The Green Bay Packers will face the defending Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, at Lambeau Field on Sunday night. At 5-6, the Packers could not be any more different than the 8-3 Chiefs. Green Bay, especially on offense, is made up young players with little NFL experience. Jordan Love is in his first year of starting and his pass catchers are all first or second-year players.
The Chiefs, on the other hand, are made up of a fine mixture of young and old, most of whom have a Super Bowl ring. Of course, they are led on offense by two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes, who is considered by many to be the best quarterback in the league.
Green Bay, though, is a team on the rise. They have won three of their last four games and are just a half game out of the final NFC wild card in the NFL Playoff race. While much of the attention for their recent run of success is given to the obvious improvements Love and his young pass catchers have made, it would be unfair to also acknowledge that Joe Barry‘s defense has gotten the job done as well.
Mahomes said as much when he addressed the Kansas City media earlier this week.
Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes Praises Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers Defense
When speaking to reporters earlier this week, Mahomes was asked about playing at Lambeau Field and his thoughts on the young Packers team:
#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes had a lot of praise for the #Packers before Sunday night’s matchup at Lambeau.
“They’ve been playing great football all year.. Jordan (Love’s) gotten better & better every single game.. they have playmakers everywhere.. & their defense can plays.” pic.twitter.com/OJcMlPkdUZ
— Kyle Malzhan (@KyleMalzhan) November 30, 2023
“They’ve been playing great football all year. I’ve watched a lot of their games just because we play similar opponents, obviously.
“And so, Jordan has gotten better and better in every single game. He’s always had the talent, but when you get more and more reps, I mean, he didn’t play for three years, basically. So he’s getting more and more reps. You can see how much more comfortable he’s getting. They have playmakers everywhere.
“And their defense, they got a lot of guys that can play football. So it will be a good challenge for us. They’re a hot football team that just beat another great football team, so they have confidence coming in, and we have to match that confidence and try to win a football game.”
For as much grief as fans give Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry, he did a great job against Mahomes and the Chiefs the last time they played back in 2021. That also happened to be Love’s first career start.
Green Bay lost that game 13-7, but Mahomes was held to 166 passing yards despite completing 20 of 37 passes. The Packers also held Kansas City to 77 yards rushing. Unfortunately, Love was unable to get into a rhythm due to the Chiefs’ own stifling defense. He did throw his first career touchdown pass to Allen Lazard during that game.
Obviously, much has changed in two years; but if the Packers play their best football, they could pull off quite the upset.
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