Instant Takeaways: Packers can’t overcome miscues in loss to Lions

In a must-win game and with the season on the line, a Green Bay Packers team that was playing its best football over the last month, had a very sloppy performance. There’s no other way to spin it.

With the season now over, if you’re up for it, here are your instant takeaways from the Packers performance.

– This game had 2022 San Francisco playoff vibes. Packers felt in control early on but couldn’t capitalize.

-I know there’s really no way to believe it based on this Green Bay Packers offense has performed against the Detroit Lions in two games this season, but they really do have one of the worst defenses in football statistically in several categories. Just like the first time around, the Lions played a ton of cover-1, trying to take away the run and daring the Packers to throw the ball. With the Lions crowding the line of scrimmage and middle of the field, there wasn’t a lot underneath for the Packers.

-Even so, the Packers stuck to the run game, which was a good thing. Those were hard-fought yards for the most part, but it did set up some downfield opportunities as well; however, oftentimes, Green Bay was unable to connect. Although play-action did help set up that big play to Christian Watson in the third quarter. The run game has to be a part of this offense’s success; the passing game isn’t good enough to handle a heavy workload, as we saw–especially when the defense knows that’s coming.

-There was definitely an effort to get Watson his share of touches, with some designed plays for him and misdirections, after having some quiet games on the stat sheet these past few weeks.

-The Detroit defense deserves their credit, but it’s also not like the Packers didn’t have plenty of opportunities, either. It’s as if once they crossed midfield they could no longer move the ball. The red zone woes continued as the Lions defended against the run. There were dropped passes, the offensive line was shaky, and Aaron Rodgers wasn’t very good either. On top of that, the Green Bay defense committed two crucial personal foul penalties.

– Not only winning but dominating the turnover battle has been a big part of the defense’s success over the last month, but this is a Lions’ team very good at protecting the ball, while the Green Bay offense was sloppy. As always, this played a major role in the outcome.

-It hasn’t been perfect, but since coming back to the starting lineup against Miami, we’ve seen a much improved Darnell Savage. He’s been in more tackles — and more sound in making them — and, in general, around the ball. The Packers will need him to carry that momentum into 2023 with the safety position in flux.

-Yosh Nijman started at right tackle, but he was quickly replaced by Zach Tom. On the first two offensive drives for the Packers, Aiden Hutchinson was giving Nijman fits–although it was a nice game overall by the rookie pass rusher.

-The Lions averaged over 4.4 yards per rush on the ground, but for the most part, the Packers defense did a good enough job of not letting D’Andre Swift or Jamaal Williams control the game. The play of the interior defensive line in recent weeks has been a key part of the defense’s late-season surge. When the secondary can sit in cover-2 as often as the Packers did and not let the opposing run game take over, that’s a win. However, by the fourth quarter, it did look like the defense was a bit gassed going up against that Detroit offensive line. The Lions also had some success running outside the tackle box.

-With a lot of Lions defenders in the middle of the field, the Packers tried to get their receivers involved on jet sweeps and end arounds early on. The ones to Watson worked, the ones to Allen Lazard not so much.

-The Lions are a fairly blitz-heavy team, although we didn’t see as much against the Packers. The likely reason is that Rodgers has been really good against the blitz this season.

-Detroit has a very good special teams unit, and you could tell on the Packers’ kick and punt returns as they were able to limit Keisean Nixon.

– Joe Barry said earlier in the week that the Lions have one of the best offensive lines in football, and we saw that with the Green Bay pass rush struggling to get home.

– Once again, it is going to be a very interesting offseason for the Green Bay Packers.