Chiefs hold off Packers in Love’s debut
Patrick Mahomes threw for 166 yards and a touchdown, Kansas City relentlessly blitzed the Packers’ Jordan Love in his highly anticipated first start in place of Aaron Rodgers, and the Chiefs held off Green Bay 13-7 on Sunday.
Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, forcing the reigning MVP to miss his first game since the 2017 season.
Love responded by going 19 of 34 for 190 yards with a touchdown and an interception, both of them coming in the fourth quarter when the Packers were trying to rally from a 13-0 deficit against the defending AFC champs.
Love’s touchdown pass to Allen Lazard with 4:49 left gave Green Bay a chance.
But Mahomes threw a dart to Tyreek Hill on third-and-10 near midfield with less than two minutes left for a first down that allowed the Chiefs to run out the clock.
Travis Kelce had five catches for 68 yards and a touchdown for the Chiefs (5-4), who have won their three of their last four games despite a problematic offense. They finished with just 237 yards against Green Bay.
The Packers (7-2) only managed 301 yards off offense as their sevengame winning streak came to an end. Green Bay also fell to 6-12-1 without Rodgers since 2008.
More than any quarterback or offense, the difference in the first half was Green Bay’s special teams.
Mason Crosby yanked a 40-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter.
And he had a 37-yarder blocked in the second period.
And when the Packers punted later in the half, one of their downfield blockers accidentally touched the ball with his toe and the Chiefs recovered, eventually turning it into a chip-shot field-goal.
The Chiefs, whose highflying offense has turned heads on the way to three straight AFC title games, went three-and-out on their first two drives of the second half.
Green Bay finally put together a solid drive early in the fourth quarter, when Love completed seven straight passes. But after back-to-back incompletions, Love threw a pass toward Davante Adams — who was back from his own positive COVID-19 test last week — that was picked off by L'Jarius Sneed near the Kansas
City goal line.