Good evening, everyone. On Sunday afternoon/evening, the Green Bay Packers took on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. This game was supposed to be the first “State Farm Bowl” (for reference, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes are both in State Farm commercials with a guy named Jake). On Wednesday, it was revealed that Aaron Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19. Because he is deemed unvaccinated by the NFL, he was ruled out for Sunday’s game and could be out for the game against Seattle as well (hopefully not). As a result of this, Jordan Love made his first NFL start. Want to know how he and the Packers did on Sunday? Let’s find out now.
The Packers did not get to a good start on offense as they went three and out. After the punt by Corey Bojorquez, the Chiefs offense took over at their own 36 yard line. From there, they went on a long drive that took nearly 8 minutes off the game clock. Patrick Mahomes was able to lead the Kansas City offense down the field for a touchdown. The Packers defense was very close to getting a stop, but Mahomes was able to find Travis Kelce for a one-yard touchdown pass. The extra point kick by Harrison Butker was good, giving the Chiefs a 7-0 lead with 5:56 left in the first quarter. The Packers offense tried to answer back with a touchdown of their own on their next drive, but they came up short. The drive started well as they got to Kansas City territory. The drive stalled after an incomplete pass by Jordan Love intended for Aaron Jones on third and 8 from the Chiefs 22. The 40-yard field goal attempt by Mason Crosby went wide left, leaving the Packers with no points after the drive. The Packers defense responded by forcing the Chiefs offense to turn the ball over on downs. On fourth and 1 from their own 39, Chiefs running back Darrel Williams was stuffed for a loss of 2 yards by Krys Barnes, Darnell Savage, and Rashan Gary. Unfortunately, the Packers offense was not able to convert this turnover on downs into points as Mason Crosby’s field goal attempt from 37 yards away was blocked by Kansas City. After a punt exchange between each team, the Packers had a disastrous result on a punt return try with 2:50 left in the first half. Amari Rodgers signaled for a fair catch, but he did not get to the ball. Malik Taylor was unlucky because the ball hit him in the lower leg. The play was initially ruled a touchback, but Chiefs coach Andy Reid (who was an assistant coach under Mike Holmgren in the 1990s with Green Bay) challenged the ruling. The ruling was then reversed to a fumble that was recovered by Chris Lammons at the Green Bay 10. Amazingly, the Packers defense only gave up a field goal after the muffed punt. A key play was on third and goal from the 3. Krys Barnes laid a big hit on Darrel Williams one yard short of the goal line. A false start penalty on Kansas City forced them to settle for a 24-yard field goal that was good. The Packers offense then tried their best to go down the field for a score. During this possession, Jordan Love threw on the run to Randall Cobb, who made a fantastic catch in traffic. After that catch, the drive stalled and the Packers turned the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass on fourth and 5 from the Chiefs 38. The Chiefs managed to score another field goal before halftime. They almost didn’t score on the drive. Kevin King had an interception, but he could not hang on to the ball. Harrison Butker made the kick from 55 yards away, giving the Chiefs a 13-0 halftime lead.
For the first few drives of the second half, neither offense was able to do anything substantial. After the first failed drive by Kansas City, Amari Rodgers almost lost a muffed punt after the ball bounced off his hands. Right near the end of the third quarter, the Packers offense was finally going down the field. Starting from their own 8, Jordan Love was leading the offense on a long drive that should have resulted in points. On third and 10 from the Kansas City 24 with 9 minutes left in the game, Jordan Love unfortunately threw an interception on a pass that was too high for Davante Adams. The pass was picked off by L’Jarius Sneed at the 5 yard line. Thankfully, Love got a second chance after the Packers defense forced a three and out. What helped matters was that Amari Rodgers returned the punt 15 yards to the Green Bay 47. From there, the offense went down the field for their only touchdown of the night. On fourth and 5 from the Kansas City 20, Love connected with Allen Lazard, who made the catch and got away from a defender on his way to the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point kick by Mason Crosby was good, decreasing the deficit to 13-7 with 4:54 left. All the Packers needed was another stop on defense to give Jordan Love a chance to win the game. Unfortunately, they were not able to as the Chiefs got a few key first downs to seal the game. The game was over after Patrick Mahomes threw on the run to Tyreek Hill, who made the catch for a gain of 13 and a first down on third and 10 from the Green Bay 48. After two kneel-downs by Mahomes, the clock went to 0:00 with the final score being 13-7 in the Chiefs’ favor.
With the loss, the Packers’ winning streak is over. They still lead the NFC North at a comfortable 7-2. I am going to talk about the offense and Jordan Love’s performance first. Love did ok given the circumstances that he was put in. He had a whole week of practice with the first team. Seeing that it was his first NFL start, I wasn’t expecting him to be perfect. He was inaccurate on a few of his passes, with a couple of near-picks during this game. What didn’t help matters was that he was pressured a lot of times by the Chiefs defense, especially in the second half. Another problem was that he threw 34 passes in this game when the game should have been focused on the running game. There were only 25 running plays in this game. AJ Dillon only ran 8 times, but he was getting over 5 yards per carry. He was also second in receiving yards with 44 yards on 4 catches. Randall Cobb made a great catch in traffic near the end of the first half, while Allen Lazard made a great play on the touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. The offensive line did not have its best game, especially Royce Newman. He was getting beat by the defenders and he committed a holding penalty that wiped out a great running play. For Matt LaFleur, it was not the best game plan with Jordan Love under center. I hope that Aaron Rodgers is able to come back from his quarantine on Saturday.
On defense, the Packers played fantastic against the Chiefs. They only allowed one touchdown in the red zone. They also made a great goal line stop after the muffed punt fiasco (more on Special Teams later). A few players that I want to have a shoutout to are Krys Barnes, Darnell Savage, De’Vondre Campbell, Chandon Sullivan, and Rashan Gary. Those guys played well as the defense held the Chiefs scoreless in the second half. Before the game-sealing drive in the end, the defense forced the Chiefs to punt 4 times in a row. I was irritated that Kevin King wasn’t able to get the pick at the end of the first half. I was also irritated that Oren Burks jumped offside on what would have been a pick by Adrian Amos. Joe Barry turned out to be a great hire by the Packers. Even with the injuries the defense has suffered, including Jaire Alexander, Za’Darius Smith, Kenny Clark (for the second half), and Eric Stokes (injured his knee in pre-game warmups), they continue to give it their all for Barry. Hopefully the injuries to Clark and Stokes aren’t too serious. The key for the defense is to keep it going.
Special Teams was atrocious on Sunday. It was the main reason why the Packers lost this game. 6 points were left on the board due to the field goals that were missed (one was wide left and the other was blocked). There were issues with the snap and the hold on those two kicks. On the blocked kick, the line got beat by the Chiefs defense. The Packers also gave the Chiefs a free 3 points after the muffed punt fiasco in which Amari Rodgers did not go for the ball after signaling for a fair catch. Malik Taylor was just unlucky with the ball hitting him. Amari Rodgers also muffed a punt himself, but he was able to quickly recover it. If the field goals were made and there wasn’t the muffed punt, the Packers would have won the game. They have got to get their act together quickly before mistakes like these cost the Packers a playoff win.
Overall, it was a tough game for the Packers. They wasted a great defensive performance due to the ineffectiveness of the offense and the incompetence of Special Teams. I will give Jordan Love some slack due to this being his first NFL start. For the Packers, it’s on to the Seattle Seahawks at Lambeau Field. Hopefully Aaron Rodgers comes back for that game (and David Bakhtiari as well). Have a good night, everyone. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page.)
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