GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers aren’t just winning games with frequency after a slow start this season, they are dominating opponents as good as or better than any other team in the NFL right now.

Green Bay ran its winning streak to four games Sunday by running out to a 28-0 lead in the first half and cruising to a 38-17 thrashing of the visiting Carolina Panthers.

“It’s just playing complete football across the board,” wide receiver Jordy Nelson said. “It’s fun to be a part of that, and if we’re executing like that, games will become this way.”

The Packers (5-2), who remained tied with the Detroit Lions for first place in the division, are one of only four teams in the league to have won at least four games in a row during the first seven weeks of the season.

The others are the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys, who are on a six-game win streak; the AFC South-leading Indianapolis Colts, who have won five in a row; and the San Diego Chargers, who had a five-game win streak end Sunday against Kansas City.

After starting 1-2, Green Bay has outscored the opposition 145-68 in its unbeaten stretch. The differential of 77 points is the highest among the four teams who have strung together four victories — San Diego is next at plus-71 (116-45) during the first four games of its five-game win streak.

“It’s a lot more efficient,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said of the Packers’ offense, which has accounted for all but seven of the team’s 145 points the last four games. “We’re still not hitting some of our yardage and plays-per-game goals, but we’re being very efficient, and that started in the Chicago game.”

Green Bay’s 38-17 road bashing of the Bears on Sept. 28 started the big winning streak. A 42-10 drubbing of the Minnesota Vikings followed four days later. The closest win for the Packers in the recent stretch — and the season — came Oct. 12 at Miami, where they rallied from seven points down in the closing minutes to pull out a 27-24 triumph over the Dolphins on a touchdown throw by Rodgers with only three seconds left.

The Packers promptly picked up where they left off in that game by scoring a touchdown in each of their first three possessions Sunday to forge a 21-0 lead against the stunned Panthers with two minutes left in the first quarter.

“We had 47 plays with 38 points,” said Rodgers, referring to the impressive work by the offense in just three quarters before coach Mike McCarthy lifted his star quarterback and other starters in the final quarter. “The (number of) plays weren’t extremely high, but we had a lot of point production, and that’s how it’s been.”

On the strength of the mistake-proof right arm of Rodgers, Green Bay (199) jumped ahead of Dallas (196) for the most points in the NFC. Indianapolis has a league-high 216 points.

Rodgers had a near-perfect passer rating of 154.5 on Sunday, going 19 of 22 for 255 yards and three touchdowns. He has 18 touchdown passes and only one interception this season — he hasn’t had a pass picked off in Green Bay’s last six games, matching the team record established by Pro Football Hall of Famer Bart Starr in 1964.

Rodgers will go into Sunday night’s game at the New Orleans Saints with a career-best streak of 192 pass attempts without an interception, which ranks second in club lore to Starr’s 294 bridging the 1964 and ’65 seasons.

Rodgers’ 18 touchdown throws have come in succession after his lone interception occurred early in the third quarter of the Packers’ 36-16 loss at the Seattle Seahawks in the Sept. 4 season opener.

“That’s what I expect from (Rodgers),” said Randall Cobb, who leads all NFL receivers with a career-high-tying eight touchdown catches this season. “I’ve stated many times that I think he’s the best player in this league, the best player that at the end of the day is going to be one of the best. So, I expect that from him.”

NOTES: Running back James Starks suffered an injury to his left ankle in the third quarter and didn’t return to the game.

REPORT CARD VS. PANTHERS

–PASSING OFFENSE: A-minus — Aaron Rodgers stands alone as the author of two of the three most efficient passing games by a Green Bay quarterback. Rodgers came within less than a statistical point of his team-record 155.4 passer rating in a 2009 by producing a mark of 154.5 in a nearly impeccable performance that lasted only three quarters Sunday. He completed 19 of 22 passes for 255 yards and three touchdowns — his fourth straight game with at least three TD passes. The offensive line kept Rodgers pretty clean. The only two hits by a Panther came on sacks allowed by tight ends Andrew Quarless and Richard Rodgers.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: B — Thanks to the trio of kneel-downs by Flynn, Green Bay reached 30 rushing attempts for the game — its second straight game in the 30s. The production was there as well, with the Packers’ totaling 122 yards. With coach/play caller Mike McCarthy sticking to his newfound preference of employing Eddie Lacy and James Starks in a timeshare at halfback.

–PASS DEFENSE: B — Down 28-0, Carolina quarterback Cam Newton was forced to throw and had a forgettable outing, with numerous throws off the mark or thrown away in the face of steady pressure from a Green Bay defense that had the luxury to tee off. Newton finished 17 of 31 for 205 yards and a late touchdown, with one interception, for a subpar passer rating of 72.6.

–RUSH DEFENSE: A-minus — The Panthers managed 108 rushing yards, but most of those came with Green Bay focused on defending the pass with the score out of hand in the second half. Carolina had all of 39 yards on 10 rushing attempts in the first 30 minutes. The big lead established early by the Packers all but scrapped Carolina’s presumed game plan of cutting the imposing Newton loose on several read-option plays. Newton ran for 41 yards on seven rushes for a mostly innocuous average of 5.9 yards per attempt. His longest run went for 10 yards.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B — Tim Masthay set a career high for a game in which he punted at least four times, averaging a robust 55.2 yards on five kicks (long of 58). Masthay’s net average also was lofty, at 44 yards. Kicker Mason Crosby had touchbacks on five of his final six kickoffs. Crosby also connected on his only field-goal attempt, from 34 yards.

–COACHING: A — McCarthy not only is attacking from the get-go with an offense that is humming in just about every facet and scoring points in bunches, but he has come upon a happy medium with a balance between the pass and the run without compromising the up-tempo agenda and the unbelievably hot throwing hand of Aaron Rodgers. The results of splitting the workload between Lacy and Starks in the backfield the last three games have been mostly positive, so don’t expect McCarthy to stray from that approach any time soon. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers isn’t afraid to be innovative. He spiced up the pass rush once it became obvious Newton wouldn’t be able to try to be a nuisance running the ball. Capers unveiled a speedy front four of all outside linebackers — Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers, Nick Perry and Mike Neal — on a handful of plays. Given the quality of the opponent as the leader of the NFC South, this was almost the complete game many have been waiting to see from the Packers as they dominated from the start en route to their fourth straight win.