a 38-10 win.

The Packers improved to 8-3, which amazingly is good for just third place in the NFC North. Detroit leads the division at 10-1, while Minnesota (9-2) is in second place.

San Francisco, which won the NFC last season, fell to 5-6.

Here’s the ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ from Green Bay’s impressive win.

THE GOOD

JOSH JACOBS: The Packers decision to sign Josh Jacobs and move on from Aaron Jones last offseason was debated at great lengths.

Jones, of course, is an all-time Packer who ranks third in team history with 5,940 rushing yards.

But simply put, Jacobs is the better player.

Jacobs is extremely powerful and rarely goes down on first contact. He’s nifty in the hole. He can block, catch and put an offense on his hefty shoulders.

Jacobs had a sensational night against San Francisco, rushing for 106 yards on 26 carries while tying his career-high with three rushing touchdowns.

“He’s one of those guys that you want to have the ball in his hands,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said of Jacobs. “He does really good things when he has it.”

In the first half alone, Jacobs had 19 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown. He had runs of 18, 13 and 10 yards in the first half.

Jacobs then added a pair of 1-yard TD runs in the second half, even though he left the game for a stretch with cramps.

“He’s got a great vision and extraordinary — and it’s not that he’s a blazer — but he’s got extraordinary acceleration off his cuts,” Packers running backs coach Ben Sirmans said of Jacobs. “And I think that’s why he frees himself up so much particularly inside the box.”

SLAYING GOLIATH: The 49ers knocked the Packers out of the playoffs in 2019, 2021 and 2023. A year ago, Green Bay had San Francisco on the ropes, but blew a late lead and fell, 24-21, in the NFC Divisional playoffs.

So Sunday’s game certainly carried some extra motivation.

“It definitely sits with you through the offseason and then you obviously, you move on,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said. “Just knowing that that’s the team that knocked us out, we’re definitely hungry for this game.”

RED ZONE OFFENSE COMES TO LIFE: The Packers entered the game ranked 27^th in the NFL in red zone offense at 48.7%. That was the lowest percentage of the six-year Matt LaFleur-era.

But the Packers showed signs of life Sunday, going an impressive 5-of-5 inside the 20-yard line.

In addition to three rushing touchdowns by Jacobs, Love threw touchdown passes to Tucker Kraft and Malik Heath.

SENSATIONAL START: Green Bay put together one of its finest first quarters of the year and led 10-0 after the opening 15 minutes.

The Packers had eight first downs, while the 49ers didn’t have any. Green Bay racked up 126 total yards, while San Francisco had just eight.

The Packers had 87 rushing yards, while the 49ers had just one. And Green Bay held the ball 12 minutes, 9 seconds to just 2:51 for San Francisco.

GOLDEN HANDS: If you throw the ball in the vicinity of Packers safety Xavier McKinney, odds are he’s going to catch it.

McKinney had his seventh interception of the season — which is tied for the NFL lead — midway through the third quarter.

San Francisco quarterback Brandon Allen delivered a strike to Deebo Samuel, and the ball caromed off the hands of the Pro Bowl wideout. Allen’s pass bounced to McKinney, who raced 48 yards to the 49ers’ 26.

Three plays later, Josh Jacobs had a 1-yard touchdown run to give Green Bay a 24-7 lead.

TAKE IT AWAY: Green Bay forced two fumbles and recovered them both in the second half.

Lukas Van Ness had a strip sack of quarterback Brandon Allen that defensive tackle Kenny Clark recovered. One possession later, cornerback Keisean Nixon stripped running back Christian McCaffrey and defensive tackle Karl Brooks recovered.

The Packers won the turnover battle, 3-0.

TERRIFIC TUCKER: Some tried comparing Green Bay tight end Tucker Kraft to his San Francisco counterpart, George Kittle, this week.

Considering Kittle has 500 career catches for nearly 7,000 yards and 43 touchdowns, that’s certainly premature.

But Kraft has many Kittle-like qualities and some of those were on full display during his 11-yard first quarter touchdown reception.

The Packers called a tight end screen to Kraft, who ran over San Francisco safety Ji’Ayir Brown and carried defensive end Leonard Floyd to the endzone.

“George is one of those guys I think has that one-play mindset, something that I try to emulate in my game,” Kraft said. “One snap at a time, he’s going balls to the walls. That’s something you want from your tight end. Flip on my film – I’m not comparing myself to George – but flip on my film and you see something I say to myself: ‘One play at a time, one moment (or) opportunity at a time, full go, all the time.’ ”

THIS AND THAT: Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love didn’t throw an interception. That marked the first game in 2024 Love didn’t have a pick. … The 49ers had a fourth-and-2 from Green Bay’s 39 on their opening drive of the second half. Quarterback Brandon Allen threw for running back Christian McCaffrey in the left flat, but safety Xavier McKinney closed quickly and broke the play up. … Brandon McManus made a 51-yard field goal late in the first quarter, Green Bay’s longest field goal of the season.

THE BAD

BOY GEORGE: San Francisco tight end George Kittle got loose for a 3-yard TD late in the first half that pulled the 49ers within 17-7.

Kittle worked from the left slot and ran right past linebacker Quay Walker, who failed to bump the gifted tight end. That gave Kittle time to find space, and when safety Evan Williams was late providing help, quarterback Brandon Allen hit him for a short TD.

Kittle was tough to stop all night, finishing with six receptions for 82 yards.

WHERE’S JAIRE?: Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander sat out the contest with a knee injury and has now missed 28 of the Packers’ last 62 games. There have also been several games Alexander has started, but couldn’t finish such as Green Bay’s Week 11 contest in Chicago when he played just 10 snaps.

In all, Alexander played just four games in 2021, seven last season and seven this year.

Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said on Friday that Alexander won’t need to go to the injured reserve list. In the interim, the Packers are trying to get by with Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine as their primary corners.

“You’re talking about elite player at his position,” LaFleur said of Alexander. “So it definitely is tough when, when he’s not out there. But … you got to have the next guy step up, be ready to go, and can never let that standard slip.”

THIS AND THAT: Kittle whipped cornerback Carrington Valentine for a 31-yard reception in the third quarter. … Quay Walker dropped a second quarter interception. … Running back Chris Brooks was penalized 15 yards for tripping on a play that helped kill a Green Bay third quarter drive.

THE UGLY

KILLER DROP: Christian Watson had a chance to give the Packers a 24-7 halftime lead, but dropped what would have been a 49-yard touchdown pass in the final seconds of the first half.

Watson whipped cornerback Isaac Yiadom off the line of scrimmage and ran a go route down the left sideline. Safety Malik Mustapha was late helping and Love delivered a strike to Watson.

In the middle of the field, fellow wideout Romeo Doubs was so excited seeing the play unfold he was jumping up and down. Unfortunately for the Packers, the ball bounced off Watson’s hands and fell harmlessly to the ground and Green Bay’s lead remained 17-7 at the break.