If you would’ve told me before Sunday’s game that the Green Bay Packers would hold the Kansas City Chiefs to only 13 points, I would’ve gladly taken it.

The only problem? The Packers scored just seven points.

Since the game, I have seen some of the most ridiculous, overreaction takes on Twitter. I guess after a loss, it’s pretty much always like that. However, I was still a little bit surprised.

If anything, I left the game at Arrowhead Stadium still extremely confident in this team. Here’s why:

  1. The defense

After the first six quarters of football in week one and week two, many Packers fans were already ready to throw new defensive coordinator Joe Barry and the defensive unit under the bus. But, since then, this defense has just gotten better and better.

The Packers held a loaded Chiefs offense to just 13 points. Patrick Mahomes (the golden child) threw for just 122 yards in Kansas City’s win.

Over the last five games, the Packers are giving up an average of just 16.8 points per game. They’ve had two or more turnovers in six of eight games. If this type of play continues, this team can really go places.

2. Getting healthy

The Packers were once again without David Bakhtiari and Josh Myers up front. And it showed.

With the eventual return of those two to the offense, the offensive line unit should be much better. Playing backups with a backup quarterback turned out a little rough – who would’ve thought?

On top of that, Aaron Rodgers will be back soon. There’s no question the Packers would have won that game with the MVP under center. Regardless of how you feel about his personal decisions, is on-the-field play makes this team so much better.

Defensively, this team will only get better with guys like Eric Stokes, Kenny Clark, Jaire Alexander and Za’Darius Smith healthy. It feels weird to say it, but I’m actually confident in the defense.

3. This team will improve

Yes, I know it’s a pretty normal thing to say that a team should be better at the end of the year, compared to where they were at the beginning or middle of it.

Special teams killed the Packers on Saturday. A missed field goal, a blocked field goal and a turnover on a punt return was a 9-point swing. Do you expect that type of play from the special teams unit for the rest of the season? Doubtful. Those issues will be ironed out.

Offensively, the Packers haven’t hit their groove quite yet. There has been flashes. But this unit isn’t even close to reaching its potential. Green Bay led the league last season in points-per-game. They have nearly all the same pieces from that offense on this one.

All of that being said, I’m not ready to hit the panic button on this team. I hope you’re not either.

Go Pack Go.

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Gunnar Davis is a lifelong Packers fan and a recent graduate of Simpson College, where he was a 3-year letterwinner on the offensive line and graduated with a degree in multimedia communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @Gunnar57Davis.

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