Three Overreactions From Packers’ Loss to Lions

The Green Bay Packers shot themselves in the foot – repeatedly – in a 24-10 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Here are the big takeaways.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (13) can’t make the catch against Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III on Sunday. / Dan Powers-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers kept shooting themselves in the foot on Sunday. In the biggest game of the season against the powerhouse Detroit Lions, a limitless supply of ammunition provided an unlimited amount of self-inflicted pain.

Pre-snap penalties, botched snaps, dropped passes, red-zone miscues and the weekly interception by Jordan Love conspired against Green Bay in a 24-10 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Rather than being in first place, the Packers are in third place in the NFC North. Here are this week’s Overreactions.

1. Talk Is Cheap; Stupid Mistakes Are Expensive

To be the champ, you’ve got to beat the champ. Instead, the Packers beat themselves.

Good luck beating one of the best teams in the NFL with 10 penalties, six dropped passes and a pick-six.

“I think Detroit’s a really good football team, I absolutely do, and, when you’re playing a good football team, you can’t have those types of mistakes,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “You look at right off the jump, we get a personal foul or whatever they called on Keisean (Nixon), the 15-yarder, which is totally unacceptable. And then their first drive, it’s fourth-and-goal on the 5-yard line, we jump offsides, and it gives them an opportunity. They go for it and get a touchdown.

“And then when we were driving or getting into scoring position, it seemed like we had false starts, we had (bad) snaps, the ball was on the ground. Just way too many mistakes, and you cannot do that against a good football team, because they’re going to make you pay. Credit to them, they played a clean game.”

That the Packers were overwhelmed by a dome team in a rainstorm is embarrassing. While the Packers acted as if they’d never felt rain in their lives, the Lions didn’t drop a single pass. They didn’t fumble.

And then there was Love’s mind-numbing pick-six. Had rookie guard Jordan Morgan picked up blitzing linebacker Alex Anzalone, Love had Jayden Reed open deep for a big gain. Instead, Morgan didn’t see Anzalone until it was too late and Love threw one of those panic-mode interceptions that scouts questioned coming out of Utah State.

“It’s definitely disappointing,” Love said. “Putting the ball in jeopardy way too many times and definitely something I have to clean up. I’ve talked about it week after week, so something I’ve just got to learn from these mistakes and clean it up, but definitely something that I’m going to make a big focus on going forward, of just finding ways to take care of the ball better.”

Talk is cheap. This isn’t the first time Love has said he has to learn from his mistakes and focus on his decision-making. This isn’t the first time LaFleur spoke with frustration about pre-snap penalties.

But here we are, officially at the midpoint of the 18-week season, and it’s the same old, same old. Love has thrown an interception in seven consecutive games and is tied for the dubious NFL lead with 10. The Packers have the second-most pre-snap penalties with 30; the Lions have the third-fewest with 14.

Either clean up your act or book your January vacation.

2. Time to Bench Dontayvion Wicks

Second-year receiver Dontayvion Wicks’ late-season emergence as a rookie was one reason to be bullish about the Packers’ offense in 2024.

However, this season has been a nightmare. He caught 0-of-3 targets against Detroit with two drops. He has caught 16-of-42 passes this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Of 72 receivers to be targeted at least 30 times, his catch rate of 38.1 percent is the worst in the league. His 27.3 percent drop rate also is the worst in the league. In contested-catch situations, he is 0-for-9.

The second drop came on third-and-1 from the Lions’ 9 with about 10 minutes remaining. Wicks was wide open on a bootleg. Love’s pass wasn’t very good, but Wicks got his hands on the ball. On the next play, Josh Jacobs was stuffed for the final nail in the coffin.

“Definitely was a little bit behind him, but I think that’s a play that he can make and I think he knows he can make it,” Love said.

The Packers have plenty of weapons. Romeo Doubs also dropped a pass against the Lions but is far more reliable. Jayden Reed has dropped far too many passes this year, as well, but is far more explosive. Christian Watson and Bo Melton have game-breaking speed.

It’s time to focus on those players as well as Malik Heath, who was a healthy scratch on Sunday, until Wicks can clear his head and get back on track. He is a talented player who is in one of those downward-spiral types of slumps.

3. Help Required on Defense

When the Packers were feasting on turnovers earlier in the season, it was fair to wonder if the defense would continue to eat when opposing quarterbacks stopped throwing them the ball.

Sunday’s game was the perfect measuring stick. Lions quarterback Jared Goff is on an all-time hot streak and hadn’t thrown an interception since Week 3. The Lions had fumbled away the ball only one time all season.

This was not a team that was going to beat itself. And it didn’t. Even in a downpour, the Lions took care of the ball – and took care of business.

Yes, Green Bay’s defense gave up only 17 points and 261 yards. Most weeks, that’s good enough to win. 

However, the Lions answered Green Bay’s opening field goal with a touchdown, then put the game away on the first drive of the second half. Had the Lions needed to score more points, they might have put up better numbers. Had the game been played inside Ford Field – which will be the case next month and in a potential playoff game – they might have had better success.

Through nine games, it seems that Green Bay’s front four was overhyped. The only sack came during the second series, when right tackle Penei Sewell tripped over a teammate and was beaten by Arron Mosby. Rashan Gary shared the sack on the play – his only sack this season that wasn’t a fluke. Lukas Van Ness had one good pressure. Preston Smith, Kenny Clark and Kingsley Enagbare? Well, they played.

Green Bay needs some help on defense – which is an amazing thing to say considering all the highly drafted and/or big-budget defenders on the roster.

Whether it’s a pass rusher like the Giants’ Azeez Ojulari, whose eight sacks are more than Gary, Smith, Enagbare, Van Ness and Clark combined, or former Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Lattimore, Green Bay needs an impact pass-game defender.

As Jeff Hafley and every defensive coordinator likes to say, the combination of rush and coverage is how to beat good quarterbacks. Right now, the Packers don’t have enough of either to have any real playoff success.

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Yes, a pass rusher would help. Yes, other corners could be available. But Marshon Lattimore should be the #Packers' target at the NFL trade deadline.https://t.co/D8Lya3YSfU

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 4, 2024

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