After riding a three-game win streak back into the postseason picture, the Green Bay Packers are back at the bottom of the NFC North standings after a heartbreaking 17-20 road loss against the Detroit Lions. What was expected to be a barn-burner turned into more of a grindfest than expected as the Lions' defense disputed the labels placed on them and turned up the energy in the secondary.
Entering this matchup, the Lions allowed the most passing yards per game in the league at 297.4, and Green Bay ranked sixth at 193.3. But as two familiar foes face off in a battle with direct influence on the playoff race, Lions coach Dan Campbell got the best of Matt LaFleur by inverting expectations and leading his team to lock down Green Bay's top two wideouts.
While Jordan Love managed to finish with 274 passing yards and two touchdowns once again, Detroit held Christian Watson to 57 yards on five catches, and Matthew Golden to 39 yards on six catches. That's the second-lowest yardage total in a game this season for Golden, and the third-lowest for Watson. Green Bay's dynamic wideout duo has been the engine of the Packers' offense so far this year, and with Detroit's secondary holding them in check, it was all downhill from there.
The Green Bay Packers expected to take advantage of the Lions' secondary in Week 7, but Detroit took advantage of theirs instead.
Lions QB Jared Goff connected on 22 of his 32 passes (68.8%) for 303 yards and two touchdowns against what's otherwise been a stout Packers secondary. They got sloppy up against one of the best receivers in the world, Amon-Ra St. Brown, who caught nine balls for 153 yards. When Green Bay tried to focus in on St. Brown, they got torched by Jameson Williams instead, who took two of his five catches to the end zone for a 91-yard game.
In the end, the Packers played like a team that was planning to operate one way before being forced to shift their approach. But the Lions called Green Bay's bluff and swarmed the running back duo of Josh Jacobs and MarShawn Lloyd, who carried the ball 17 times for 56 yards. Without any real chance to establish the run, Detroit was able to play it safer in coverage and limit the Packers' explosive plays.
There's an important lesson to be learned here about setting expectations aside and staying present in the moment. LaFleur and his coaching staff will have plenty to take from this game as they try to get this team back on track in a heated NFC North playoff race.
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