Packer Central

Lions (And Packers) Beat Packers in NFC Showdown

With first place on the line in the NFC North, the Detroit Lions routed the Green Bay Packers, who made too many mistakes to keep up with the best team in the division.

Bill Huber

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) catches a pass in front of Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon to start the second quarter at Lambeau Field.
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) catches a pass in front of Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon to start the second quarter at Lambeau Field. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers – and the Packers beat the Packers – in their big NFC North showdown on Sunday.

After 3 soggy hours, the scoreboard showed the Lions beat the Packers 24-14. In reality, the Packers beat themselves. Like a drum. Over and over.

When Emanuel Wilson plowed into the end zone for a touchdown with 3:49 remaining, the Packers trailed 24-14 but held a commanding 411-224 advantage in yards. It was empty calories – the equivalent of a bag of chips and a Mountain Dew for dinner.

The Packers were guilty of 10 penalties and a half-dozen dropped passes. They failed on their first three trips into the red zone and missed a field goal. And Jordan Love chucked a horrendous pick-six late in the first half.

It rained cats and dogs throughout the game. The Lions, however, looked like the outdoor-hardy team rather than the team that had played every game indoors this season. They didn’t drop any passes. They didn’t fumble. They didn’t botch snaps.

Simply put, the class of the NFC North outclassed the Packers.

When the Lions started the second half with a 71-yard touchdown drive to lead 24-3, the game essentially was over.

Green Bay’s chances of winning the NFC North might be over, as well. The Packers’ four-game winning streak was snapped and they fell to 6-3. The Lions extended their winning streak to six games to improve to 7-1.

It’s not just that the Packers are a game-and-a-half back in the division race, it’s that they’re 0-2 in NFC North games – with both losses at Lambeau Field. Combined with a difficult second-half-of-the-season schedule, Green Bay might be hunting for a wild-card berth.

On the opening drive of the game, the Packers stormed right down the field but Chris Brooks dropped a pass on third-and-5 from the 12. So, they settled for a 30-yard field goal to lead 3-0.

Detroit stormed right back down the field. On fourth-and-goal from the 5 on the first play of the second quarter, TJ Slaton jumped offside. Given a helping hand, Jared Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 3-yard touchdown to make it 7-3.

On the first play of Green Bay’s second possession, Josh Jacobs broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage and gained 37. However, on third-and-3, Sean Rhyan was flagged for a false start and the Packers punted.

On Green Bay’s next drive, Jordan Morgan was flagged for holding. Then came the pivotal sequence. On second-and-20, Love’s deep shot sailed through Bo Melton’s hands. Lions safety Brian Branch delivered a crunching helmet-to-helmet blow. Branch was ejected and flipped off the officials. All told, the Packers gained 30 penalty yards on the play and the Lions lost one of their best defensive players.

It didn’t matter, though. Romeo Doubs was flagged for a false start on first down, Tucker Kraft dropped a pass on third down and Brandon McManus missed a 46-yard field goal.

The Lions kicked a field goal with 58 seconds left in the half to lead 10-3 when disaster struck. On second-and-2, Love was pressured by linebacker Alex Anzalone. He threw a stupid pass to Jacobs that was intercepted by Kerby Joseph, who raced the other way to make it 17-3.

It was Love’s second pick-six of the season – a feat matched this year only by the Titans’ Will Levis, who no longer is their starter.

In the first half, the Packers had a 218-132 advantage in yards but trailed by 14 points because they were guilty of eight penalties, four dropped passes, one missed field goal and one amateur-hour turnover.

Detroit went 71 yards to start the second half to open its lead to 24-3. On third-and-6 to open the drive, Keisean Nixon was flagged for defensive holding. The score came on fourth-and-1 1/2 from outside the 15. Preston Smith was blown down the line by Penei Sewell and Green Bay’s linebackers were nowhere to be found as Gibbs sprinted untouched into the end zone.

On third-and-3 on the ensuing drive, Dontayvion Wicks had his fifth drop of the season and the Packers’ fifth drop of the game.

Green Bay got into the red zone late in the third quarter, but Love threw an errant pass to Christian Watson on first down and fill-in center Elgton Jenkins delivered errant shotgun snaps on second and third down. So, the Packers had to settle for a rather meaningless field goal to cut the deficit to 24-6.

The Packers had a glimmer of hope as they drove down the field early in the fourth quarter. A big-time catch by Jayden Reed for 28 yards on fourth-and-5 and a 19-yard completion to Bo Melton put the Packers in scoring possession.

However, on third-and-1 from the 9, Love booted to his right and should have had an easy touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks. However, the ball was thrown behind Wicks for an incompletion. On fourth-and-1, Jacobs was stuffed.

That made the Packers 0-for-3 in the red zone. 

More Green Bay Packers News 

Packers-Lions: Live updates | Packers-Lions: Highlights | Packers-Lions inactives | Packers wary of Lions’ trickery | Packers-Lions in a monsoon | Three reasons why Packers will beat the Lions | Three reasons why Packers will lose to Lions

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.