Tough night on defense

There was a lot of talk about Detroit’s substantial injury list coming into Thursday’s game, but Green Bay had their own problems to deal with, specifically in the secondary.

They entered the night without Jaire Alexander and Corey Ballentine, before losing Evan Williams and Javon Bullard during the game, leaving them paper thin and leading to Zayne Anderson playing significant snaps in the second half.

When Keisean Nixon (nothing against him) is being described as Green Bay’s “top cornerback” by Prime Video announcer Al Michaels with Alexander out, you know your defensive backfield is not in a great spot.

Eric Stokes should be getting phased out of the defense at this point, but even if the coaching staff had correctly made that determination (they have not yet for some reason), they did not have much choice but to keep throwing Stokes out there on Thursday.

Coordinator Jeff Hafley and his staff clearly decided rookie Kalen King, who was called up off the practice squad, is not ready, but Stokes was cooked most of the night, including for a touchdown by veteran Tim Patrick, who is hardly an All-Pro.

At linebacker, the absence of Edgerrin Cooper has really tied Hafley’s hands behind his back in terms of coverage at the second level. Quay Walker can cover (ish), but Eric Wilson and more glaringly, Isaiah McDuffie are not capable of holding up consistently.

The Dolphins attacked the middle of the field relentlessly on Thanksgiving night, and the Packers were happy to give up those yards given the comfortable lead they held, but this time there was nothing comfortable about it.

The Packers were gashed in the middle of the field all night, and the Lions also repeatedly ripped off massive gains on screen plays, with Green Bay’s back seven finding it extremely difficult to get near David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs in space, and to bring them down when they did.

From the second quarter on, the Lions offense was only prevented from scoring on two of seven drives, a pick from Nixon and a turnover on downs. They did not punt after the first quarter.

It is hard enough to work around a gaggle of injuries at one position group if you have all week to plan, it is even harder to deal with when the injuries occur in game.

This is perhaps a valid excuse for the defense’s performance on Thursday night, and even before the injury bug hit, the Packers will have known this game was likely to be a shootout.

Regardless, the Packers need to get healthy on defense and keep working to find a consistent formula before the playoffs.

Slow start on offense

Early on, this game seemed to be headed in a similar, grisly direction to Green Bay’s loss to Detroit at Lambeau Field earlier this year, as the Packers laboured out of the gate on both sides of the ball, but more surprisingly, on offense.

The Packers projected to have a favourable matchup versus a banged up Lions defense, but DC Aaron Glenn’s dial-a-blitz play calling caused Green Bay’s offensive line all game, but especially early.

Whether it was LaFleur’s play calls, Love not adjusting protections correctly, the O-line not executing, or a combination of all three, the Packers seemed totally caught off guard by Glenn’s aggression, and there were free rushers in Love’s face far too often.

The run game struggled to get going, with Jacobs forced to make chicken salad out of chicken you know what throughout the game.

Christian Watson’s fumble contributed to the hole they dug, turning what could have shaped up to be a point scoring drive for the Packers into three points for the Lions.

Love and co eventually got it going and were almost impossible to stop after the first quarter, but this is not the first time they have scuffled early on against a quality opponent. It may have ultimately been the difference between winning and losing on this occasion.

Jordan Love continues to perform

Love only completed three passes in the first half, which seemed more circumstantial than anything he did especially wrong, but after the Packers fell behind, he did just about everything he could to pull them back into contention.

The fact he only took one sack is astounding considering the consistent pressure he was having to deal with.

His fourth quarter play on 2nd and 14, dodging a defender before placing a perfect pass to Christian Watson, just beyond the outstretched arms of a Lions defender, to pick up a first down was a crucial play on the field goal drive which tied the game.

After performing poorly against the blitz early on, he has improved drastically in that department since getting healthy, which indicates it was his lack of mobility causing the problems previously.

He was not perfect — he missed a gimme touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft, which did not end up coming back to bite the Packers as Josh Jacobs ran the ball in for a score moments later — but it was a fourth straight game with a passer rating over 100, and a third straight without an interception.

Toyotathon Jordan Love has arrived.

Dontayvion Wicks re-emerges

After a nightmarish spell in which Wicks suffered badly with drops, he came through with multiple important grabs on Thursday night.

Wicks was able to show off his ability to get yards after the catch on several occasions, which is an underrated asset of his game.

His final statline: four catches for 49 yards, is not eye popping, but represents his second best game in terms of both catches and yardage on the season.

On a night when the Packers were without Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed was quiet by his standards, Wicks reminded everyone he is a quality option with a ton of talent.

NFC North race is over for the Packers

To retain any slim hopes of winning the NFC North, Green Bay had to win in Detroit. The loss does not damage their playoff hopes in any meaningful way however.

With four games to go, the Packers should have two goals, aside from the obvious one of improving week by week and trying to enter the postseason with impetus:

Win enough to avoid being the seventh seed, which would pit the Packers against either the Lions or more likely, the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs.

Avoid injuries.

Thursday’s defeat was frustrating, as they usually are, but the Packers showed they can go toe to toe with top tier opponents on the road, something they will need in the postseason.