Green bay packers have finally lost it all..see More..
After a big victory over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving, can the Green Bay Packers beat the Super Bowl champs? Yes. Here are three reasons why they can beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
In a season that was supposed to be about growth, the Green Bay Packers will get their biggest measuring-stick test of the season when they host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.
Led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid, the Chiefs are the NFL’s gold standard. Over the last five seasons, they’ve won two Super Bowls, played in another and reached five AFC Championship Games.
Mahomes boasts the highest passer rating in NFL history and has two NFL MVPs and two Super Bowl MVPs on the mantle.
The Chiefs are six-point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook and are coming off one of their best games of the season. But the Packers, who have won back-to-back games as underdogs, have good reason to believe they can spring the upset.
In fact, they’ve got three good reasons.
1. Confidence
When the Packers were 2-5 and losers of four in a row, it was fair to wonder when they’d win another game. Now, with wins in three of their last four games, the confidence is through the roof.
The offense, while not great, has been ascending. The defense, while not great, has kept teams out of the end zone.
“I think we’re growing together,” quarterback Jordan Love said.
“People are understanding where we need to be, we’re on the same page. The missed assignments that we had early on are going down.
Guys are feeling more comfortable in the system, understanding our roles, and now we’re just going out there and playing, executing the plays, and guys are making plays.
I think we have a better focus right now about how we’re going to start the game. I think it’s helping us start fast, put up some points early on and not get in a hole.”
The story of the season has been the play of the Love-led offense.
Of 28 quarterbacks with at least 30 passing attempts since the start of Week 8, Love is fourth in yards per completion (12.3), sixth in yards per attempt (8.0), seventh in passer rating (103.1), seventh in touchdowns (eight) and 17th in completion percentage (65.2).
They’ve had at least eight explosive passing plays (16-plus yards) in each of those four games, the team’s longest streak since Aaron Rodgers won MVP in 2020.
Going back a bit further, the Packers are sixth in explosive plays (12-yard runs, 16-yard passes) since Week 7. They have five-plus explosive passes in each of those six games, the longest streak of the Matt LaFleur era.
None of those games were against the Chiefs, though, a perennial powerhouse with the No. 3 scoring defense in the league. However, their opponent passer rating is almost 25 points worse on the road.
Maybe Not a Mismatch
Patrick Mahomes vs. Joe Barry?
By name, that’s the mismatch of mismatches. However, the Packers are 10th in points allowed. They’re not really good at anything other than keeping opponents out of the end zone; a rather important thing. They’re eighth in the red zone and sixth in goal-to-go situations.
The Packers have allowed 24 points or less in seven consecutive games, the second-longest active streak in the NFL and matching their longest in-season streak since 2021. Before that, you have to go back to the Super Bowl season of 2010, when they did it in nine consecutive games.
Offensively, the Chiefs are dealing with some of the same growing pains as the Packers in terms of passing the football. Mahomes, at age 28, is already a legend but the Chiefs are a mediocre 11th with 23.3 points per game. Mahomes is 10th in passer rating. He’s thrown nine interceptions, which is only one less than Love and putting him on pace for a career-worst 14.
You want to maximize the day and get better and better,” Mahomes told reporters this week. “At the end of the day, you’re working for that ultimate goal, which is to win the Super Bowl.
You take it week in and week out, but your mentality should be that I’m going to do this today to be better for the next day and for the next day until the Super Bowl comes.