Five Reasons Why Detroit Lions Have Surpassed Green Bay Packers

The Detroit Lions had been rebuilding since the 1960s. The Packers have been wildly successful since 1992. Starting in 2022, the Lions flew past the Packers, and here are five reasons why.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers' 2022 season ended at the hands of the Detroit Lions when Detroit came into Lambeau Field and earned a 20-16 victory.

Games at Lambeau Field against the Lions used to be a slam dunk for the Packers. They went from 1992 to 2015 without losing to them in the state of Wisconsin, an NFL-record 24-game home winning streak.

That is no longer the case. The Lions broke that skid in 2015, and are 4-3 at Lambeau Field since that day, including a 34-20 drubbing in September.

Games against the Lions in general used to be chalked up as easy wins for Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers. However, entering Thursday's game between the teams, the Lions have won four in a row against their division rivals.

This situation has been slowly building. Now, the Lions are runaway favorites in the NFC North, and 7.5-point favorites against the Packers on Thanksgiving, according to SI Sportsbook.

Here are five reasons for the power shift in the NFC North.

Culture Shock

When Matt LaFleur took over in Green Bay, he was challenged with changing a culture that had grown toxic under Mike McCarthy.

A team that enjoyed massive success with McCarthy and Rodgers leading the way, had gone 13-18-1 in 2017 and 2018.

LaFleur came in and the winning began. The culture change was evident.

LaFleur has won a lot of games but fell short in too many big games when Rodgers was under center. That was not entirely his fault, but a conservative nature and a soft underbelly did the Packers in at the end of each of his first three seasons.

When the Lions hired Dan Campbell in January 2021, he became a punchline with his opening press conference in Detroit. He talked about biting kneecaps and various other ridiculous sayings.

The care that Campbell has for his players, however, is evident. Campbell changed the losing culture in Detroit. Now, instead of hoping they'll have a chance to win, the Lions go into every week believing they can win.

Campbell kept the ship afloat last year when the team started 1-7. Starting with a win over the Packers at Ford Field, they won eight of their last nine.

The physicality and aggressiveness of the Lions embodies their coach.

Roster Attrition

NFL teams turn over their rosters every year. That's nothing new.

The hard part in Green Bay is, since 2020, they've lost one major contributor every year.

David Bakhtiari tore his ACL on the final day of 2020.

The injury was complicated in its nature, and he's played 12 games since that day. Yosh Njiman and Rasheed Walker have had nice moments, but there is no replacing a player the caliber of Bakhtiari, who may have been ticketed to the Hall of Fame had he stayed healthy.

Davante Adams was traded following the 2021 season.

Adams was as decorated a receiver in the history of the Packers. He was unquestionably Rodgers' favorite target and helped him rewrite the record books in Green Bay.

Adams is another irreplaceable player, but the Packers have failed to come close to the standard Adams had set.

Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb didn't fill the void Adams left a season ago. Romeo Doubs and, especially, Christian Watson have struggled to build upon their first seasons. Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks have had made some big plays they are only rookies.

It's possible Green Bay will be in the receiver market again this offseason.

Of course, the big one was trading Rodgers following the 2022 season.

Rodgers did not have his best season a year ago, but he's going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot he's eligible.

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Maybe Jordan Love will prove to be next in the lineage of great Packers quarterbacks.

For now, it's been up and down, and the Lions have the quarterback advantage with Jared Goff. 

That's something they certainly haven't had over the last 30 years. 

Elite Players

As mentioned above, it's tough to replace elite players. Rodgers, Adams and Bakhtiari were at the top of the NFL at their positions.

The Lions in that time have added some great players or had others come into their own.

Amon-Ra St. Brown is probably the best receiver in the NFC North not named Justin Jefferson. He's an assassin from the slot, and has had more than 900 yards in each of his first two seasons. This season, he’s piled up 898 yards, and could pass the 1,000-yard mark on Thursday.

The Lions' offensive line is one of the best in football. Penei Sewell is a foundational piece at right tackle.

“I think these guys are the best line in football,” defensive coordinator Joe Barry said this week.

They're big and physical.

“That is a good offensive line," LaFleur said after the team's 34-20 loss in September. "They’ve got really good runners. I think (Jahmyr) Gibbs and (David) Montgomery are two of the better backs (and) that’s one of the best offensive lines in ball.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Lions drafted Aidan Hutchinson.

He's made life difficult for the Packers and the rest of the NFL since being drafted second overall in 2022.

Aidan Hutchinson rushes Jordan Love / Jeff Hanisch - USA Today

Hutchinson has at least one sack in every game he has played against Green Bay. 

When it comes to truly elite players, the Lions have more than the Packers.

Good players help. Elite players tilt the field in their team's favor. 

Styles Make Fights

Mike Tyson used to say that everyone had a plan until they got punched in the mouth. 

That's been a problem with the Packers against teams like the Lions.

The San Francisco 49ers under Kyle Shannahan and Jim Harbaugh have given the Packers fits.

The New York Giants under Tom Coughlin won two road playoff games against the Packers. 

The New York Jets beat the Packers last year, and after the game Robert Saleh gave a quote that was a pretty large indictment of the Packers' DNA. 

"O-line just keep pushing and just keep leaning on them and we felt like if we could just keep taking them down to deep water, they’ll find out they can’t swim," Saleh said. 

The Lions fit a similar mold to the aforementioned teams. They're physical, and not afraid to hit you in the mouth. They're willing to try and take teams out to the deep water. 

When that has happened, the Packers have either struggled, or wilted.

As the Lions have been made more in Dan Campbell's image, the more success they've had against Green Bay. 

Draft Success

Hutchinson has been a massive success as the second overall pick. St. Brown is one of the best receivers in football.

The Packers took Quay Walker and Devonte Wyatt in the same year Hutchinson was taken. While Wyatt and Walker have done some nice things, neither would be considered a high-impact player at this stage of their careers.

Sewell was taken in 2021, when the Packers took Eric Stokes. Stokes has been bitten by bad luck, but Sewell is an elite player on one of the best offensive lines in the league.

St. Brown was drafted after the Packers traded up for Amari Rodgers, who was cut in the middle of his second season.

The Packers rely heavily on the draft, but that has not yielded enough game-changing players. Of course, because they were perennial losers, the Lions had elite prospects available. To their credit, they took advantage with Hutchinson and Sewell.

It's arguable the last true field-tilting player the Packers drafted was Rashan Gary in 2019.

The Lions, meanwhile, have added at least three high-impact players since that time.

That's one of many reasons the Packers find themselves looking up at Detroit.

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