The Detroit Lions battled through injury and officiating controversy on Thanksgiving, but it still wasn’t enough to beat a Green Bay Packers team that punted just twice on the day. Jordan Love threw for 234 yards and four touchdowns, while Josh Jacobs added 82 of the Packers’ 125 yards on the ground.
For much of the game, the Lions offense was just one step behind them. Jared Goff was up for the duel, completing 20-of-26 passes for 256 yards and two scores.
But the difference in the game came on fourth down. The Packers went three-for-three on fourth down, while the Lions went zero-for-two.
First quarter
The Lions won the toss and deferred to the second half, giving Jordan Love and the Packers the first opportunity to get on the board—and that’s exactly what they did. Green Bay mounted a steady 12-play, 56-yard drive. But when they got inside the Lions’ 30-yard line, Jordan Love threw three straight incompletions and they were forced to settle for a 45-yard kick to make it 3-0 Packers about six minutes into the game.
The Lions promptly went three-and-out, as pass protection had a shaky start. A second-down pass was hurried by Micah Parsons, forcing an incompletion, and on third down, a couple unblocked blitzers got to Jared Goff, nearly forcing a fumble.
But Detroit’s defense responded with a three-and-out of their own. Amik Robertson had a strong pass breakup on second down, and good coverage forced a checkdown on third-and-9 for Love. A strong punt return from Tom Kennedy set the Lions up at their own 37-yard line.
The Lions were able to pick up a single first down after a pair of Jahmyr Gibbs rushes, but then Amon-Ra St. Brown suffered a lower-body injury after getting rolled up on. St. Brown was initially declared questionable to return with an ankle injury.
On the next set of downs, the Lions committed an illegal formation penalty, setting them behind the sticks. On third-and-15, Goff had plenty of time, but couldn’t find anyone open and ran himself into a sack.
The Packers hit on an explosive run on the ground when Josh Jacobs made Lions safety Thomas Harper miss, taking it for a 29-yard gain.
Just when it looked like the Lions were going to get off the field, DJ Reader jumped offsides on a third-and-4, giving the Packers a free first down on what would’ve been an incomplete pass. Alex Anzalone posted a 2-yard loss on the next play, setting up a second-and-12 to start the second quarter.
Second quarter
The Lions would end up forcing a fourth-and-3, and that’s when Love threw up a jump ball to Dontayvion Wicks, who made an impressive toe-tapping catch in traffic for a 22-yard touchdown. 10-0 Packers.
Detroit’s offense finally woke up with a couple of explosive plays. First, a 22-yard strike to Jameson Williams over the middle of the field. Then an 18-yard run from Gibbs.
To keep the drive alive, Goff found Tom Kennedy for 23 yards on a critical third-and-13.
Three plays later, David Montgomery took the wildcat snap and plowed his way into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown. 10-7 Packers.
The Packers extended their lead on the next drive thanks to some early third-down conversions. On third-and-3, Love found Watson for 4 yard—who looked to be out of bounds but the Lions’ challenge flag came in too late. Then on third-and-5, Love found Dontayvion Wicks for a big 1-yard gain. Then Love hit tight end Luke Musgrave for a big 23-yard gain.
The red zone came with some controversy. The Packers faced a fourth-and-2 inside the Lions’ 5-yard line and it appeared they committed a false start. However, officials determined Matt LaFleur had called a timeout first. Video replay clearly shows the false start came first, but the call could not be overturned.
So the Packers got a second opportunity on fourth-and-2 and converted with a 3-yards pass to Romeo Doubs. 17-7 Packers.
With just over two minutes left, the Lions had a chance to get points and then get the ball to start the second half. The drive got a big explosive play on a cross to Jameson Williams for 25 yards all the way down to the Packers’ 28-yard line.
Then on a third-and-3, the Lions ran a screen to Jameson Williams, who broke a tackle for loss attempt and high-stepped into the end zone to make it 17-14 Packers with 25 seconds left.
After one failed pass, the Packers chose to take their lead into halftime.
Third quarter
On the opening drive of the second half, the Lions were able to get to midfield with the run game. However, facing a third-and-2, the Lions opted to run the ball on back-to-back plays, and lost yards both times.
Green Bay took over at midfield and immediately cashed in. Christian Watson got by Amik Robertson for a 51-yard touchdown and a 24-14 Packers lead.
Detroit responded with an impressive drive. Sparked by a 24-yard scramble by Jared Goff, the Lions only need five plays to go 71 yards. The drive was capped by a 17-yard touchdown pass to Isaac TeSlaa on a play Goff had perfect pass protection on. 24-21 Packers.
But Love kept hitting on explosive plays against the Lions secondary. He immediately got the Packers into scoring position with this 30-yard dart to Wicks between the Lions’ zone coverage:
Detroit nearly got a red zone stop, but on third-and-5, Jack Campbell was called for a facemask penalty that erased a stop and gave Green Bay a fresh set of downs. Two plays later, Love found Wicks for a 1-yard touchdown. 31-21 Packers.
The Lions were able to move into Packers territory thanks to a 15-yard pass to Williams and a pair of Gibbs runs that went for 26 yards—after Jared Goff fumbled a double-pass trick play that moved them behind the sticks. With Detroit’s recovery, they had a fresh set of downs at the Packers’ 42-yard line to start the final quarter.
Fourth quarter
Williams started off the fourth quarter with a big third-down conversion for 9 yards. But on the ensuing third-and-3, a Gibbs run was stuff, and Dan Campbell opted to go for it again on fourth down, passing up a 39-yard field goal attempt. Jameson Williams dropped an easy conversion on a ball thrown slightly behind him, turning the ball over on downs.
Detroit’s defense finally got the stop they needed, forcing a three-and-out. The offense, with 9:02 left, had no choice but to score to keep this game close. After an illegal contact bailed Detroit out of a third-and-long sack, Goff hit Williams on a 44-yard pass on a big crossing route to put them in scoring position.
The Lions ate up a lot of clock, but got down to the red zone thanks to a Gibbs 6-yard pass. Unfortunately, they couldn’t punch it in and had to settle for a field goal after Micah Parsons picked up another sack to bring his total to 2.5 on the day.
Jake Bates made the short field goal to make it 31-24 Packers with just under three minutes left.
The Packers immediately faced a third-and-5 after two short Jacobs runs, but Christian Watson cleanly beat Terrion Arnold for an easy 8-yard gain to move the chains and allow Green Bay to bleed more clock. At the two-minute warning, the Packers faced a third-and-3 to put the game away for good. Brian Branch had a nice pass defense to force third down, but the Packers opted to go for it on fourth down. Love threw a jump ball to Wicks for the conversion to end the game.
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