Kansas City Chiefs

Top 5 takeaways from Chiefs' blowout loss in Green Bay

Published Sep. 29, 2015 12:34 p.m. ET

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By Matt Belman

While Kansas City went into Green Bay as heavy underdogs, I thought the Chiefs had a legit shot to pull the upset at Lambeau. Then Aaron Rodgers reminded me of why he is the best quarterback in the NFL and Kansas City ending up falling to the Packers 38-28 with the game a much bigger blowout then the score would indicate.

Kansas City fell behind 38-14 early in the 4th quarter before two Jamaal Charles touchdowns made the final score much more respectable. After watching Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers completely shred Kansas City and its lack of defense, here are my five biggest takeaways from the loss.

Where was the defense?

In order to leave Green Bay with a victory, Kansas City’s defense needed to play an amazing game. Instead, it played its worst game in three games and Aaron Rodgers capitalized on the Chiefs weak secondary throwing for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns. Sack master Justin Houston spent much of the night chasing Rodgers around and the defensive line seemed to be overmatched by the Packers underrated offensive line.

Randall Cobb and James Jones completely tore Phillip Gaines to pieces before Gaines left with an injury and Cobb made Tyvon Branch look silly in the slot. Kansas City cannot wait for the return of Sean Smith, their undisputed top cornerback who served the last of his three-game NFL suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. Without Smith, Rodgers had one of the best games of his career and in order for Kansas City to regain some of their swagger they need Smith back in the lineup.

No protection

Before scoring two garbage time touchdowns, Kansas City’s offense looked completely anemic with Jamaal Charles having almost no room to run and Alex Smith pressured on almost every throw. While Smith did not have a good game at all, much of the blame falls on Kansas City’s offensive line as Julius Peppers, Clay Matthews and the entire interior of Green Bay’s defensive line were all over the place. Pressure came from everywhere all night and it is imperative for the Chiefs to fix this before next week if they want to beat one of the better teams in the league in Cincinnati.

Lack of ball control

Coming into this game everyone knew who Aaron Rodgers was and what he could do if given time in the pocket. Kansas City needed to control the ball, keep Rodgers off the field and get in his face when he was trying to make plays. Kansas City simply did a horrible job in all these facets of the game, going three-and-out the entire first quarter and letting Rodgers get into one of his patented grooves.

A wide receiver touchdown

While almost everything in this game should be forgotten leading up to next Sunday’s battle against the Bengals, I would be remiss to not mention Jeremy Maclin’s 5-yard touchdown pass with 56 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Chiefs their first touchdown to a wide receiver in the regular season since the last game of 2013. This was a streak Kansas City needed to end and hopefully is a sign of good things to come for Maclin and the Chiefs pass offense.

On to next week

When Green Bay scored at the beginning of the 4th quarter to extend their lead to 38-14, it was good night for Kansas City and the focus began to shift to next Sunday where Kansas City travels to 3-0 Cincinnati. The Bengals look like one of the best teams in the AFC with Andy Dalton and AJ Green miraculously coming back from two late fourth quarter deficits against a desperate Baltimore team and winning in Baltimore to put the Ravens at 0-3 for the first time ever. Cincy boasts a great run game led by one of the best offensive lines in the league and a premier pass game thanks to Green who is undoubtedly top 5 wide receiver in all the land.

Getting Sean Smith back will be key to Kansas City’s secondary and in order for Kansas City to avoid becoming 1-3, they must get back to what they did during the Houston game and at the beginning of the Denver game. Aside from a wide receiver scoring and Jamaal Charles continuing his assault on the end zone with three tuddy’s himself, not much good can be taken away from Kansas City’s loss to Green Bay on Monday Night Football.

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