The Green Bay Packers advanced to 7-1, last night in Kansas City, after a big win over the Kansas City Chiefs (5-3) was keyed by great quarterback play again and key plays by the defense, leading to a final score of 31-24.

The passing game got off to a hot start for the Packers. With 118 yards over the first three drives and two quick touchdowns in the first quarter.

It looked like it might be a runaway game after the two scores, as even though the Packers running attack couldn’t get going, the Rodgers and company looked locked in with two huge plays already, looking to give the Mahomes-less Chiefs a night they would want to forget. The momentum was solidly in their favor, as not only had they scored on two out of three drives, but the Kansas City Chiefs had missed a field goal after driving down the field on their last possession.

As the second quarter started though, things began to turn south. With the Chiefs down their gun-slinging quarterback, they knew they had to take a different approach. They began to expose the packers weak coverage in the flats through continuous easy five yard passes for recently un-retired backup quarterback, Matt Moore. This allowed their skilled receivers, halfbacks, and tight ends to use their athleticism to expose the Packers rather than forcing Matt Moore to do something out of his comfort zone.

A few missed tackles, good play calling and execution by the Chiefs, and a stagnant offense for the Packers, lead to a 17-14 lead for the Chiefs at halftime. This is where momentum seemed to flip on its head however. Something that the Packers had been doing very well over the past three weeks was making adjustments at the half on both sides, and this would continue.

The Packers would come out and hold the Chiefs at midfield with a key sack from the Smith Brothers, and the offense would continue the momentum with a balanced attack to drive down the field to tie the game.

Immediately following the drive the defense would force a turnover on a fumble on the first play of the Chiefs drive. Turnovers have been a key this year for the defense and has been what truly allows them to be effective, because it allows the ball to get back to Aaron Rodgers.

The Packers started from the Chiefs 27 in a tied ballgame with a minute left in the 3rd quarter. Rodgers knew this was the drive that would put the Packers in the drivers seat, and on the fifth play of the drive after being stalled at the Chiefs goal line, Aaron Rodgers did what Aaron Rodgers does best. He dropped a perfectly thrown prayer ball to the corner of the end-zone, hitting Jamaal Williams for the touchdown, putting the Packers up 24-17.

With the Packers up by 7 the Chiefs quickly responded, driving down the field all the way down to the Green Bay 8. Just when the Packers were finally able to hold the Chiefs, a key hands to the face call, which was a little ironic, on Tramon Williams gave the Chiefs a fresh set of downs and Damien Williams ran the ball in to tie the game back up with 8:55 left in the game.

It wouldn’t take long for the Packers to respond as after a quick run to start out the drive, Rodgers hit another running back, Aaron Jones on a short screen pass which he took to the house for his second receiving touchdown of the game.

The defense would force the Chiefs to punt after 6 plays, and with five minutes left on the clock, there was no doubt in the minds of Packers fans that the game was all but over. Rodgers and company did what they did to Detroit and proceeded to run out the last five minutes of the clock with a key 3rd down pass to Aaron Jones sealing the game after the Chiefs had used their last timeout.

The Packers pulled out the win 31-24, and can thank their running backs for carrying the load on the ground and in the air as they combined for 262 of the teams 374 yards from scrimmage.

With Davante Adams hopefully returning to the lineup soon, and the prospect of playing an injury riddle Los Angeles Chargers team next weekend, the Packers hope to continue the success they have had over the previous 4 games and advance their winning streak to 5 games.

The Packers (7-1) will play the Chargers (3-5) next Sunday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles at 4:25 ET.

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