‘This one falls on me, squarely’

Matt LaFleur talked all week about the Packers rallying around Jordan Love in his first NFL start.

He ended the week pointing the finger at himself as the segment of the support system that let Love down the most.

After a frustrating 13-7 defeat in Kansas City on Sunday, despite costly special-teams blunders, pass protection issues and some obviously wayward throws by his young quarterback, LaFleur was most upset with the man in the mirror.

“We always ask our players to be critical of themselves, and this one falls on me, squarely,” LaFleur said in his opening postgame remarks.

The third-year head coach has uttered similar mea culpas in the past, but this time it wasn’t just about taking his share of the blame. The tone was harsher.

This game was there for the taking, and LaFleur left Arrowhead Stadium full of regrets for not giving Love what he needed to perform better.

The Cliff’s notes version is when the Packers were in third down, the Chiefs blitzed. A lot. And they didn’t just add one extra rusher to their four-man front. They often added two, even three. Preseason football, this was not.

They’re called “all-out” or “zero” blitzes, the zero referring to the lack of extra coverage help on the back end. Against the steady bombardment of pressure, Love managed to take just one sack, but he converted none of his first nine third downs.

“It just comes down to the play calls and having answers to be able to protect against some of that,” LaFleur said. “Anytime you go against zero pressure, if you don’t make a team pay, they’re going to keep running it.

“And unfortunately we didn’t make them pay until late in the game. So, I would anticipate that we’re probably going to see some more zero blitz until we get it corrected.”