Packers Embarrassed by Lowly Chiefs...Fall to 13-1

The first loss of the Packers' season came when nobody was expecting it. We had heard predictions of the Lions being the first and then the Giants and later the Raiders. But none of these were up to the task. No, it was the 5-8 Kansas City Chiefs that welcomed the challenge of facing an undefeated Packers' team. Less than a week after firing their head coach, and starting a recently acquired QB off of waivers the Chiefs looked more prepared, more motivated, and like the better team on Sunday afternoon. The Packers looked flat, unfocused, confused, and sloppy. It was embarrassing. Here's my analysis:

Things I Liked

Tim Masthay - Masthay was the one bright spot in the Packers' debachal of a game in Kansas City. He boomed every punt (he had several opportunities) and one even went for a career best 71 yards!

Things I Didn't Like

Aaron Rodgers - For the first time all season Rodgers completed less than 50% of his passes. He finished with an 80 QB rating. With the exception of the 2 TD drives, he looked nervous in the pocket, out of sync, off target, and had trouble finding open receivers.

Offensive Line - The o-line was beaten up badly. Even before the injuries started, they couldn't protect Rodgers. They opened some nice holes for Ryan Grant to run, but the Packers didn't run the ball that often. Then the injuries started. First Bulaga left witha knee sprain, then his replacement (Derek Sherrod) left for the season with a broken leg. This could be a HUGE problem for the remainder of the season and playoffs. Maybe Mark Tauscher is still available...?

Defense - The defense was not very good. Granted they came up with a handful of goal line stands, otherwise this game would have been even more lopsided, but they made the Chiefs look like a top tier offense. They couldn't tackle, they couldn't cover, and I dont remember them even getting close to Kyle Orton. In reality, the Chiefs have one of the worst offenses in the league and hadn't broken 10 points in over 3 weeks. Pathetic.

Receivers - It seemed like every time Rodgers threw a good pass, the receiver would drop it. And most of them came on 3rd downs. Finley dropped at least 3, Driver dropped 1 and so did Jones, Crabtree, and Nelson. The only player I saw catch all of the passes thrown to him was rookie Randall Cobb. This unit obviously missed Greg Jennings.

I could probably keep going with this, but it's starting to depress me. We're still 13-1 and one more win will give the Packers the 1st seed in the NFC for the playoffs. The season is not over, and if the patchwork offensive line can protect Rodgers at all then I think we will be fine for the playoffs. Jennings should return and this team has good veteran leadership and the ability to motivate itself and rebound from adversity. Up next, the Packers are at home with a chance to sweep the Bears and clinch home-field advantage. GO PACK!