PHILADELPHIA -- Aaron Rodgers spoke the truth about one thing this week: The Green Bay Packers had better get going early.

Three straight three-and-out series to start another game wouldn’t cut it.

How does a pair of touchdown passes to Davante Adams on the first two drives on Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles sound to make everyone forget that futile start to last week’s loss at Washington?

A most unusual start -- at least for this team, given that it had not scored in the first quarter in its previous two games -- was a much-needed turn of events and played as big a role as anything in the 27-13 win that put an end to the Packers’ four-game losing streak.

No one’s going to reinstall Mike McCarthy’s team as the Super Bowl favorite it was back in August, but the fire-the-coach crowd should be quelled for at least a week. And no, the Packers didn’t make up any ground in the NFC North; at 5-6, they’re still two games behind the first-place Detroit Lions but have the middling Houston Texans (6-5) up next at Lambeau Field.

"The fact of the matter is this is one win," McCarthy said. "We’re 5-6. We need to stay the course. We look at this as a launching pad. Definitely a game we can build off of."

The idea that they could win out might not sound as crazy as it did when Rodgers stood at his locker last Wednesday and said: “I feel like we can run the table, I really do."

Rodgers reasoned that “the offense is starting to click a little bit more; we've just got to put together a game where we're more consistent from the first snap to the last. We've been, I think, getting closer to that. We've really been clicking, at times, in the last few games.”

That much held true.

Back to the quick-passing offense that has worked in spots this season, Rodgers got rolling early -- most of it to Adams, who caught touchdowns of 12 and 20 yards (the latter on a thread-the-needle throw). Adams became the third player this season with 100 receiving yards and two touchdown catches on Monday Night Football.

There was even the rare deep ball -- a 50-yarder to Adams to set up a field goal on the Packers’ opening drive of the second half. Rodgers finished with 313 yards and two touchdowns, while the Packers turned in the best third-down performance (converting 71 percent) by any team in the NFL this season.

And the Packers finally got a touchdown from an actual running back, their first of the season. It came not from James Starks or Christine Michael, but from fullback Aaron Ripkowski. The Packers were the first team since the 2009 Cleveland Browns to go without a rushing touchdown from a running back in the first 10 games of a season.

"That was the key, we were great on third down the entire game," Rodgers said.

"We had sustained drives, which was great. We punted once and that was from a backed-up situation where we got a couple first downs. The offensive line dominated, I felt like -- no sacks. They did a good job getting us some rushing yards. Third downs were the key for us. We started fast. I think we hit our first six and that obviously helped us take the lead and give our defense some confidence."

That defense stopped the bleeding after giving up 40-plus points in consecutive weeks.

About the only thing unsightly about the Packers offense was hidden by whatever Rodgers did behind the bench in the third quarter, when he disappeared into a tent that’s used for either a bathroom break or a medical exam. Rodgers limped his way through the rest of the game, favoring his left leg, but said after the game that he'll be "good to go" moving forward.

"It’s been a rough four weeks," Rodgers said. "We haven’t played a complete game yet maybe this season, so this was a great effort in all three phases for us."