The Green Bay Packers will take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Lambeau Field in the final game of the preseason.
It is the second consecutive year the Packers play the Chiefs in the preseason finale and the eighth time since 2010.
It is the second of two preseason games (Oakland, Aug. 22) where Green Bay faces a team it also plays in the regular season.
Green Bay will play both Oakland (Oct. 20) and Kansas City (Oct. 27) again during the regular season in back-to-back weeks.
IN THE PRESEASON
Head Coach Matt LaFleur became the seventh head coach in franchise history to win his first game as head coach of the Packers, joining Curly Lambeau, Phil Bengston, Bart Starr, Mike Holmgren, Ray Rhodes and Mike Sherman.
The 28 points put up by Green Bay vs. Houston were the third most by the team in the debut of a new Packers head coach behind 37 put up under Sherman in 2000 and 34 scored under Bengston in 1968.
Overall, Green Bay has won the first preseason game it has played for five straight years.
The Packers have won eight consecutive preseason home games and 10 of the last 11 preseason contests played at Lambeau Field.
BISHOP’S CHARITIES GAME
Thursday night marks another Green Bay preseason tradition: the Bishop’s Charities Game. It was first played in 1961 after Vince Lombardi was approached by the Diocese of Green Bay about playing a charitable contest in Green Bay (the Shrine contest was a fixture in Milwaukee).
The series enjoys its 59th contest this year and has raised more than $3.8 million.
For more than 30 years, the church handled much of the game’s business-related tasks, including game-program and advertising sales, using a network of volunteers covering 14 counties throughout northeastern Wisconsin. The Packers assumed many of those tasks beginning in 1994.
The Packers are 33-24-1 all-time in the series.
The Chiefs will be making their seventh appearance in the Bishop’s Charities Game (1978-79, 1992, 2011-12, 2014).
Green Bay has won five consecutive contests and nine of the last 10 games in the series, including a 31-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans last year. Prior to that, the Packers had lost six consecutive Bishop’s Charities contests. That six-game losing streak (2003-08) came on the heels of a 12-game winning streak (1991-2002) in the series.
Over the last five Bishop’s Charities Games, the Packers have outscored their opponents, 147-62, scoring 20-plus points in each of those contests and limiting their opponents to 17 or fewer in each game.
WITH THE CALL
Preseason games are televised over the 17-station Packers TV Network throughout the state of Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, northeastern Minnesota, the Quad Cities, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo in Iowa, Peoria in Illinois, St. Louis in Missouri, Sioux Falls in South Dakota and Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau in Alaska.
The top-notch broadcast team includes CBS’s Kevin Harlan (play-byplay) alongside fellow CBS broadcaster and Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver James Lofton (analyst), with former Green Bay fullback John Kuhn and Lance Allan of WTMJ-TV serving as the sideline reporters. Allan will also host an informative half-hour pregame show.
In addition to flagship station WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee the game will be televised over WGBA/NBC, Green Bay, Wis.; WKOW/ABC, Madison, Wis.; WAOW/ABC, Wausau/Rhinelander, Wis.; WXOW/ABC, La Crosse, Wis.; WQOW/ABC, Eau Claire, Wis.; WLUC/NBC, Escanaba/Marquette, Mich.; KQDS-TV/FOX, Duluth/Superior, Minn.; WHBF/CBS, Davenport, Iowa (Quad Citites); KCCI/CBS, Des Moines, Iowa; KWWL/NBC, Cedar Rapids/Waterloo, Iowa; WMDB/CBS, Peoria, Ill.; KTVI/FOX, St. Louis, Mo.; KDLT/NBC, Sioux Falls, S.D.; KYUR/ABC, Anchorage, Alaska; KATN/ ABC, Fairbanks, Alaska and KJUD/ABC, Juneau, Alaska.
Milwaukee’s WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since November 1929, heads up the Packers Radio Network that is made up of 50 stations in four states. Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) and two-time Packers Pro Bowler Larry McCarren (analyst) call the action. McCarren first joined the team’s broadcasts in 1995 and enters his 25th season calling Packers games. After originally being paired together in 1999, McCarren and Larrivee enter their 21st season of broadcasts together. They surpassed Jim Irwin and Max McGee for the most regular-season and postseason games broadcast for the Packers with 313 at the 2018 season opener against Chicago.
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT:
Packers vs. Chiefs:
All-time, Preseason: 8-9-1
All-time, Regular season: 3-7-1
All-time, Postseason: 1-0
All-time, at Lambeau Field: 1-3
Streaks: The Packers have won two of the last three regular season meetings.
Last meeting, regular season: Sept. 28, 2015; Packers won, 38-28, Lambeau Field
COACHES CAPSULES
Matt LaFleur: 0-0-0, .000; 1st NFL season
Andy Reid: 207-138-1, .609 (incl. 12-14 postseason); 21st NFL season
Head to Head: 0-0
vs. Opponent: Reid 5-5 vs. Packers
MATT LaFLEUR…In his first season as the Packers’ 15th head coach.
Entering his 11th season in the NFL, having served as an offensive coordinator for two seasons (Los Angeles Rams, 2017; Tennessee Titans, 2018), a quarterbacks coach for six seasons (Washington Redskins, 2010-13; Atlanta Falcons, 2015-16), and an offensive assistat for two seasons (Houston Texans, 2008-09).
Guided the Titans’ offense in 2018 to a No. 7 league ranking in rushing (126.4 ypg) as Tennessee registered 11 games with 100-plus rushing yards, tied for No. 2 in the NFL.
Helped the Rams lead the league in scoring with an average of 29.9 points per game in 2017, more than doubling their average from 2016 (14.0 ppg).
Tutored QB Matt Ryan, who led the league in passer rating (117.1) in 2016 on his way to being named NFL Most Valuable Player by The Associated Press.
Coached rookie QB Robert Griffin III with the Redskins in 2012, who became the first QB in team history to win AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.
ANDY REID…Is in his seventh year as the Chiefs’ 13th head coach.
Led the Chiefs in 2018 to their third AFC West title in a row, which included hosting the AFC Championship Game. Was named Coach of the Year by the Maxwell Football Club for the fourth time in his career.
Under Reid’s tutelage, QB Patrick Mahomes joined Peyton Manning (2013) as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for 50 touchdowns and 5,000 passing yards as he earned the 2018 NFL MVP award.
Guided Kansas City to its greatest single-season turnaround in club history in 2013 with an 11-5 record, a nine-win swing from 2012, in his first year with the team.
Has earned playoff berths in five out of six seasons in Kansas City while tallying 65 regular-season wins, including five 10-plus-win seasons.
Spent 14 seasons (1999-2012) as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, where he compiled the best win total (140) and playoff-victory total (10) in franchise history. The Eagles also earned five trips to the NFC Championship game and made one Super Bowl appearance (LII).
THE PACKERS-CHIEFS SERIES
The first meeting between the teams came in January 1967, when the NFL champion Packers met the AFL champion Chiefs in the first-ever Super Bowl, won by Green Bay, 35-10.
Kansas City has had the upper hand in the series ever since, winning seven of the last 11 matchups against the Packers.
The Packers ended a five-game losing streak in the series when they defeated the Chiefs, 33-22, at Arrowhead Stadium in 2007.
Green Bay’s 38-28 victory over Kansas City in 2015 marked the Packers’ first regular-season win vs. the Chiefs at home in series history.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst worked for the Chiefs as a scouting assistant for one season (1998)...Packers executive vice president/ director of football operations Russ Ball, a native of Moberly, Mo., worked for the Chiefs for 10 seasons (1989-98), the final two in football operations. Ball also played center at Central Missouri. Additionally, Ball served as head strength and conditioning coach for the Missouri Tigers from 1982-89 and earned his master’s degree from Missouri in 1990…Packers S Will Redmond spent part of the 2017 season on the Kansas City practice squad...Chiefs DT Justin Hamilton spent time on the Packers’ practice squad in 2015...Chiefs head coach Andy Reid served as the tight ends/assistant offensive line coach for five seasons and quarterbacks coach for two seasons in Green Bay under head coach Mike Holmgren. Reid and the Packers appeared in back-to-back Super Bowls during his tenure, winning Super Bowl XXXI…Chiefs CB Bashaud Breeland played with the Packers in 2018…Chiefs strength and conditioning coach Barry Rubin spent 11 seasons (1995-2005) on Green Bay’s coaching staff…Kansas City director of pro personnel Tim Terry spent 13 seasons in the Packers’ pro personnel department, serving as a pro personnel assistant from 2005-07 and then as assistant director of pro personnel (2008-16)…Chiefs G Kahlil McKenzie was born in Green Bay and played at Green Bay Southwest High School...Packers WR Darrius Shepherd is a native of Blue Springs, Missouri…Green Bay WR J’Mon Moore played collegiately at Missouri (2014-17)...Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck held the same title with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where Packers TE Marcedes Lewis was on the roster...Packers outside linebackers coach Mike Smith spent the previous three seasons on Reid’s staff in Kansas City…Smith was on the Texas Tech coaching staff when Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes played for the Red Raiders...Packers director of player engagement Grey Ruegamer (1999) and special teams quality control coach Rayna Stewart (1998) played with Chiefs defensive backs/ cornerbacks coach Sam Madison in Miami. Ruegamer and Madison also played together with the N.Y. Giants, where they won Super Bowl XLII. Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt was on the Giants’ coaching staff during Ruegamer and Madison’s tenure...Chiefs strength and conditioning coach Ryan Reynolds held the same position at UCLA when Packers DL Kenny Clark was on the Bruins’ roster...Packers DL Dean Lowry, FB Danny Vitale, DL Tyler Lancaster and S Ibraheim Campbell played at Northwestern when Chiefs offensive quality control coach David Girardi was a defensive graduate assistant...Packers T Bryan Bulaga played with Chiefs college scouting coordinator Greg Castillo at Iowa... Chiefs college and pro scout Jason Lamb was a pro personnel intern with the Packers in 2013...Chiefs national football scout Cassidy Kaminski was born in Green Bay and served as the wide receivers/quality control coach at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. from 2014-16...Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett coached Lewis, Chiefs TE Blake Bell (2018), QB Chad Henne (2015-17), DE Hunter Dimick (2017-18) and RB Carlos Hyde (2018) in Jacksonville. Additionally, Hackett’s father, Paul, was the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs from 1993-97...Packers LB Preston Smith played in Washington with Breeland (2015-17), CB Kendall Fuller (2016-17), RB Manasseh Garner (2018) and C Austin Reiter (2015)…Packers TE Jimmy Graham played with Chiefs DE Frank Clark (2015-17) and Hamilton (2015-16) while with Seattle…Packers S Mike Tyson and CB Natrell Jamerson played with Chiefs S Tyrann Mathieu in Houston in 2018…Mathieu, DT Xavier Williams and Packers CB Tramon Williams played together in Arizona in 2017…Williams and Vitale played with Chiefs DE Emmanuel Ogbah, OL Cam Erving, DE Alex Okafor, T Mitchell Schwartz and Reiter in Cleveland in 2016. Schwartz and Erving also played for Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine when he was head coach in Cleveland…Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins played one season under Hackett when he was the offensive coordinator for Buffalo (2014) and head coach Matt LaFleur when he served as offensive coordinator for the Rams (2017)…Packers T/G Billy Turner played with Chiefs CB Michael Turner in Denver in 2017...Turner, Chiefs S Jordan Lucas and RB Damien Williams played together with Miami in 2016...Former college teammates include: Packers P JK Scott, CB Tony Brown and Chiefs WR Gehrig Dieter (Alabama); Packers RB Jamaal Williams and Chiefs S Daniel Sorenson (BYU); Packers CB Will Redmond, FB Malcolm Johnson, LB Preston Smith and Chiefs DT Chris Jones (Mississippi State); Packers C Corey Linsley, Chiefs LB Darron Lee and RB Carlos Hyde (Ohio State); Packers S Adrian Amos and Chiefs S Jordan Lucas (Penn State); Packers RB Tra Carson, RB Keith Ford, DL Kinsgley Keke and Chiefs S Armani Watts (Texas A&M); Packers CB Ka’dar Hollman and Chiefs WR Cody Thompson (Toledo).
LAST MEETING, PRESEASON
Aug. 29, 2018, at Lambeau Field; Chiefs won 33-21
Packers QBs DeShone Kizer and Tim Boyle each threw first-half touchdown passes which helped Green Bay head into halftime with a 21-17 lead.
Packers RB Aaron Jones led all Green Bay rushers with 34 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter.
Chiefs CB Makinton Dorleant intercepted and returned a Boyle pass from 30 yards out for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
