3 Packers who must step up to steal a win from the Chiefs

The Green Bay Packers are winners of three of their last four games and will be looking to keep their playoff hopes in sight in a Week 13 clash with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The last time these two teams squared off in the regular season, Jordan Love stepped in for Aaron Rodgers and tossed his first career touchdown pass. He statistically stacked up with Patrick Mahomes in the game, but ultimately, the Packers came up short, losing 13-7.

Fast forward to this season, Love has ascended to the starting quarterback role and is playing at a high level of late. Meanwhile, the Chiefs offense has sputtered most of the season, with sparse contributions from their receiving corps.

Many will be watching closely to see if Love can take down the Mahomes-led Chiefs this time around. But if the Packers want to head into the locker room with a win, they must play a clean game and get a few key contributions across the roster.

Josh Myers

The Kansas City Chiefs are blitzing at the seventh highest rate in football (34.4%), and their top pass rusher, defensive tackle Chris Jones, will be squaring off with Josh Myers for most of the contest.

Like most centers, Myers needs to identify blitzes and be the first to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage. With the Chiefs applying pressure on 9.9% of their blitzes, good for the fifth-highest rate in football, Myers will need to be great to keep Love on his feet.

Thankfully, Myers was drafted for his high football IQ, and he's been excellent at adequately setting up the offensive line before the snap.

While there were concerns about his level of play entering the season, Myers has held up strong in the passing game, contributing to the Packers allowing the sixth-fewest sacks in the NFL this season (22).

The offensive line as a unit will need to be at the top of their game against Steve Spagnuolo's blitz-heavy defense that will give a plethora of different looks throughout. It will be on Myers to lead the effort to mitigate those attempts to sack the quarterback.

Romeo Doubs

The Chiefs are calling man coverage on roughly 57% of snaps this season, one of the highest marks in football.

As of late, it's been rookie wide receiver Jayden Reed making the splash plays and claiming a large share of attention in the Packers offense. However, Reed will likely see a lot of Trent McDuffie, who has found a home as the Chiefs' slot corner and enters this week as one of PFF's top-graded corners this season (85.0).

That will leave Doubs to see a lot of L'Jarius Sneed, who has allowed 32 receptions on 56 targets this season.

Green Bay will likely need to score a few touchdowns to defeat the Chiefs, and Doubs has been Love's go-to-guy when a score is needed. His seven receiving touchdowns are good for fifth in the NFL and lead Green Bay.

While Doubs is only achieving a 29.6% win rate vs. man coverage, matching up with Sneed will offer him plenty of opportunity to lead Green Bay in receptions and touchdowns in Week 13.

Quay Walker/De'Vondre Campbell

Quay Walker, when healthy, has taken a step forward in his play this season, while former All-Pro De'Vondre Campbell remains heavily involved. Both will have the most demanding task of the season so far with the Chiefs in town.

Not only will Walker and Campbell need to keep Mahomes in check and not be able to pick up big yards with his legs, but they will both likely see a lot of tight end Travis Kelce in either zone or man coverage.

To make matters more complex, the Chiefs feature a bowling ball of a running back in Isiah Pacheco, who will undoubtedly be looking to take advantage of a Packers run defense allowing the seventh-most yards on the ground this season (1,487).

Walker and Campbell have dealt with injuries this season, but if both can go against Kansas City, they must bring their A-game. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is as good as it gets in picking a defense apart, so the Packers top linebackers will need to exude their "quarterbacks of the defense" status.

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