Aaron Rodgers' Home Dominance Makes Packers Clear NFC Favorites
Aaron Rodgers isn't just playing the best football Lambeau Field has ever seen. He might be playing the best football anybody ever has—and a very good Kansas City Chiefs team was absolutely helpless to slow him down on Monday Night Football.
Jordy Nelson done for the year? Davante Adams gone by the second drive? Eddie Lacy working through an injury? One of the league's fiercest pass rushes and most talented secondaries on the other side of the ball? No problem: Rodgers, as good as he is anywhere else, is all but unbeatable in Lambeau Field.
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No matter who he's throwing to, who's blocking for him, who's running alongside him or who's playing defense in green, it seems, Rodgers has played jaw-dropping football at home over the last few seasons. For all the Chiefs' defensive talent, and all their balanced offense, they were nothing more than lumber taken to the Packers' buzz saw.
Rodgers and the Packers rolled up a 31-7 second-half lead before Alex Smith and the Chiefs made it a respectable 38-28 in garbage time. The Green and Gold's QB finished 24-of-35, with 333 passing yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions.
It's worth noting that Ben Stockwell of Pro Football Focus wasn't quite as high on his outing as everyone else. They credited Rodgers for his decision-making and pocket management, but claimed he made few truly difficult throws and marked him down for throwing a near-sure interception that happened to be dropped.
For the Chiefs, this loss drops them to 1-2, tied with the San Diego Chargers for last place in the AFC West, and two full games (plus the head-to-head advantage) behind the reigning champion Denver Broncos.
For the Packers, this is business as usual: an all-phases domination of a strong playoff contender. They aren't just unbeaten; they're unbothered, rolling through the NFL with cruise control on. After three weeks, they aren't just clearly the class of the NFC North; they're clearly the class of the NFC.
We know Aaron Rodgers is great. One of the best in the game today. Maybe, as Bleacher Report NFL Lead Writer Mike Freeman wondered, the best ever. We know he's been playing well over the last few years, even by his standards.
But what he's doing at home, as Bleacher Report NFL Associate Editor Ian Kenyon pointed out, is historic:
Right after that tweet, Rodgers threw another touchdown to make it 48 TDs and zero INTs. At the beginning of the game, though, it was not at all clear that we were in for that kind of evening.
On the opening drive, Rodgers spotted the Chiefs a possession by going three-and-out. The Chiefs returned the favor, giving the Packers the ball back on their own 31-yard line with 12:20 left. That's when Rodgers turned it on. He led the Packers on a six-play, 2:36 drive that covered 69 yards and ended with rookie Ty Montgomery's first career touchdown catch.
Smith responded with another three-and-out.
Rodgers, this time relying on tailbacks Eddie Lacy and James Starks (not to mention some Chiefs penalties) to move the ball, capped the subsequent 10-play, 5:51 drive with a touchdown pass to receiver Randall Cobb. That would be Cobb's first touchdown catch of the night—but not his last.
Smith responded with another three-and-out.
When Rodgers and Cobb failed to connect on a fourth-down conversion attempt, Smith finally turned his fourth possession into some points. A Jamaal Charles touchdown helped cut the Packers' lead to 14-7, and maybe it wasn't going to be so bad after all. Oh, no, wait—yes it was. Rodgers led the Packers back to within scoring distance, and the Packers notched their first field goal of the evening.
Smith responded with another three-and-out.
Rodgers and the Packers mounted another long (but fast) scoring drive—this time covering 68 yards in just nine plays, taking only 3:02 off the clock. The result: Yep, another touchdown, this one to James Jones, and the Packers would go on to take a 24-7 lead, heading into the locker rooms.
When Smith and the Chiefs came out to take the opening kick of the second half, they went three-and-out.
After the Packers finally failed to score again, the Chiefs went, you guessed it, three-and-out. Again, the Packers couldn't capitalize. Having been given a gift of two straight fruitless Packers drives, Smith gave it right back. He threw an interception while down 17 points and sitting on his own 7-yard line.
On the very next play, Rodgers hit Cobb for his second touchdown. The rout, if it weren't already on, was so on.
Then came the moment we'd all waited for: Smith found receiver Jeremy Maclin in the end zone. Not only was it Maclin's first touchdown as a Chief, it was also the first receiving touchdown by a Chiefs wideout since December 2013.
That watershed moment preceded a flood of garbage-time points and yards for Maclin and the Chiefs; he finished with eight catches for 141 yards. Charles had just 16 touches for 82 rushing and receiving yards, but his three touchdowns kept his fantasy owners happy. In the end, despite a third Cobb touchdown, the Chiefs were a late two-point conversion away from making it a one-possession game.
It didn't work, but it likely wouldn't have mattered if it did: Rodgers was moving the ball and scoring almost at will, and the Packers only needed to kill 1:24 to get to the final gun.
There are three other undefeated teams left in the NFC: the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers. The Cardinals are serious contenders in the NFC West and have an opportunity to finally upend the Seattle Seahawks—but they lack Rodgers. The Panthers and Falcons will probably go to the wire trying to outdo each other, but as with last year, neither team will likely need to be great to win that division.
As the NFL season wears on, teams may figure out how to cover these receivers—but you can't stop a quarterback playing as well as Rodgers is for long. You can only hope to slow him down long enough to keep up with him.
"I think that's what you're seeing right now," Packers fullback John Kuhn told Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, "is a guy who is completely tuned in, completely focused on the little things that make good plays great."
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was terse when answering questions about the Chiefs' attention to detail. He repeatedly told Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star nothing more than "It's my responsibility" in response to nearly every question. He's right: The awful play-calling and strange decision-making had a lot to do with the Chiefs losing that game. That's why a few, including your humble columnist, spent the preseason calling for Reid to take the fall if this talented Chiefs team doesn't cash in.
Nobody's on the hot seat in Green Bay. Rodgers is playing great, and the team is winning lots of games. Come January, though, the Packers had better not leave anything on the field—and they'd better not leave the NFC playoff bracket as anything but champions.
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