Thoughts on Week 7 (2026): Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions

What an atrocious game that was to watch on multiple fronts. Not only did the Green Bay Packers ruin their winning streak, but they were the victim of another array of awful penalties on Sunday against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. I understand that the Packers have to overcome the officiating, but they were unable to in the end. Mistakes were made on every side of the football. At the end of the day, the Packers are now 4-3 on the season after this loss. Let’s get this game over with.

The Packers got the ball first to start this game. Two plays into the drive, Jordan Love found Matthew Golden for a 22 yard pass completion that got Green Bay into Lions territory. 2 plays later, starting center Sean Rhyan injured his ankle after being landed on by Josh Jacobs (who should not be on the team anymore). Later, they converted a fourth and 5 with a 27 yard pass from Love to Savion Williams. After that, the drive stalled and they faced fourth and goal from the 3. Rather than going for it, Trey Smack was called upon for a chip shot field goal from 21 yards out. The kick was good, but it was negated by a delay of game penalty. Trey Smack ended up missing the kick from 26 yards out (yuck), resulting in the Packers getting no points on that drive. The Lions took advantage of this opportunity by carving apart the Packers defense for multiple chunk plays. The drive ended with a 16 yard catch and run TD by Jameson Williams. The PAT kick by Jake Bates was good, giving Detroit a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. After the kickoff return by J Michael Sturdivant, the Packers took over at their own 26. What followed was a long drive that lasted just over 6 minutes. During the drive, the Packers faced a fourth and 2 from the Detroit 49. Jordan Love connected with Tucker Kraft, who suffered a helmet to helmet hit by (who else) Brian Branch during the 22 yard reception. Eventually, the Packers scored on third and 9 from the Detroit 14 when Jordan Love ran to his right and threw the ball just before crossing the line of scrimmage. Tucker Kraft caught the pass in the right corner of the end zone for the touchdown. The extra point kick by Trey Smack was good, tying the game at 7-7 with just under a minute left in the first quarter. The defense did not have a good start to the ensuing drive after giving up a 40 yard pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown and a 12 yard run by Jahmyr Gibbs. Thankfully, the defense was able to hold the Lions to a field goal after stopping Gibbs for a 2 yard loss on third and 5 from the Green Bay 20. The kick by Bates was good from 40 yards out, giving the Lions a 10-7 lead with about 12 and a half minutes left in the second quarter. After two straight drives that ended in a punt (one by each team), the Packers took over at their own 20 with 9:17 left in the second quarter. On third and 9 from the Green Bay 21, Jordan Love connected with Savion Williams for a 20 yard pass completion that gave the Packers first and 10 at the 41. Later in the drive, the Packers faced another fourth down. In this case, it was a fourth and 3 from the Detroit 41. Christian Watson caught a 28 yard pass from Jordan Love to move the chains and continue the drive. After that big play, the drive stalled (Love almost threw a pick on third down) and the Packers faced another fourth down. Rather than going for the field goal to tie the game, the Packers went for it. Jordan Love threw the pass to Matthew Golden, who was tackled for no gain. What bummed me out on that play was that Love missed a wide open Pierre Strong, who could have scored a TD on that play. The Packers defense had to get back on the field after the turnover on downs. They did allow the Lions to get into field goal range, but they forced a turnover when Isaiah McDuffie forced Jahmyr Gibbs to fumble the ball. Brenton Cox Jr recovered the fumble at the Green Bay 8, resulting in the Lions getting no points on that drive. The Packers ran once and then let the clock run out, resulting in the score remaining at 10-7 in the Lions’ favor at halftime.

The Packers got a gift when there was a bad snap exchange between Jared Goff and center Cade Mays. The ensuing fumble was recovered by Isaiah McDuffie at the Detroit 42. The Packers offense took advantage of this gift by scoring a touchdown on their first drive of the third quarter. On third and 6 from the 25 yard line, Josh Jacobs (who I can’t root for anymore) caught a pass from Jordan Love and managed to stay in bounds for the 25 yard catch and run TD. The extra point kick by Trey Smack was good, giving Green Bay a 14-10 lead with a little over 12 minutes left in the third quarter. The Lions started their ensuing drive at their own 20 due to a holding penalty on the kickoff return. They were able to get into scoring range on this drive. The biggest play was a 30 yard pass completion to Jameson Williams. Later in the drive, on second and 11 from the Green Bay 27, Amon Ra St. Brown caught a short pass that went for 4 yards. Apparently, there was no whistle, so Devonte Wyatt made sure to tackle him to the ground. For some dumb reason, Wyatt was flagged for unnecessary roughness on that play, giving the Lions a first and 10 at the Green Bay 11. 2 plays later, the Lions scored on a 10 yard pass from Goff to Williams. The extra point kick by Jake Bates was good, giving Detroit a 17-14 lead with about 6 and a half minutes left in the third quarter. The Packers went three and out after two straight incomplete passes to Matthew Golden (the one on second down should have been DPI against Detroit). After the punt, the Lions took over at their own 34 in the hopes of extending their lead. They did get into scoring range, partly thanks to some ridiculous penalties against Green Bay. Brenton Cox was pushed into Jared Goff, who flopped down to the ground. Cox was called for “roughing the passer”, which was an awful call. Later, Brandon Cisse was robbed of an interception after he was called for pass interference. Cisse was able to make two plays back to back that kept the Lions from getting any points on their drive. The Packers could not capitalize on the opportunity due to a couple of things. Jordan Love ran to his right and got rid of a pass to avoid a sack. The pass was near Tucker Kraft, but Love was called for intentional grounding. On the ensuing second and 21, Bo Melton’s arm was held while attempting to catch a deep pass from Love (a penalty was not called). Then, Love threw an arm punt to Brian Branch, giving the Lions the ball at their own 43. Thankfully, the defense forced a three and out and gave the offense another chance. From their own 14, the Packers started a long drive that lasted about 6 and a half minutes. They did get into scoring range, but a combination of a holding penalty against Anthony Belton and failure to get a first down after that forced the Packers to settle for a field goal. Not even a hook and lateral play worked on third and 15. The kick was good from 43 yards out, tying the game at 17-17 with a little over 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Packers defense got a big stop when Keisean Nixon tackled Jahmyr Gibbs for a 2 yard loss on fourth and 1 from the Detroit 24. What did the Packers end up doing with this opportunity to take the lead? Nothing. Josh Jacobs dropped what would have been a touchdown on third down and Trey Smack’s field goal was tipped, resulting in the game still being tied at 17-17. The Packers defense was unable to stop the Lions from getting into scoring range. Karl Brooks was called for another bad roughing the passer penalty, even though he did not land on Goff with his full weight. Later, Brooks jumped offsides, which helped the Lions get another first down. Eventually, the Lions were able to run out the rest of the clock and give Jake Bates a short field goal to win, which he made. With the 20-17 loss, the Packers are now 4-3 on the season.

(Here are the “lowlights” of this game, courtesy of the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re curious. I suggest having them on mute due to Tom Brady being a bad broadcaster, in my opinion.)

https://youtu.be/r3NBIs-ABLA?si=wqv8eMnxmL8LvL-C

On offense, the Packers had a prime opportunity to get a lot of points against one of the league’s worst defenses in yards and points allowed. Instead, thanks to a combination of dropped passes, iffy offensive line play, untimely penalties (including an awful intentional grounding penalty on Jordan Love), and turnovers (both via downs and an interception), the Packers failed to score even 20 points on Sunday. Jordan Love once again did everything he could to help the Packers win, but it wasn’t enough with all the stuff around him. Even with Josh Jacobs back (which I hate), there was not that much of a ground game for Green Bay due to the state of the offensive line, which had to have a third center due to injuries. Sean Rhyan suffered a high ankle sprain and will miss a few weeks while Jacob Monk hurt his quad and won’t be available for Thursday night at the very least. John Williams (not the film score composer) did a solid job as the center, so at least there was that. As for the guard position, Kevin Zeitler should be playing on Thursday after being listed as a healthy inactive. Aaron Banks was active, but not a starter. Mekhi Becton is sitting on the practice squad waiting for an opportunity to play, and I think he should be activated. Maybe the Packers get someone at the trade deadline, but regardless, the Packers offensive line is still a mess. I’m hoping that Love doesn’t get injured this year because of it. Because of some O-Line miscues, the Packers were not efficient on offense. They ended up finishing 1 for 4 in the red zone, with Tucker Kraft scoring a touchdown on National Tight Ends Day. I was hoping he would score at least 2, but at least he got one. I hated that Jacobs got the other touchdown, even with the impressive effort to stay in bounds. Bo Melton was robbed of a catch due to a non-called DPI, as was Matthew Golden. Overall, the Packers did not do enough on offense to win this game. Too many mistakes were made, especially in scoring range. Hopefully the unit performs better at Lambeau Field on Thursday night.

On defense, the Packers played their heart out, despite missing some key players. Entering this week, the Packers were dealing with multiple injuries. On Thursday at practice, LB Zaire Franklin suffered a hit to the shin by someone’s knee. The injury turned out to be a hairline fracture in his leg, which could make him miss a couple of games at least. Even without Franklin, the Packers defense held the Lions in check for most of the game. Yes, there were multiple chunk plays allowed, but the defense had great moments. Two fumbles were recovered by the defense, with one of them leading up to the Packers’ only second half TD. Brandon Cisse made a couple of clutch plays, including a crucial fourth down stop. Keisean Nixon got a stop that should have resulted in points by the Packers offense (or special teams, which I’ll get to shortly). However, things were not perfect. Evan Williams dropped a pick, which would have added another turnover to the count. Brandon Cisse had a pick that was nullified by a pass interference penalty. Speaking of penalties, there were some awful ones called against the defense. Devonte Wyatt was just doing his job when he was tackling Amon-Ra St. Brown after hearing no whistle. One of the side officials in Alex Moore’s crew, umpire Terry Killins Jr, was knocked down to the ground during this whole scuffle. Apparently, he got his feelings hurt and threw a flag on Wyatt, which was an awful decision. Brenton Cox Jr and Karl Brooks were both called for “roughing the passer’, with the one on Cox being a complete joke. Unfortunately, Brooks also committed a neutral zone infraction penalty that helped the Lions run out the rest of the clock and win the game with that short field goal. I understand that it’s sometimes the Packers’ fault for penalties like offsides and late hits. However, the amount of blatantly bad balls against Green Bay’s defense so far this year is just ridiculous. For example, there have been 8 roughing the passer penalties against Green Bay, yet there have been none called when Jordan Love is getting roughed up. Like I said last week, I want the calls to be consistent for both sides. At the end of the day, the Packers did their best on Sunday on defense, but it wasn’t enough. Hopefully Jonathan Gannon’s unit is ready for the next game at Lambeau Field.

On Special Teams, the Packers played well except for one area: kicking. Trey Smack missed two short field goals from 26 and 35 yards out. The 26 yarder went wide right while the 35 yarder was tipped. Even with that tipped one, there’s no excuse for Smack to miss short kicks in a dome. Matt LaFleur said after the game that Smack will be the kicker for right now, but we’ll see how he does against Carolina on Thursday night. At least Daniel Whelan had a nice punt that went for 60 yards in the first half and no punts were blocked. Another sigh of relief was that the Packers did not allow a punt or kick return for a touchdown. No fumbles occurred on special teams, which is always good. It was a bummer that the Packers failed to block the last field goal that gave the Lions the win. With how close this game was, I’m glad there were no extreme mistakes by Cam Achord’s unit. Hopefully Trey Smack makes all of his kicks from here on out.

Overall, this game was rough for the Packers. With how top heavy the NFC North is (with the Vikings still being unbeaten), I hated that the Packers messed up an opportunity to win against a division rival on the road. Yes, the refs were part of the reason why they lost, but Green Bay could not capitalize on multiple scoring opportunities and had many unforced errors. Right now, the Packers need to get this game out of their system and prepare for a Thursday night showdown with the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field. Both teams lost on Sunday, with the Panthers getting blown out at home by Tampa Bay, so each team is hoping to get back to winning. Hopefully it’s the Packers who get the win on Thursday night. I’ll be back for the recap of that game either on Friday or Saturday. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go.