The Lions’ valiant victory secures their postseason berth. In the fourth quarter, Jared Goff hit 13 consecutive passes, and the Lions converted four of their five fourth downs, including a risky one late in the game. The Lions could have taken a three-point lead with a field goal with 43 seconds left in a 31-31 game. Naturally, though, that isn’t the Dan Campbell way. When the Lions went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 21-yard line, one of his linemen stepped on Goff, making it difficult for him to pass it to David Montgomery for a 7-yard gain. Jake Bates’ game-winning 35-yard field goal that sent the Lions to victory was set up by that.
They’ve won 11 straight games, are 12-1, and are now formally in the playoffs. It felt like a playoff game, and it was the best Thursday night out there is. Although the Packers performed admirably, the Lions were slightly superior.
Lately, love grew hot, but Packers lost. Jordan Love struggled to settle into a rhythm in the first half, but he made up for it in the second half, leading four scoring drives and completing 9 of 13 passes for 175 yards to erase a 10-point deficit. However, during a possession in the third quarter, the Packers wasted a timeout.
where they were wounded late because they punted (on fourth-and-3 from their 37). A costly illegal contact penalty blocking on a Josh Jacobs touchdown that was wiped out cost Christian Watson, who had a monster game stretching the field for the Packers, a flag. Following a 20-yard gain into Detroit territory in the first half, Watson also fumbled. They lost 17–7 in the first half as a result of penalties. Little errors mounted up throughout the evening, and it takes little to lose to the Lions.
Although the Lions’ shorthanded defence was strong, they are much more injured.
The defence of Detroit was already weak. When one of their finest remaining defensive linemen, Alim McNeill (head), was ruled out in the first half, Joshua Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike, and D.J. Reader—not to mention their 18 players on injured reserve—were all on the field. The defence of the Lions was pushed to its limit. Pat O’Connor was a threat and played a career-high 37 snaps. Later, Brian Branch emerged from the field. Everyone was on deck. Of the four touchdowns the Lions gave up, two were on short fields following an interception and a turnover on downs. They are not to responsible for those two. Not very attractive, and the Lions had
them), but in a really sloppy attempt, they gummed up. The offence took care of business after they kept Green Bay to a late field goal and forced a late three-and-out.
No one can defeat the Packers. Yes, Green Bay just witnessed its rival celebrate a postseason berth after losing a close divisional game. Yes, the Packers leave with a bitter taste. A few calls that went against the Packers will be up for discussion. However, they must also understand that they can compete against almost any squad after this game.
there and fit together pretty damned nicely. Key starters were out for both the Packers and the Lions due to injuries. Dan Campbell probably wanted to avoid giving the ball back to Jordan Love again, which is one of the reasons he went for it late on fourth down. Love was beginning to divide the Lions. Although he averaged over 10 yards per pass attempt, the Packers only ran 45 plays and hardly had the ball. The Green Bay defence held up rather well overall, but they were unable to keep the Lions in the red zone and on four of the five fourth downs. The Packers are a dangerous team, but losses are rarely encouraging team.
Following an INT and a fourth-down stop, Goff and Johnson rally. The Packers scored two touchdowns in the first three-plus minutes of the second half, quickly wiping out the Lions’ strong 17–7 lead from the first half. Jared Goff was largely effective on Thursday, but just after the Packers scored on their first drive of the third quarter, he pushed a ball to Tim Patrick that was intercepted at the Detroit 16. There was a dramatic swing in momentum. However, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson got the Lions back in the end zone by constructing a cool, shrewd drive for Goff that mixed in the run game. Johnson called for a run by Jahmyr Gibbs on fourth down during their subsequent drive, but it was stopped their
The night’s only fourth-down failure. On the game-winning and go-ahead drives, however, he and Goff were both in their bag. Patrick was excellent (two touchdowns). Despite having an early penalty, Dan Skipper played excellent in Taylor Decker’s place. The two primary offensive minds of the Lions were locked in late as they played with their usual ferocity and confidence.
Packers-Lions Next Gen Stats Analysis (via NFL Pro): In Week 14, Christian Watson caught three of his five targets for 108 yards (62.5% target rate) and was matched up against Carlton Davis on eight of his 19 routes (42.1%). Out of his 11 other routes, Watson was targeted only twice (18.1% target rate). In the third quarter, Watson recorded a reception of 59 yards, which was the farthest reception by air yards (39) that Davis has allowed this season. while press coverage, Watson finished with season-highs in targets (five), catches (three), and yards (94), while being pressed on 73.7% of all his routes against the Lions.
NFL Research: Since his last touchdown, Tim Patrick had missed 1,082 days and sustained two serious injuries. He scored twice on Thursday.
