Green Bay Packers defeat Kansas City Chiefs despite Matt Moore’s best efforts

The Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers provided a thrilling game that stayed close to the end on Sunday Night Football.

Despite the very best efforts of Kansas City Chiefs backup quarterback Matt Moore and an incredible effort from an injured home team, the Green Bay Packers walked away with a hard-fought 31-24 victory in Week 8.

Packers star Aaron Rodgers threw 3 touchdowns on the night, including two through the air to running back Aaron Jones, who was the player of the game after putting up an incredible 218 yards from scrimmage (151 through the air). Jones was simply unstoppable down the stretch against a Chiefs defense that was completely gassed after being thinned via injuries.

The Packers deserve credit for coming into Arrowhead and putting up 31 points. Rodgers is red hot and should be squarely in the MVP conversation at the season’s midpoint. The Pack are 7-1 overall and look solid on both sides of the ball, with a quarterback who has 9 touchdowns over the last two weeks.

That said, the Chiefs played the Packers tough with a backup quarterback who completed 24 of 36 attempts for 267 yards and 2 touchdowns. Moore played behind a line that already featured injuries to left tackle Eric Fisher and left guard Andrew Wylie, but the Chiefs offensive line also lost Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to injury on the night.

As for the defense, Steve Spagnuolo’s unit actually looked very solid through most of the game. Unfortunately a unit that’s already lost defensive linemen Frank Clark, Chris Jones, and Xavier Williams also lost Alex Okafor for some time as well as cornerback Bashaud Breeland (to go with Kendall Fuller who is also out). Long drives by the Packers in the third quarter put the momentum squarely on their side and the Chiefs were winded and thinned out by the end of the game, when the Packers could just run out the clock.

The Chiefs had their chance to match the Packers down the stretch, down by a touchdown, but a key third down stop forced Andy Reid to punt—or at least he chose to do so, a decision met with a lot of frustration among Chiefs fans online. With just over 5:00 minutes left, the Chiefs would never get the ball back again. It was a frustrating final drive for an offense that had put together such an impressive overall performance.

The Chiefs now prepare to play the Minnesota Vikings in Week 9, another home game for K.C., and the Packers travel to face the L.A. Chargers.