Packers have look of a Super Bowl team, and other observations from their win over the Rams

The Packers are well-rested thanks to a first-round bye, and they will have home-field advantage for one more week, against the Saints or Bucs in the NFC Championship Game. They have a great quarterback, a solid run game, and a defense that is good enough.

At this point, it would be a major upset if the Packers aren’t playing in Super Bowl LV in three weeks.

▪ No question, the Rams were in a tough spot on Saturday night, with quarterback Jared Goff dealing with a thumb injury, receiver Cooper Kupp out with a knee injury, and defensive tackle Aaron Donald (39 of 72 snaps) limited with a rib injury. But their injuries had nothing to do with the sloppiness the Rams showed on both sides of the ball.

This game was as much about the Rams losing it as it was the Packers winning it. In the first quarter, they somehow weren’t prepared for the quick-snap from Rodgers, got flagged for 12 men on the field and gave up a big pass play. Donald committed a bone-headed personal foul that gifted the Packers a first down and led to their first touchdown. And the Rams burned a timeout on their own fourth-and-short situation deep in the red zone, then committed a false-start penalty.

The Rams needed to play a perfect game on Saturday night, and didn’t come close to it.

▪ This was a matchup of the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense and its No. 1 scoring defense, and the offense won this one in a knockout. The Rams clearly weren’t themselves with Donald being limited, but Rodgers and the Packers still marched up and down the field, scoring three touchdowns and two field goals on their first five drives. The Packers stalled a bit in the second half, but when the game was on the line, Rodgers hit Allen Lazard with a 58-yard touchdown to put the game away. The Packers also were 3 for 5 in the red zone and 8 of 12 on third down.

The Rams had a good defensive strategy — they played back to prevent the deep ball, and begged Rodgers to hand the ball off and take the ball out of his hands. Rodgers was patient and took what he was given, and midway through the third quarter the Packers had 23 runs against 22 passes.

But the Rams didn’t get off their blocks up front, and the Packers methodically moved the ball down the field time after time. After the Packers’ third drive of the game, they had more first downs (14) than the Rams had offensive plays (13). The Packers combined for 188 rushing yards and two touchdowns on a 5.2 average, and Rodgers had an efficient day throwing the ball, finishing with 296 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions on 22-of-36 passing.

▪ Rodgers is simply incredible. At 37, he’s still physically gifted enough to make awesome throws on the run, like he did to Robert Tonyan at the end of the first half. He’s still athletic enough to scramble for a touchdown, like he did in the second quarter thanks to a great pump fake on Leonard Floyd.

And he’s an absolute maestro at the line of scrimmage. Rodgers once again used the quick-snap to catch a defense with 12 men on the field and hit a big passing play. He moved Davante Adams back and forth across the formation until he came open quickly enough to catch a 1-yard touchdown. Rodgers mixed up the tempo to keep the Rams off balance, and checked the Packers into the right play all game long. Rodgers stole 3 points at the end of the first half with a great last-second field goal drive, then led the Packers for a touchdown to start the third quarter.

Rodgers is probably going to win his third career MVP award next month. He may be playing the best ball of his career.

▪ Really disappointing that the Rams didn’t have No. 1 cornerback Jalen Ramsey match up more with Adams. The Rams play more of a zone-based scheme, and having Ramsey trail Adams would have required some adjustments from the other 10 players. But Rodgers and coach Matt LaFleur just toyed with the Rams’ defense, moving the chess pieces around with pre-snap motion to get favorable matchups for Adams, as well as Marques Valdez-Scantling and Tonyan.

It reminded me of Super Bowl 53 against the Patriots, when Sean McVay wasn’t able to adjust to the wrinkles that Bill Belichick threw him on defense. The Rams are well-coached with good schemes, but need to figure out how to adjust better in important games.

▪ Considering he was playing with a broken thumb and without his favorite receiver, Goff showed impressive toughness and acquitted himself well. Goff stood strong in the pocket and ripped several nice throws over the middle, hitting 18 of his first 20 passes, and finishing with 21-of-27 for 174 yards and a touchdown. And he did it behind a shaky offensive line that allowed four sacks against a Packers’ defense that only blitzed eight times on 30 drop-backs.

The game had the making of a blowout, but Goff kept the Rams competitive by twice leading long touchdowns drives — 75 yards at the end of the first half to make the score 16-10, and 79 yards to make it 25-18 in the third quarter. The Packers were clearly the better team, but Goff handled himself well in a tough situation.

Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin.