The Sports Xchange

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The NFL, as part of its Super Bowl 50 celebration, billed Monday night’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs as a Super Bowl I rematch.

This game wasn’t much more competitive.

Aaron Rodgers threw five touchdown passes, including three to Randall Cobb, as the Packers rolled over the Chiefs 38-28 at rainy Lambeau Field.

The Chiefs, coming off a mini-bye week following last Thursday’s shocking loss against Denver, were outclassed in every way imaginable while falling behind 38-14 early in the fourth quarter. At halftime, Rodgers had more touchdown passes (three) than counterpart Alex Smith had completions (two).

“I just think we’re scratching the surface a little bit,” Rodgers said of the 3-0 Packers. “It starts with the guys up front. They’ve been blocking really well. We have three games in, we’ve got three sacks. That’s pretty impressive. If those guys keep blocking like that we’re going to be tough to beat.”

Kansas City put an end to one ugly streak as it tried to dig its way out of a deep hole in the second half. When Smith hit Jeremy Maclin for a 5-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, it was the Chiefs’ first touchdown pass to a wide receiver since the playoff loss to Indianapolis on Jan. 4, 2014 — a streak of 18 consecutive games.

“The one positive,” Smith said. “It is nice to get the ball in his hands and get him in the end zone. We won’t have to deal with the receiver talk anymore.”

However, the Chiefs (1-2) repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. The Packers gained five first downs via Chiefs penalties in the first half alone. Early in the fourth quarter, Rodgers drew the Chiefs offside again and, as he has done repeatedly through the early part of the season, took advantage of a free play by hitting James Jones for a gain of 52. That put the Packers in position for Cobb’s career-high third touchdown reception of the night, which put Green Bay in front 38-14.

What we learned about the Packers:

1. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is on top of his game. With five touchdowns against no interceptions on Monday, he’s up to 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions for the season. His passer rating is 135.4. “Well, I need to,” Rodgers said of being on top of his game. “I need to bring it every week. Thankful for the three wins and would like to keep it going like this throughout the season. Consistency is very important in our business and if you’re making good decisions and taking care of the football, you’re going to give your team a chance to win.”

2. The Packers gave up 141 rushing yards to Chicago’s Matt Forte in Week 1 and 41 yards to Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch in Week 2. Which run defense would show up in Week 3? The Packers held the Chiefs to 75 rushing yards. Sure, some of that was due to the circumstances of a lopsided game, but Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles had 13 yards in the first half until two draw plays in the final moments of the second quarter. “Obviously, Forte had a few too many yards,” linebacker Clay Matthews said. “But to bounce back with Marshawn as well as Jamaal here tonight and to keep them in check, I thought we did a great job and kind of force them to be one-dimensional.”

3. The Packers continue to thrive on offense, even without the big-play element provided by Pro Bowl receiver Jordy Nelson, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. Randall Cobb caught seven passes for 91 yards and three touchdowns and James Jones, who was signed just before the start of the regular season, had seven catches for 139 yards and a touchdown. “We’re still trying to find our way, see the things that we do best,” Jones said. “We come in here every day and watch film and go over the things we like and don’t like. Today we came out here and executed some plays really well, so we’ve just got to continue to do that.”

Etc.:

–QB Aaron Rodgers threw five touchdowns and no interceptions, continuing a pair of incredible home streaks. Rodgers has gone 486 attempts since his last Lambeau Field interception on Dec. 2, 2012, with 43 touchdown passes during that span. Both extended league records. In three games this season, Rodgers has 10 touchdowns and no interceptions. Rodgers and Peyton Manning (12 touchdowns, zero interceptions 2013) are the only players in NFL history with 10-plus touchdowns and zero interceptions in the first three games of a season. “He’s playing great football,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “Aaron’s a phenomenal player, playing great football. I don’t know how else to keep saying it.”

–WR Randall Cobb caught three touchdown passes, all on essentially the same play — quick scoring passes of 3, 4 and 4 yards on which he caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and found the end zone. “We have run-pass options on a lot of those plays,” Cobb said. “Just being able to see the matchup and being able to see how the leverage of the defender, it really gives us that advantage.”

–LB Clay Matthews, who has lined up mostly at inside linebacker and has had few pass-rushing opportunities, had two sacks as Green Bay piled up seven. “Yeah, it was (nice). Obviously, I get a good dose of being around the ball at the inside but anytime you get back out there at a position that you’ve played for a long time, it’s fun to get after the quarterback. Fortunately, all of us were able to get after the quarterback and make him uncomfortable in the pocket.”