While the final score of Monday night's game may appear that it was a little closer than it felt, the fact is the Kansas City Chiefs started slow against a team in the Green Bay Packers that doesn't need much help to win at home.
Since 2006, the Packers are 55-17-1 at Lambeau Field under head coach Mike McCarthy.
Despite outscoring the Packers 21-7 in the final 16 minutes of the game, the Chiefs were in too deep of a hole and ultimately fell 38-28 to move to 1-2 on the season.
From the beginning, the Packers really took control of the game.
After one quarter of play, the Chiefs trailed 14-0.
"If you get in a hole early against that kind of team you don't give yourself a very good chance to win," Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said after the game. "Even though we battled back at the end, you can't come out like we did. We knew it was going to be hard coming into Green Bay to beat them. We knew it was doable, but we have to get better.
"Our standards are very high and coach Andy Reid, he set the standard high and today wasn't a good example of how high our standards are."
Johnson became the franchise's all-time leading tackler after he brought down Packers running back James Starks midway through the third quarter.
On an otherwise forgettable night for the Chiefs, Johnson's storied career will have a chapter from Monday night's game, which should give everyone something positive to take out of another tough loss.
For the Packers, the story was quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who proved yet again to be a dominant player at Lambeau Field.
The last time Rodgers threw an interception at Lambeau was December 12, 2012, and he didn't throw one on Monday night. He did complete 24 of 35 for 333 yards and five touchdowns.
It was the first time in over a year the Chiefs defense allowed a 300-yard passer.
"You can't come out to Green Bay and start flat with Aaron Rodgers on their side," Johnson said. "That's a Hall of Fame quarterback and we give him much respect. I speak for the defense and we gave up a lot of stuff today. We have to go back and look in the mirror and make sure we have a gut check and make sure we're doing our part.
"That starts with myself. We'll get better."
Offensively, it was a tale of two halves for the Chiefs.
The offense couldn't get anything going in the first half, finishing with just 94 total yards and going 0 for 4 on third downs.
QB Alex Smith said after the game that they just couldn't handle the pressure the Packers were bringing early in the game.
"Some of that was a little unanticipated to the extent that they have had some injuries on that side of the ball," Smith explained. "So we didn't know how that was going to play into it. They were bringing it, and they kept bringing it.
"Obviously, we couldn't make a play against it."
Photos from the Chiefs week three matchup against the Packers
The Packers defense finished the game with 7 sacks, 9 tackles for loss and 8 quarterback hits.
After not catching either of the two balls thrown in his direction in the first half, Jeremy Maclin exploded in the second half, catching 8 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown.
But after the game, Maclin reiterated that it was an uphill battle all day after getting off to a slow start.
"We have to stop the bleeding," Maclin said. "Someone has to step up and make a play and I feel like we picked it up too late. I had a chance (to make a play) in the third quarter and I kind of backed up to catch the ball, and I dropped that ball.
"You look at stuff like that, that was a chance to get things going and I just don't think we did that enough today. But we'll go back and watch the film and make corrections."
The Chiefs will get back to work on a short week to prepare for the Cincinnati Bengals (3-0).
"We need to bounce back and get better," Smith noted. "I think the bottom line is that after a game like that tonight we all need to look in the mirror. We all need to find a way to fix this. "There is a lot of football left."
