Chiefs fall to Packers at Lambeau

The Kansas City Chiefs (8-4) lose to the Green Bay Packers (6-6) in week 13, 27-19.

The Kansas City Chiefs (8-4) simply got outplayed by the Green Bay Packers (6-6) in quarterback Patrick Mahomes' first trip to Lambeau Field. There were two critical plays or turning points in the game that the Chiefs could not overcome in their 27-19 loss to the Packers. 

One of the plays was a self-inflicted interception thrown by Mahomes and the other was beyond their control after a brutal non-pass interference call by the referees. 

With just over six minutes to go, the Chiefs' defense had just limited Green Bay to a field goal after a long drive ended in a sack by defensive end Mike Danna. The score was 24-19 and Mahomes and the offense had a chance to take their first lead of the game and put their offensive woes behind them. 

Instead, cornerback Keisean Nixon read Mahomes target to wide receiver Skyy Moore like a book. Nixon appeared to have a better beat on the ball than Moore did as he hauled it in on just the second play of the drive. 

“You can’t make that mistake,” Mahomes said. “… The guy went over the top. I probably should have backshouldered it to Skyy (Moore). That’s just a mistake on my part that you can’t make in that situation.”

From there, the Packers did what they did all night. They put together a long scoring drive. After a defensive end Charles Omenihu sack, the promising drive did end in a field goal, which put Green Bay up eight points with just over a minute left in the game. 

Kansas City’s final drive was wild. Parts of it included a Green Bay fumble recovery for a touchdown, which was reversed. On that same play running back Isiah Pacheco threw a left hook at a Packers defender and was ejected from the game. Had he not done that, the Chiefs would have had the ball at the Packers 35 with 57 seconds left. 

What ensued that play though, was egregious. Mahomes dropped back on a first and 10 from the 50 and chucked the ball down to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. As Valdez Scantling was tracking the ball, Packers’ cornerback Carrington Vallentine played straight through the receiver’s back inhibiting him from making a play on the ball. 

“It is what it is,” Mahomes said. “Obviously the guy was probably a little early but at the end of the day they’re letting guys play and I’m kind of about that. I’d rather you let the guys play and let the guys win it on the field. It’s a hard job, man. When we’re in the situation I can’t be wanting the flag. I have to try to go out there and win the game myself and with the rest of my teammates.”

Cris Collinsworth, Mike Tirico and NBC’s Rules Analyst Terry McAulay all agreed that the non-call was wrong, to say the least. Mahomes and the offense were able to gain 17 more yards on the drive, leaving them with a 33-yard hail mary which McAulay also said should have been a Packers pass interference committed against tight end Travis Kelce. 

Referees typically try not to call pass interference on hail mary’s, but Kelce could not jump up for the ball as he was shoved forward, and the ball bounced away to seal the Packers' victory. 

Despte putting up 19 points, it was not an awful performance by the Chiefs offense. They scored on their first four drives; other than the drive they took a kneel to go into halftime. They seemed to have officially fixed their second-half woes narrative as they again put up two touchdowns in the second half. 

What killed them was the points they left on the board in the first half with the two red zone field goals and the lone interception. After scoring on their first four drives, they came away with zero on their last three. Mahomes finished the day with 210 yards passing and one touchdown that went to tight end Noah Gray.

“We made too many mistakes,” Mahomes said. “They had a good game plan, played a good game. Jordan (Love) played great. But at the end of the day, if you make too many mistakes against a good football team, you lose.”

The receiver's box score looked similar to last week, with Kelce and wide receiver Rashee Rice leading the way. Kelce hauled in all but one of his targets for 81 yards. Rice also caught all but one of his targets and finished with 64 yards on eight catches. The depth issue remains with no receiver in this game other than Rice and Kelce finished with more than 25 yards on the night.

The Chiefs’ best player on Sunday night was probably Pacheco. He ran down the Packers throats all night, finishing with 110 yards on 18 carries and tallied a touchdown. He also brought in three receptions for 13 yards.

The defense got bloodied up more than they had for much of the season as well. Quarterback of the Packers, Jordan Love was efficient. Love converted 69 percent of his passes, tossed it 267 yards, found the endzone three times and had no interceptions.

Green Bay also ran for 5.2 yards per clip while wide receiver Christian Watson caught seven balls for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Romeo Doubs was also the beneficiary of a couple of deep ball targets after Love seemingly blindly chucked it downfield on well-timed blitzes by Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

“They made plays,” head coach Andy Reid said. “They used the clock. They were letting it run down to five seconds and below and they were getting first downs, so that became a problem. You got to get off the field on defense and you got to stay on the field on offense and not shoot ourselves.”

“That’s my responsibility for that. We have to be better prepared to take care of that stuff right there. You do that, and you can win a game. But in this league, there is too much parity … But if you come out and self-destruct like that in certain areas then you have a problem.”

Perhaps the biggest blow to the Chiefs' defense was the loss of linebacker Drue Tranquill early in the game. He left due to being entered into the league’s concussion protocol. Safety Bryan Cook appeared to have suffered a severe lower leg injury, as he was carted off the field early in the second half. This forced reserves like linebacker Jack Cochrane and rookie safety Chamarri Conner into the game to play prominent roles.

Next up the Chiefs have a well-rested Buffalo Bills (6-6) team coming into Kansas City following their bye week. The Bills will be fighting for their playoff lives and the Chiefs will now have some work to do to earn the one seed back. Following the loss to the Packers, Kansas City currently sits at the fourth seed. The Chiefs and Bills kick off at 3:25 p.m. CDT on December 10^th.

“Obviously we’re not where we want to be at,” Mahomes said. “But I feel like we’re close. We’re playing a lot of good football teams really well – winning some of those games, losing some of those games. We’re kind of in that go-zone now where we got to try to get it going through the stretch. All we can do is learn from this game and be focused on another challenge this week out at Arrowhead.”