In a building with Taylor Swift, Simone Biles, Tony Shalhoub and Bobby Portis in attendance, it was Jordan Love who was the biggest star as the Green Bay Packers took down the Kansas City Chiefs 27-19 at Lambeau Field on Dec. 3.
In a stand-alone game on Sunday Night Football, Love put together another career performance, as the fourth-year quarterback completed 25-of-36 passes for 267 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. This marks the third straight game that Love hasn’t turned the ball over. In that three-game stretch, he has recorded 857 passing yards and eight touchdowns.
“The only word that I can think of is extraordinary,” said Packers wide receiver Christian Watson, on Love’s recent play. “His comfortability, his confidence, his ability to make plays – we are just seeing more and more every single week.”
It was Watson who was on the receiving end of two Love’s touchdowns this week. Up 7-3 with 10:44 left in the second quarter, Watson broke away from coverage in the back of the end zone and found himself wide open for a nine-yard score to push the lead to two scores.
His second touchdown came in the middle of the third quarter, as Love dropped back and threw a jump ball, which Watson out-jumped the Kansas City defender to bring down.
With Love’s recent success, Watson has been just as good, as in that three-game stretch, Watson has recorded 184 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
The offense as a whole outdueled Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ offense, as the future Hall of Famer was held to just 210 passing yards and one touchdown.
Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco was the main contributor for the Chiefs, as he totaled 110 yards and one touchdown on 18 rushes. But, he was ejected late in the game after throwing a punch at Packers defensive back Keisean Nixon.
It was Nixon who made arguably the biggest play of the game though.
With Green Bay up 24-19 in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Chiefs took over after a made field goal from Packers kicker Anders Carlson. On the first play of the drive, Mahomes dropped back and hit rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice for a nine-yard gain. That play was followed up with a defensive pass interference from Packers defensive back Corey Ballentine.
On the ensuing play, Mahomes dropped back and threw a floating ball to the right side of the field that was intended for receiver Skyy Moore. Nixon played the ball like he was the receiver and intercepted Mahomes to give the ball back to Green Bay with 5:20 remaining in the game.
“We were watching mannerism tape earlier in the week, and he tapped his knee and they put two off the ball, and I’m like ‘Oh, I’ve seen this before,’ and I knew he was going to run it and he ran it,” said Nixon, on his interception.
In total, the Packers scored touchdowns on three of its first four drives, with rookie tight end Ben Sims opening the game with his first career touchdown. Green Bay controlled the entire game and with questionable officiating during the second half of the fourth quarter, the Packers’ defense swatted down Mahomes’ last second Hail Mary attempt to improve to 6-6 on the season.
This was the second time in both quarterbacks’ careers that they faced the other team. For Mahomes, it was his first time playing at Lambeau Field, and for Love it was his first time starting a Lambeau game against the Chiefs. The first game against Kansas City for Love came in 2021, when Aaron Rodgers was ruled out with COVID-19. In that game Green Bay lost 13-7, with Love passing for just 190 yards.
“Obviously, I’ve had this game circled for a long time,” said Love. “This was my first start, and I obviously didn’t play how I wanted to in the first game. To be able to see these guys and get the victory is huge.”
Green Bay now sits at 6-6 on the season, which is tied with the Minnesota Vikings for the second spot in the NFC North, but more importantly, it currently slots the Packers into the seventh seed in the NFC Playoff Picture. That is a far cry from a team that was 3-6 and looking at a top-seven pick in the NFL Draft just three weeks ago.
According to the New York Times Playoff Simulator, the Packers now hold a 70% chance to make the playoffs.
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