Good evening, everyone. On Thursday December 5th, the Green Bay Packers took on the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Entering this game, the Packers were looking to continue their winning streak and stay alive in the NFC North race. Granted, if the Packers would have won this game on Thursday night, it would require the Packers winning the rest of their games and for the Lions and Vikings to lose more games. The Packers had chances to win this game against a Lions team that was depleted in terms of injuries. In the end, they could not get the job done as they lost due to a last second field goal by Detroit. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
The Packers started this game on the defensive side of the football. It was not a good start for the defense as they allowed the Lions offense to march down the field on their first drive. Detroit’s offense was able to convert a couple of short third downs with ease. The Packers defense had a chance to hold the Lions to a field goal after a holding penalty on Dan Skipper gave the Lions a first and goal at the Green Bay 20 yard line. Unfortunately, the defense was unable to do that. On third and goal at the 7 yard line, Keisean Nixon was called for illegal contact after he got ran into by receiver Tim Patrick. After the penalty, the Lions scored their first touchdown of the night thanks to a 3 yard run by David Montgomery. The extra point kick by Jake Bates was good, giving the Lions a 7-0 lead with 9:41 left in the first quarter. After the kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, the Packers started their first drive at their own 30 yard line. Jordan Love was looking for the deep pass on the first play, but that did not go well as he got sacked for a loss of 7 yards by new Lion (and former Packer) Za’Darius Smith. Love scrambled for 8 yards on the next play, setting up a third and 9 at the 31 yard line. The third down pass went incomplete, but Lions safety Brian Branch (who did the awful hit on Bo Melton back in Week 9) was called for pass interference. Thanks to that penalty, the Packers were able to continue their drive. Three plays later, the drive stalled after a deep pass to Dontayvion Wicks went incomplete on third and 6 from the Green Bay 49. Instead of going for it, the Packers brought out Daniel Whelan to punt it back to Detroit. The punt was fair caught at the Detroit 8 yard line. The Packers defense then forced a three and out after Rashan Gary was able to get to QB Jared Goff and sack him for a loss of 3 yards on third and 5 from the 13 yard line. The Packers started their next drive at their own 48 after the fair catch by Jayden Reed. The drive stalled after two straight incomplete passes by Jordan Love. The offense was still on the field on fourth down. I was hoping for a play of any kind, but it was just an attempt to draw the defense offsides, which did not work. A delay of game penalty followed, and Daniel Whelan punted to the Detroit 11 yard line. Thankfully, the defense was able to keep the Lions from scoring on their next drive. On third and 5 from the Detroit 26 yard line, Colby Wooden was able to get to Jahmyr Gibbs and tackle him for a loss of 3 yards. The punt was fair caught by Jayden Reed at the Green Bay 27 yard line, but the drive started at the 17 due to a holding penalty on Robert Rochell during the punt. Josh Jacobs started the drive with a 7 yard run, which was the final play of the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, Jordan Love found Christian Watson for a pass that would have been a big gain. The problem was that Watson lost the ball during the run after the catch and the ball was recovered by Detroit at their own 46 yard line. The Packers defense was able to keep the Lions to only a field goal on their ensuing drive despite a personal foul penalty on Quay Walker during the drive. The field goal by Jake Bates was good from 43 yards out, increasing Detroit’s lead to 10-0 with 13:01 left in the second quarter. After another kickoff ended in a touchback, the Packers started their next drive at their own 30 yard line. The first 4 plays of the drive were run plays, with two by Josh Jacobs and one each by Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks. Those 4 run plays help set up a first and 10 at the Detroit 37 yard line. After an encroachment penalty on the defense, that changed to a first and 5 at the 32 yard line. 3 plays later, the Packers were hit with a holding penalty on Elgton Jenkins that forced them to face a first and 20 at the 35 yard line. On first and 20, Jordan Love found Tucker Kraft for an 8 yard pass completion. On the next play, Love scrambled 14 yards for the first down. After a hands to the face penalty on Za’Darius Smith, the Packers were set up with first and goal at the 8 yard line. Josh Jacobs ran for 5 yards on first and goal. On second and goal from the 3, Love missed a wide open Tucker Kraft for what would have been a touchdown. On third and goal, Love was picked off by Detroit in the end zone. Thankfully, a pass interference penalty wiped off the interception and gave the Packers first and goal at the one. Josh Jacobs then ran it in for the Packers’ first TD of the night. The extra point kick by Brandon McManus was good, decreasing the lead to 10-7 with 5:35 left in the half. The Packers defense was then unable to give the offense enough time to get more points before halftime as they allowed a 12-play drive that used up all but 11 seconds of the remaining clock. The Packers defense tried to get a goal line stand, but the Lions decided to go for it on fourth and goal from the 2 yard line. Jared Goff was able to hit Jammer Gibbs for a touchdown pass that, with the extra point, increased the lead back to 10 points. The half ended after a kneel-down by Jordan Love.
After the kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, the Packers started their first drive of the third quarter. On second and 11 from the 29 yard line, Jordan Love connected with Christian Watson on a deep pass that gave the Packers first and 10 at the Detroit 12 yard line. 3 plays later, Love threw a laser pass to Tucker Kraft for the 12-yard touchdown. The extra point kick by Brandon McManus was good, decreasing the lead to 17-14 with 13:15 left in the third quarter. The Packers defense got to a great start when Keisean Nixon picked off Jared Goff and returned the pick to the Detroit 16 yard line. 3 plays after the pick, Josh Jacobs ran it in for a 6 yard touchdown that, with the PAT kick, gave the Packers a 21-17 lead with 11:15 left in the quarter. That lead did not last for long as the Lions were able to march down the field on their next drive. They converted two fourth downs during the drive, including another fourth and goal situation was resulted in a touchdown pass. This time, the TD pass was to Tim Patrick. The extra point by Jake Bates was good, giving Detroit a 24-21 lead with 5:02 left in the third quarter. After the Packers’ next drive ended in a three and out, Detroit got the ball back at their own 22 yard line. The drive ended in a turnover on downs when Jahmyr Gibbs was stuffed on fourth and 1 at the 31 yard line. 4 plays after that fourth down stop, Josh Jacobs scored his third touchdown of the night on a 4 yard run. The extra point kick was good, giving Green Bay a 28-24 advantage with 14:20 left in the fourth quarter. Once again, the Packers’ lead was short-lived as the Lions went on yet another long touchdown drive that lasted a little over 5 minutes. On the first play of the drive, Javon Bullard suffered an ankle injury during an 18-yard pass play that went to Tim Patrick. Jared Goff then completed a couple more passes to help the Lions move the chains (with some run plays in between). Overall, the drive was too easy for the Lions against a now banged-up Packers defense (not just Bullard, but Evan Williams as well missing in action due to a concussion). The drive ended with a one-yard touchdown reception by Tim Patrick. The extra point was good, giving the Lions a 31-28 lead with 8:39 left in the fourth quarter. After the ensuing kickoff went into the end zone for another touchback, the Packers started their next drive at their own 30. After a false start penalty on Zach Tom, the Packers faced a first and 15 from the 25 yard line. 2 plays after the penalty, Jordan Love found Christian Watson for a deep pass that went for 29 yards to the Detroit 45 yard line. Later in the drive, Love found Dontayvion Wicks on 2 straight pass plays. Those 2 pass plays helped set up a first and goal at the Detroit 7 yard line. After a one-yard run by Josh Jacobs, it was second and goal at the 6 yard line. The play was designed for Jayden Reed to the left side, but Love had pressure on him so he had to throw to his right. He hit Josh Jacobs for the touchdown, but the score was wiped off the board due to a bogus pass interference call on Christian Watson. Kerby Joseph did a flop and sold it enough to get the penalty called on Watson, which was a bogus call. After the penalty, the Packers could not get into the end zone on the next 2 plays and had to settle for tying the game at 31-31. The kick was good by McManus from 32 yards out, tying the score at 31-31 with 3:38 left in the fourth quarter. After another kickoff that ended in a touchback, the Lions started their final drive at their own 30. Like in the first quarter, the Lions had a holding penalty that forced them to face a first and 20. And just like that situation, the Packers defense was unable to stop the Lions from getting out of that situation. The biggest moment came on yet another short fourth down. With 43 seconds left, the Lions faced a fourth and 1 from the Green Bay 21 yard line (which was set up by a pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown that should not have counted). The Packers used up all their timeouts at this point. The choice was to either kick the field goal and allow Jordan Love and the offense to have some time left to answer back or go for it and risk messing up the situation. The Lions, being led by an aggressive coach in Dan Campbell, decided to go for it. Even when Jared Goff tripped on himself, he handed it off to Jahmyr Gibbs, who gained 7 yards on the play. After that, the Lions ran out the rest of the clock until there were only 2 seconds left. Jake Bates was called upon to kick the game winning field goal from 35 yards out, which he made. With that field goal being good, the Packers’ winning streak came to a heartbreaking end. Not only that, but the Packers are basically stuck with being a road team in the playoffs.
(Here are the highlights of this game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page. Click on "Watch on YouTube" if you're curious.)
On offense, the Packers were a bit rough in the first half. Their first three drives ended in this order: punt, punt, and the lost fumble by Christian Watson (his first lost fumble in his career). After those three bad drives, the Packers were more efficient in putting points on the scoreboard, specifically in the second half. The lack of third down efficiency on offense (1 for 5 overall) were a major reason for the slow start. Even though the offensive line only allowed the one sack of Love (by Za’Darius Smith of all players), there were times where the O-Line (especially Josh Myers, who should not be kept next year) was physically dominated by a defensive front that had a lot of backups in. That was also a reason why Josh Jacobs ran for only 66 yards on 18 carries. Thankfully, three of those carries resulted in a touchdown that helped Green Bay in the second half. Jordan Love would have given Jacobs a fourth TD on the night during the last drive had it not been for that bogus pass interference penalty that was called on Christian Watson. Speaking of Watson, I was happy that he rebounded from that early fumble to lead the team in receiving yards with 114 on 4 receptions. Dontayvion Wicks had 49 yards on 4 catches while Tucker Kraft had 41 yards on 3 catches (including a receiving TD in the third quarter). Hopefully Jayden Reed is used more in these last few games. I’m glad that Jordan Love was able to make it out of Ford Field healthy with some of the hits that he took against the defense (one that should have been a roughing a passer penalty). If it was not for the penalty on the final drive, he would have had 2 TD passes. Thankfully, he had an interception wiped out due to a defensive penalty. Hopefully he doesn’t throw any more picks during the season and playoffs. For the third straight game, the Packers put up at least 30 points on offense. I just wish that the total was 35 instead of 31. Hopefully the offense is more consistent next week and beyond.
On defense, the Packers played well when the offense had their slow start. Once again, they were without Jaire Alexander and Edgerrin Cooper as they are still recovering from their injuries. Unfortunately, the Packers defense came out of this game more banged up on defense. Evan Williams left the game with a concussion, and Javon Bullard left the game with an ankle injury in the second half. The Packers did activate rookie CB Kalen King for this game, but he wasn’t used on defense at all. At this point, I’m done with seeing Eric Stokes get beat for touchdowns and other big plays. Stokes was solid in his rookie year, but he hasn’t been the same after he suffered multiple injuries later on in his career. Hopefully he has a good future elsewhere after this year. Keisean Nixon had some bad moments as well, but he did get the interception that helped set up one of Josh Jacobs’ three TD runs. The pass rush was non-existent, other than Rashan Gary in the first half. Too often in this game, like the Miami game the week prior, the defense was very vulnerable to passes down the middle of the field. This was especially apparent in the second half when Bullard and Williams were out of the game. The defense desperately needs Cooper and Jaire to come back. It also did not help that the Packers gave up crucial fourth down conversions to the Lions, including 2 that were converted by touchdowns and the one that decided the game in the final minute. Jeff Hafley was doing his best with what he had to deal with during this game, but the players on the field didn’t execute enough to win this game. Hopefully the defense plays much better during these last few weeks and the playoffs.
On Special Teams, the Packers played mistake free, other than the holding penalty during one of the punts. There were no kickoff or punt returns on either side, and all the catches were clean by Jayden Reed. Brandon McManus made every kick, Daniel Whelan punted well, and the line did not allow any kicks or punts to get blocked. The bummer was that the Packers did not get a blocked kick that would have changed the outcome of the game. On the plus side, the Packers were lucky that the Lions did not pull any trick plays out of either field goal or punt formations. I’m glad that the Special Teams unit did not screw up in a major way considering how back and forth this game was in the second half. Hopefully that good clean play keeps up over the final stretch of the season.
Overall, it was a back and forth game that the Packers had chances to win. Unfortunately, the Lions executed better than the Packers when it mattered the most. Yes, there were bad calls and missed calls that would have helped Green Bay win, but the Packers had to play better to not have to rely on help from the people wearing the zebra stripes. Green Bay didn’t execute well enough to win, end of story. Because of this loss, which makes their record 9-4 on the season, any hopes of a division title are gone and the Packers have to settle with being road warriors in the postseason. They technically did not clinch their playoff berth yet, but I’m sure that will happen either next week or the week after that. Next up for the Packers is a trip to Seattle to take on the Seahawks on Sunday night December 15th. Hopefully the extra days off can help some of the injured players come back to help the Packers get the win in Seattle. In the meantime, I wish yo all a great weekend ahead. Go Pack Go.
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