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Kansas City Chiefs: 2nd Half Surge Not Enough Vs Packers

By Alec Tilson

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The KC Chiefs outscored the Packers 21-14 in the second half, but couldn’t overcome a horrid start to the game.

It was a tale of two halves for the Kansas City Chiefs last night on Monday Night Football. It wasn’t a full half of good football, but it certainly looked like two different Chiefs teams played on Monday.

The Chiefs fell behind 31-7, then finished the game on a 21-7 run that proved to be too little, entirely too late.

The Chiefs did exactly what you can’t do to an Aaron Rodgers-led team at Lambeau Field. They fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter, allowed nine yards-per-pass and ultimately gave up 448 yards of total offense.

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Cornerback Sean Smith was suspended, corner Phillip Gaines left early in the game with a knee injury, and the Chiefs were forced to match-up safety Tyvon Branch with one of the best receivers in the NFL in Randall Cobb. Gaines has a knee sprain, according to 610 Sports.

It was a mess of a game for the Chiefs for two-and-a-half quarters.

The offense started punt, punt, punt, touchdown, punt, punt, punt, interception.

The offense started punt, punt, punt, touchdown, punt, punt, punt, interception. The offensive line looked out-manned and running back Jamaal Charles was bottled up (except for a nice nine-yard draw play on 2nd-and-goal that resulted in the Chiefs’ first score).

Then all of a sudden, trailing 31-7 in a nationally televised route, something clicked.

Either the Packers were mentally in the locker room doing post-game interviews, or the Chiefs offense found a rhythm that the Packers couldn’t answer.

Quarterback Alex Smith, who completed just two passes in the first half, led the Chiefs on an 11 play, 80-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a Jeremy Maclin five-yard catch.

The Chiefs would squander a Packers’ 3rd-and-eight on the following drive when linebacker Dee Ford jumped offside, and Rodgers connected for 52 yards on the free play. Three plays later it was 38-14 Packers.

Kansas City answered with a seven play, 89-yard touchdown drive, forced a Green Bay punt and then (slowly) marched again on a 17 play touchdown drive to close the gap to ten points.

Penalties and missed assignments – among other things – killed the Chiefs in the first half. A Tamba Hali sack-fumble was nullified by a penalty. An unnecessary roughness penalty pushed the Chiefs back to its own seven yard-line, and Smith was promptly intercepted.

Rodgers ran his patented (often times no huddle) offense like a Hall Of Famer and didn’t break a sweat in the first half. He challenged the Chiefs secondary and didn’t get much of a fight.

Oh, and Linebacker Derrick Johnson became the Chiefs all-time leader in tackles:

The Chiefs could have packed it in and looked ahead to Cincinnati, but they nearly made it a one-possession game with two minutes left in the game.

There’s a lot of positives to take from the last 25 minutes of action, but the first 35 minutes were filled with bad execution and bad football.

What did you see from your Kansas City Chiefs last night?

Next: Alex Smith Has Golden Opportunity

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