The Sports Xchange

When Green Bay Packers and snowballs are mentioned in the same sentence, it’s usually a reference to a January game at Lambeau Field.

The 49ers don’t mind hearing that at all, having overcome the bitter cold to eliminate the Packers 23-20 at Lambeau in the 2013 playoffs.

But less than two years later, when the 49ers attempt to prevent their season from snowballing further, it’ll be Sunday against the Packers at sunny Levi’s Stadium.

The 49ers are reeling, coming off consecutive losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals by a combined score of 90-25.

Probably the last thing they need right now is a meeting with the mighty Packers, who just hung 38 points on the Kansas City Chiefs after putting up 27 on the Seattle Seahawks a week earlier.

It’s 3-0 against a 1-2 team that’s frustrated well beyond the normal scope of two early season losses.

“I’m frustrated, you’re frustrated, everybody’s frustrated,” head coach Jim Tomsula admitted Wednesday. “It’s where you go with it.”

It’s clear where Tomsula would like to go with it. Nowhere.

“Some people have the ability to spend all week being frustrated or get into Wednesday being frustrated,” the first-year coach observed. “The bottom line is: The guys in this building don’t have that luxury.

“They’ve got an hour-and-a-half. They’ve got Monday and an hour-and-a-half on Tuesday and that all better be in the right place or one game leads into two games leads into three games leads into four games.”

While Tomsula hopes the club’s collective frame of mind has changed since the final gun in Arizona on Sunday, there’s one thing he insists isn’t about to change.

The lineup.

“I don’t plan any changes,” he assured. “We’ve just got to do a better job.”

SERIES HISTORY: 59th regular-season meeting. Packers lead series, 30-27-1. The Packers prevailed the last time they visited San Francisco, but the 49ers wouldn’t trade that result for either of the two that sandwiched it. Those were playoff games — Jan. 12, 2013 at Candlestick Park and Jan. 5, 2014 at Lambeau Field — won by the 49ers. Even with those defeats, the Packers also hold a 4-3 advantage in all-time postseason matchups. The series dates back to 1950.

GAME PLAN

–Avoid embarrassment. That’s the primary goal for a team that hasn’t played a meaningful minute in the second half of either of its last two games, during which it’s been blown out to the tune of 90-25.

How does one of the weakest teams in the league avoid embarrassment against a 3-0 power? By milking the clock with a strong running game against a defense that’s surprisingly bad against the run.