Packers fall to the Chiefs: What Went Right, What Went Wrong?

The Green Bay Packers’ seven-game winning streak ended Sunday evening, as they fell to the Kansas City Chiefs, 13-7 in the second-year quarterback Jordan Love’s first-career start.

It wasn’t the prettiest of games for either side, but as usual, I broke it down to a few of the things that went right and wrong in the loss.

Let’s check out what went right in the Green Bay Packers loss in Kansas City.

Give Joe Barry credit; This Packers defense is legit.

For most of us, we can all agree that we may have been wrong about the criticism surrounding the Joe barry hire, at least for the time being.

After week one, when this defense gave up 38 points to the Saints, it looked like yet another year that the Green Bay Packers would struggle defensively.

That has not been the case, however, and Sunday proved to be more accurate as the Packers held a potent Chiefs offense to only 13 points—limiting them over ten points below their season average (24.5)

The Packer’s defense was solely the reason this game was close. They not only held the Chiefs to 13 points, but they completely shut them out in the second half, keeping former MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes in check for most of the game.

Mahomes only completed 20 out of his 37 attempts with one touchdown, finishing the day with a 74.8 passer rating.

The Chiefs are a team that likes to throw the ball around and hit the big play. The Packers avoided that, and they held Mahomes to 4.49 yards per completion, marking it the lowest of his illustrious career.

"When asled about how his defense played, Packers head coach Matt LeFleur had high praise for the whole unit – ““I thought that was a championship-level effort, championship-level execution,”"

Overall, this defense held the Chiefs to just 237 total yards, one touchdown, and two field goals.

One of those field goals came when Packers’ wide receiver, Malik Taylor, inadvertently touched the punt, which the Chiefs recovered on the Packers’ nine-yard line.

The Green Bay Packers defense, as a whole, has only allowed 16.1 points per game to opposing offenses in the last six games—and doing so with multiple key players missing.

A Championship-caliber defense, indeed.

Packers linebacker Krys Barnes arguably played the best game of his young career.

As I mentioned above, the defensive unit was undoubtedly the MVP of the game, and you could easily make the case that Krys Barnes, the Packers’ 23-year-old linebacker out of UCLA, had his best game as a professional football player.

Barnes, who lost playing time the last few weeks with the addition of Jaylon Smith, had a much more prominent role in the game-plan this week and showed exactly why he should see more action.

Barnes’ highlight play came on a tackle inside the two-yard line when he stopped Chiefs running back Darrel Williams, preventing a touchdown and forcing a field goal.

Barnes was playing with much more of that speed and decisiveness that he flashed last season. He finished the day with nine total tackles, seven solo, and one tackle for loss.

The Chiefs snapped the Packers’ seven-game win streak Sunday with a 13-7 victory. Let’s take a look at what went wrong.

As it has been all season, the field goal unit has been a constant issue, and unfortunately, that continued Sunday. 

It’s not a new issue. The protection and execution and have been a revolving concern all season for Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton and his field goal unit as a whole.

Like everything in football, it all starts upfront.

The Packer’s field goal protection has been atrocious, to put it nicely. Multiple injuries have forced Drayton to make changes upfront, but nonetheless, it hasn’t been good.

According to Pro-Football-Reference, last season Packers kicker, Mason Crosby, was perfect, making 100 percent of his field-goal attempts. This year has been much different, unfortunately.

Crosby currently ranks 31st in the NFL, hitting only 68.4 percent of his attempts so far this season.

It’s a group effort, and it needs to be fixed—and soon.

For a mostly dominant and dependable unit, the Packer’s offensive line was atrocious. 

The Green Bay Packers arguably have the best offensive line in pro-football, but that wasn’t exactly the case for the protection unit on Sunday.

If you watched the game and thought Jordan Love had pressure in his face, it’s because he most definitely did—all game long.

The Chiefs had a game-plan—bring the heat and put pressure on Jordan Love.

According to PFF ($), the Chiefs generated a total of 28 pressures on Sunday, constantly blitzing Love and undoubtedly making it highly uncomfortable for him in his first career start.

The offensive line had a rare, below-average game, which was frustrating, especially for a quarterback making his first career start in a hostile environment.

Could there be re-enforcements on the way?

Packers head coach Matt LeFleur mentioned Monday he was anticipating activating All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari this week from the PUP list. Doing so would indeed help bolster the interior protection as well—moving pro-bowler Elgton Jenkins back to his usual position at left guard.

The Packers currently have a four game lead in the NFC North and could get some much-needed players back this week, most notably quarterback Aaron Rodgers as they get set to face off with the Seattle Seahawks.

This week, the Packers could see some fresh faces—Aaron Rodgers and left tackle David Bakhtiari as the two most notable names.

Meanwhile, on the other side, all signs point to Seattle getting their All-Pro quarterback, Russell Wilson, back from the gruesome finger injury he suffered weeks ago. Seattle is desperate and in much need of a win Sunday.