The Green Bay Packers are in fine form as one of the NFL's unbeaten teams, and they will go into a Week 6 game against the struggling San Diego Chargers with plenty of momentum. The Packers have had much better outings than their Week 5 win over the St. Louis Rams, but it was a win nonetheless and with tough games against the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers looming on the horizon, Green Bay will be plenty motivated to down the Chargers on Sunday.
Aaron Rodgers has been great this season, completing 70.6 percent of his passes for 1,236 yards with 13 touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. Unfortunately for him, both of those interceptions came in his last game. The Rams had Rodgers' number, and a weaker team would have wilted under the pressure of those turnovers. The Packers did not, and dispatched the Rams by a pair of touchdowns in the end.
Rodgers had a Total QBR of 41.1 for that game, his lowest of the season by far. He's done much better work against teams that may be better than the Chargers this season -- he threw two touchdowns and had a Total QBR of 89.2 against the Seattle Seahawks and hung five touchdowns on the NFC North rival Kansas City Chiefs.
He should be well-equipped to bounce back and handle his business against a San Diego defense that has been middling at best this year. The Chargers rank ninth in the league in passing yards allowed per game, but are 15th in total defense. They rank 29th in the league against the run, with only the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints coming in worse.
On offense, the Chargers fair quite a bit better. They're third in the league in total offense, second in passing yards and tied for 24th in rushing yards. Philip Rivers has been on point, looking as good as Rodgers at times. But he's made more mistakes than Rodgers, throwing five interceptions over the first five games of the season. He only went one game without an interception, his three-touchdown performance against the Browns in Week 4.
San Diego narrowly won that game, and against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5, they narrowly lost it. Rivers completed 73 percent of his passes for 365 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, but it wasn't enough to give San Diego the win. The Steelers came back and scored a touchdown as time expired to win the game, and Rivers had no chance to mount a comeback.
The Chargers will try and get their sluggish running game going against the Packers. That should be their top option after Rams first-round pick Todd Gurley put up 159 yards against Green Bay last Sunday. Melvin Gordon has been pretty good this year, with 270 yards on 71 carries, a per-carry average of 3.8 yards. He hasn't had a huge breakout game yet, and the Chargers hope this week presents the best opportunity for such an occurrence.
How to Watch
When: 4:25 p.m. ET
Where: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisc.
TV: CBS
Announcers: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms, Tracy Wolfson
Online: NFL Game Pass