Packers beat Chargers to maintain great run

Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers runs during his team’s Chargers game. REUTERS photo

The Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers held off a furious late fightback by the San Diego Chargers to extend their perfect start to the National Football League season with a nail-biting 45-38 victory on Nov. 6.

Seemingly set for a crushing win when leading 45-24 in the final quarter, the Packers were stunned by two quick touchdowns as Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers twice connected with wide receiver Vincent Jackson in a 67-second span.

With the capacity crowd of 68,908 thundering its support for San Diego as they retained field advantage, the Packers nervously held on to become only the third defending Super Bowl champion to start the following season 8-0.

“It was probably a very entertaining game to watch. There was a lot of offense, no question about that,” Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy told reporters after his team improved to a perfect 6-0 all-time in San Diego.

“We need to clean things up communication-wise but we’re ecstatic to be 5-0 on the road this season. This is a big victory for us and we are very pleased at where we are.”

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers outplayed his error-prone opposite number Rivers, completing 21 of 26 passes for 247 yards and four touchdowns on a wet, cool afternoon at Qualcomm Stadium.

Rivers threw two interceptions in the opening quarter, each of them leading to Green Bay touchdowns, and despite his cool head and late heroics, the Chargers lost their third game in a row to slip to 4-4.

Including the playoffs, the Packers have won 14 straight games -- the longest winning streak ever for the franchise.

Rodgers, who leads the league with 24 touchdown passes this season, said the Super Bowl champions were far from complacent after their perfect start.

“I don’t think we’re ever satisfied,” he added. “It was a little bit of a struggle out there at times, but we scored when we needed to.”