Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday night, the Green Bay Packers took on the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field. The Packers only needed to win this game to make the playoffs for the fourth straight year under head coach Matt LaFleur. They had a lot of momentum from a 4-game winning streak. Unfortunately, they came up short at Lambeau once again. Here is how the game went down.
The Packers got the ball first to start this game. The kick return by Keisean Nixon only went 12 yards to the Green Bay 21. From there, the offense went on a potential touchdown drive. After Aaron Jones ran for a first down and Christian Watson caught a 13-yard pass, the Packers had a first and 10 from the Green Bay 49. Aaron Rodgers went for it all to Allen Lazard down the right sideline. The pass went incomplete (Lazard almost caught the ball), but the Lions were called for defensive pass interference. As a result of that penalty, the Packers had a first and goal from the Detroit 5 yard line. Frustratingly, the Packers couldn’t punch it in for the touchdown, including an awful throw by Aaron Rodgers on third and goal (to be fair, he was hit as he threw the ball). The field goal by Mason Crosby was good from 22 yards out, giving the Packers a 3-0 lead with 11:21 left in the first quarter. The Packers defense was able to force the Lions to go three and out on their first drive. The punt return by Nixon set the Packers up for a drive starting at their own 23 yard line. Unfortunately, the Packers went 4 and out, with the fourth down play being awful. Instead of a QB sneak or handing it off to AJ Dillon, they decided to hand the ball off to Allen Lazard on an end around. Lazard was tackled short of the first down marker, giving the Lions the ball at the Green Bay 31. Thankfully, the defense forced the Lions to settle for a field goal, which tied the game at 3-3 with 7 minutes left in the quarter. During the Packers’ next possession, Aaron Rodgers connected with Christian Watson for a 27-yard pass completion that got the Packers into scoring position. Three plays later, the Packers were forced to settle for a field goal after Rodgers was sacked by Aidan Hutchinson for a loss of 11 yards on third and 5 from the Detroit 20. The field goal was barely good from 49 yards out, giving the Packers a 6-3 lead with 1:54 left in the quarter. The Packers defense forced the Lions to go three and out, but not until a successful challenge nullified a catch that would have been a first down for Detroit. The officials ruled that Amon Ra St. Brown didn’t maintain possession enough to warrant the catch. With the ruling now an incomplete pass, the Lions punted back to Green Bay. Keisean Nixon was able to return the punt to the Green Bay 45 yard line. From there, the offense went on another scoring drive. On the third play of the drive, Rodgers connected with TE Robert Tonyan for a 20-yard pass completion that got the Packers into scoring range. Once again, the Packers were forced to settle for yet another field goal after another sack by Aidan Hutchinson. The kick was good from 48 yards out, giving the Packers a 9-3 lead with 12:56 left in the second quarter. On the Lions’ next offensive possession, the Packers defense messed up big time on one play in particular. It was a third and 10 that was preceded by a holding penalty. Jared Goff connected with RB Justin Jackson. There were two defenders in front of him, yet Jackson was able to fight his way for the first down. After that, the Lions were able to get into field goal range. However, the field goal attempt by Mike Badgley went wide left from 46 yards out, keeping the score at 9-3 with 6:13 left in the first half. The Packers had a chance to get a potential touchdown before halftime. During this drive, the Packers were able to convert a fourth down situation after catching a player offsides on fourth and 6, and then running for the first down with AJ Dillon. 2 plays after that, the Packers had a second and 4 from Detroit’s 32 yard line. Aaron Jones caught a short pass and got the yards for the first down, but he was stripped of the ball, which somehow never went out of bounds and was recovered by the Lions, ending that potential scoring drive. The Lions were able to get to field goal range thanks to having all of their timeouts. The field goal was originally 48 yards away, but Rasul Douglas did a dumb thing by trying to pull the ball away from the center. He was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after slapping the lineman, giving the Lions 15 free yards and a shorter field goal, which was good. At the end of the half, the Packers only led by a score of 9-6.
The Packers defense got to a good start in the second half by forcing the Lions to go three and out. After the punt return by Keisean Nixon, the Packers offense took over at their own 25. They were able to get to the Detroit 37 before two straight incomplete passes forced them to settle for a 53-yard field goal attempt. The ball bounced off the crossbar and out, keeping the score at 9-6 with 9:32 left in the third quarter. The Lions then only needed 3 plays to get a touchdown. The first play was a 13-yard run by Jamaal Williams. The second play was a deep pass from Jared Goff to WR Kalif Raymond that got Detroit to the Green Bay 1. Jamaal Williams finished the drive off with a one-yard TD run that (with the extra point) gave the Lions a 13-9 lead with 8:05 left. The Packers answered back with a touchdown of their own after a 9-play drive that started at their own 17. During this drive, Aaron Rodgers was able to convert a third and one with a QB sneak (what a surprise). On the next play, Rodgers connected with Christian Watson, who made a fantastic catch that got Green Bay to the Detroit 14 yard line. Allen Lazard caught the TD pass that (with the extra point) gave Green Bay a 16-13 lead with 3:17 left in the third quarter. After both teams exchanged punts, the Lions took over at their own 25 with 13:58 left in the game. The Packers defense was unable to stop the Lions from moving the ball down the field with ease. A play that irritated me was when Jaire Alexander was too far back on a fourth and two from the Green Bay 25, which the Lions easily converted with a three yard pass to DJ Chark. 2 plays later, D’Andre Swift took a big hit and was down on the ground. Quay Walker wanted to check on him to see if he was ok, but he pushed one of the Lions’ athletic trainers in the process, which got Walker ejected for the second time this season (he was ejected in Buffalo for the same reason). 3 plays after the ejection, Jamaal Williams punched it in from the Green Bay one, giving the Lions a 20-16 lead with 5:55 left in the game. The Packers had plenty of time to match down the field for the game-winning touchdown. Instead, Aaron Rodgers threw a prayer to Christian Watson that was picked off by Kerby Joseph. To be fair to Rodgers, he didn’t have that much time to get rid of the ball. AJ Dillon should’ve blocked someone other than air. Had Rodgers had more time, he would’ve found Lazard open underneath (similar to Rodgers’ desperation heave to Davante Adams last year in the playoffs). Kerby Joseph returned the pick to the Green Bay 45 with 3:27 left. From there, the Lions offense ran out the rest of the clock. The final nail in the coffin of the 2022 Green Bay Packers season was hammered in when Jared Goff found a wide open DJ Chark on a fourth and 1 from the Packers 15 yard line. With the 20-16 loss, the Packers’ season is over before the playoffs. For the third straight year, the Packers came up short in front of their home crowd in a win or go home situation.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page.)
On offense, the Packers did not play well at all. There were a couple of big plays, but that was about it. Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon combined for 81 rushing yards, with neither of them getting into the end zone. To make matters worse for Jones, he had another critical fumble that completely changed the momentum of the game. After that fumble, the Packers were not consistent on offense (other than the touchdown drive in the third quarter). Aaron Rodgers didn’t have a great game, only throwing for 205 yards and one touchdown. He threw the game-sealing interception in the fourth quarter, but there were two other passes that were almost picks. One was dropped and the other was nullified due to a hands to the face penalty. It all started up front, and the offensive line got mostly dominated all game. David Bakhtiari held his own, but the rest of the line struggled against the Lions defensive front. Rodgers was sacked by Aidan Hutchinson on back to back drives. That defensive front was a reason why the Packers had to settle for a field goal after they got to the 5 yard line. The worst play (other than the interception) was the end around to Allen Lazard that went nowhere. On that fourth down, they should’ve done either a QB sneak or a handoff to a full-speed AJ Dillon. There would have been a much better percentage of the fourth down being converted with either option over that garbage play. Christian Watson had 5 catches for 104 yards, including a deep pass that helped set up the Packers’ only touchdown. There were a few drops in this game, including ones by Romeo Doubs, Allen Lazard, and the running backs. Those drops did not help matters with how inconsistent the offense was on Sunday. At the end of the day, they couldn’t get it done on offense to get the win. It was heartbreaking to see Aaron Rodgers and Randall Cobb walk into the tunnel together after the game was over. It will be interesting to see who returns next season on offense.
On defense, the Packers did a good job at points. When it mattered most, Joe Barry’s unit reverted back to the playing too soft form. There were numerous times where either a wide receiver was wide open on a short route or the running backs had a lot of room to run. Jamaal Williams led the running backs with 72 yards and 2 TDs on 16 carries. It was tough as a Packers fan to see him get into the end zone so easily against his former team. There were a few plays on defense that irritated me. First, there was the third and 10 pass that Justin Jackson took all the way for a first down despite the fact that there were 2 defenders in front of him. Next, there were the numerous times where the Lions got a free first down thanks to the corners playing way too far off, including the final pass to DJ Chark. The defense was able to only get one sack, which was Devonte Wyatt’s first sack of his career. Quay Walker had 7 tackles on the night before he was ejected in the fourth quarter for shoving a Lions athletic trainer. I’m glad that Walker apologized for his actions after the fact. I’m hoping that he matures more in his sophomore year. For the whole defensive unit, I think that they need a new person in charge who will be more aggressive than passive. Joe Barry should not be the defensive coordinator next year. We’ll see how that plays out as the months go by.
On Special Teams, the Packers didn’t have that big impact play. Keisean Nixon was kept in check on every kick return thanks to the Lions kicking it short. There was no blocked kick or field goal by the Packers that would’ve been an impact play. On the other side, no big impact plays happened that would’ve given the Lions more momentum. Pat O’Donnell only punted once on Sunday night, while Mason Crosby made all but one kick. That one missed field goal was the one where the ball bounced off the crossbar and out. Unfortunately, his range has gotten shorter due to age. Crosby was not successful at all on his attempts over 50 yards this season. With that said, I still trust him in clutch situations. Hopefully he comes back for another year, but I would understand if he retires. There is no doubt that Rich Bisaccia will stay with Green Bay next year as the Special Teams coordinator. Hopefully there is a bit more discipline when it comes to weird moments like the Rasul Douglas thing right before halftime.
Overall, I’m disappointed that the Packers season has come to an end before the postseason. I think that things would’ve been different had the Packers used the bye week after the loss to the Giants in London. That would’ve given Aaron Rodgers more rest for the thumb injury and the coaches time to rethink certain situations, especially on defense and Special Teams. Another thing that should have happened earlier was putting Keisean Nixon on returns much earlier than after they kept Amari Rodgers for 10 games. There were some games that the Packers couldn’t win against inferior opponents, including both games against the Lions, the Giants in London, the Commanders, and the Titans. With this being said, I am glad that I was able to witness two Packers wins in person this season: Week 10 against Dallas at Lambeau (my first trip to Green Bay) and Week 16 at Miami on Christmas Day 2022. No matter what happens in the offseason, I’ll be a Packers fan until my last breath. Stay tuned for future posts regarding stuff other than sports. In the meantime, I wish all of you a great week. Go Pack Go!
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