The Green Bay Packers stunned the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-19, and quarterback Jordan Love threw three touchdowns to secure the victory Sunday night.
The Packers, now 6-6, move into playoff position in the NFC. The Chiefs would have secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC with a victory, but at 8-4, they are now the No. 3 seed behind the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had the chance to deliver another magical late-game drive down eight points with less than two minutes on the clock and no timeouts, but controversy ensued as he tried to charge downfield.
There was a controversial call, and more importantly, a no-call that will have sports personalities talking all day on Monday about what could have been.
The first came when Mahomes was rushing for 10 yards and Packers safety Jonathan Owens came up and hit him as he was trying to run out of bounds to stop the clock. A referee across the field threw the flag for unnecessary roughness, but replay showed that Mahomes was still in bounds when Owens made contact with him.
While it shouldn’t have been a penalty, the Chiefs moved up 15 extra yards to their 40-yard line with 57 seconds left to play.
But the bigger official blunder came on the very next play when Mahomes decided to take a deep shot to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who was clearly contacted by a Packers defender before attempting a catch.
NBC Sports rules analyst Terry McAulay came on the broadcast to say that it was definitely contact before the ball was catchable and a flag for defensive pass interference should’ve been thrown.
The Chiefs would’ve had the ball at the two-yard line with more than enough time to score and attempt a two-point conversion to force overtime.
Instead, Mahomes tried for the end zone on multiple occasions, including a Hail Mary at the end of the game – but all of them went incomplete.
Mahomes finished the game 21-of-33 for 210 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The drives in this game were long ones, and to put it into perspective, each team had just three of them in the first half.
The Packers cashed in on the first, which lasted almost eight full minutes to begin the game. It was a 13-play drive, where Love looked locked in as he sold a beautiful play-action to A.J. Dillon to get tight end Ben Sims wide open for his first career touchdown catch from one yard out.
The Chiefs matched the Packers’ opening drive, but only in time spent on the field. They went over seven minutes as well, but Mahomes, the least-sacked quarterback in the NFL, was taken down twice in the red zone. Harrison Butker was forced to kick a 34-yard field goal to get Kansas City on the board.
Green Bay’s second drive took half as much time as the first, but the result was still the same. Love was slinging it, using Dontayvion Wicks to get into Kansas City territory. A few plays later, Christian Watson was streaking across the end zone when Love whipped it to him for the touchdown.
The Chiefs, once again, couldn’t find the end zone on its second drive, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. They were on the field for 8 minutes and 20 seconds of clock, but Mahomes was sacked yet again on third down in the red zone, forcing another Butker kick.
With the Chiefs down at halftime, Mahomes & Co. were looking to set the tone in the second half. A touchdown drive was the ideal result to start, and that’s exactly what happened when Isiah Pacheco popped into the end zone from one yard out.
But Love, showcasing his confidence all night long, had the response drive the Packers and everyone at Lambeau Field needed to see. One of the best plays of the night was Love launching it up on fourth-and-1 to Romeo Doubs, who caught the ball in between three Chiefs defenders for a 33-yard gain to set up the Packers in the red zone.
From there, Love would find Watson yet again, this time with the young receiver launching himself in the air to make a catch over a Chiefs defender for a 12-yard touchdown.
Mahomes, though, wasn’t giving up easily. He went 11 plays on the next drive and threw his only touchdown of the game to his backup tight end Noah Gray from two yards out to make it a 21-19 deficit.
That touchdown came as the fourth quarter began, making it clear this game was going to come down to the wire. Green Bay was able to kick a field goal to make it a 24-19 game, but with tons of time for Mahomes to work with, the Chiefs were in a good position to take their first lead of the game at the right moment.
Though Kansas City saw the exact opposite take place on the ensuing drive.
On the second play, Mahomes was looking for Skyy Moore on a wheel route down the right sideline. However, Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon ran the route better than Moore, securing a key interception that turned out to be a game changer.
Love finished the game 25-of-36 for 267 yards with three touchdown passes in one of his best games of the season. His leading receiver was Doubs, who had 72 yards on four catches.
Dillon provided 73 yards on the ground on 18 carries, taking the lion’s share of rushing plays with the injured Aaron Jones sidelined.
