The Falcons beat the Packers 34-23 on Sunday Night Football in a game that evoked comparisons to Green Bay's 44-21 loss to Atlanta in the NFC championship game last season.
The Packers were banged up Sunday night and couldn't slow down the Falcons. They didn't have enough around Aaron Rodgers to put up enough points, either. It's the same story, rebooted and repackaged for a Matt Ryan highlight reel.
That's why the rest of the regular season takes on more importance for the Packers — perhaps more than any other NFC contender. Lambeau Field is the only cure.
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Sure, this is just one regular-season game, and injuries certainly played a role in how Green Bay spiraled out of control Sunday. Tackles Bryan Bulaga and David Bakhtiari were out, and Jordy Nelson suffered a first-quarter injury. That forced Rodgers to get the ball out quicker, and Atlanta's pass rush eventually hit home.
Defensive tackle Mike Daniels' injury, however, proved to have more impact. The Packers simply couldn't slow down the Falcons.
It's been the same story for Green Bay in its last three games in Atlanta, including a Week 8 meeting in 2016.
Here's a look at the Falcons' offensive drives in those three games, the first two in the Georgia Dome and the last in brand-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
| GAME | TDs | FGs | Punts |
| 2017 Week 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| NFC championship | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| 2016 Week 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| TOTALS | 13 | 5 | 8 |
That's scores in 18 of 26 drives, or 69.2 percent. It's even worse for Green Bay when you break it down to the first half, in which Atlanta has scored on 12 of 16 drives, or 75 percent of the time.
Maybe a fully-equipped Green Bay team can beat anybody, anywhere. The Packers, however, need to have an urgency about getting home-field advantage in the regular season if they want to get Rodgers back to the Super Bowl.
It's a simple solution, but Green Bay has found ways to complicate these things in the past.
The No. 1 seed in the NFC has reached the Super Bowl in three of the last four years. Green Bay took out No. 1-seeded Dallas in the NFC divisional playoffs last year, but Atlanta had home-field advantage in the NFC championship game. Green Bay won at Chicago in 2010, but losses at Seattle and Atlanta in 2014 and 2016, respectively, hammer home the point.
In fact, the Packers have never had home-field advantage in the NFC championship game with Rodgers under center. Ryan has played in one outdoor playoff game in his career: a 24-2 loss to the Giants in which he passed for 199 yards, no TDs and no interceptions. Rodgers has played in 16 postseason games and one Super Bowl, and just six of those games were at Lambeau Field. Ryan, meanwhile, has played in just seven playoff games and one Super Bowl, but five of those games were at home.
Green Bay can't have a 4-6 start this season and expect to embark on a run through the playoffs. That means more than just winning the NFC North — the Packers have done that five of the last six seasons, but none have ended with a Super Bowl appearance. The No. 1 goal needs to be home-field advantage, and the urgency must follow. Otherwise, we'll hear the same speech we did about Green Bay and Seattle against Atlanta.
If the Packers could just get them in Lambeau ...
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Green Bay must take care of business at home, get healthy and be one game better than the Falcons — or the other contenders in the NFC — in the regular season to have their best shot at the Super Bowl.
There are no guarantees, remember. The last time the Packers were the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs was in 2011, and the Giants ruined that run in the divisional round. But we've seen Atlanta run up and down its its own field against Green Bay three times in the last two seasons.
If the Packers want to see something different in the playoffs this year, then they need Lambeau.
