The Lions didn’t exactly cruise through this one. They won it the hard way, leaning on a few timely stops, some Packers mistakes and a walk-off kick to escape Green Bay with a 20-17 victory and a 4-2 record.
Detroit’s offense had already done enough by the end, but the game turned on the sort of small errors that can swing a divisional matchup in a hurry. Green Bay helped the Lions out early with a delay of game that pushed the Packers back before Trey Smack missed a field goal. Later, Detroit survived its own self-inflicted damage, including a pair of costly fumbles that gave the Packers fresh life.
That’s been the balancing act for this Lions team: the offense is asked to carry a defense that still has plenty of questions, and Jared Goff has been a big reason the attack keeps humming. Drew Petzing praised the quarterback’s command on play-action, saying, “I think just from his standpoint, one of the things that makes him so elite in that is his process.
It's uncomfortable and you don't do it a ton in college anymore where you turn your back to the defense," said Drew Petzing. "You have to take in a ton of information pre-snap, and you have to know where your eyes need to go and who you need to locate on their side of the ball and on our side of the ball.
And I think that's a huge part of the action game.
"He's done it at such a high level that I think even when that happens, he's able to calibrate quickly, figure out what's going on and make the proper decision almost every time. And that's really one of the main reasons I think he's excelled in that area.”
Detroit came out sharp after deferring the opening coin toss. Goff hit Amon-Ra St.
Brown and Jameson Williams on the way to a six-play, 80-yard opening march, and Williams finished it with a 16-yard touchdown catch. It was only Detroit’s second first-quarter touchdown of the season, and its first since Jahmyr Gibbs scored from a yard out against the Saints in Week 1.
Green Bay answered right back. Jordan Love led a 12-play, 74-yard drive, and tight end Tucker Kraft kept the chains moving with a key fourth-down catch for 22 yards. A little later, Love scrambled and found Kraft for a 14-yard touchdown after Jack Campbell lost him in coverage.
The Packers kept moving the ball early, but Detroit eventually settled in defensively. D.J.
Reed made a big tackle for loss to stop a Green Bay red-zone push late in the second quarter, and that opened the door for the Lions to try to stretch the lead before halftime. Instead, they gave the ball away.
On a second-and-10 from the Green Bay 12 with 30 seconds left in the half, Gibbs was jarred loose after running into Cade Mays at the end of the play, and Green Bay recovered. Detroit still carried a 10-7 lead into the break.
The second half started with another Detroit breakdown. On the Lions’ first possession, Mays and Goff botched the snap exchange, and the Packers pounced again. Love made them pay with a 25-yard touchdown to Josh Jacobs, and suddenly Green Bay had the lead.
Detroit did manage to stay afloat through a handful of Green Bay penalties, including roughing the passer on Brenton Cox Jr. and another call on cornerback Brandon Cisse. Even so, the Lions couldn’t fully cash in. Campbell went for it on fourth down deep in the red zone, but Cisse pushed Williams out of bounds in the back of the end zone, and Detroit had to settle for staying within striking distance.
Goff also lived a little dangerously in the second half, narrowly avoiding interceptions on throws the Packers couldn’t quite haul in. Still, the Lions’ defense kept creating chances.
Rookie Keith Abney dropped a third-down interception in the end zone after a Love throwaway, Brian Branch later picked off Love for his first interception of the 2026 season, and Khalil Dorsey along with D.J. Reed helped disrupt deep shots that ended a Packers drive with a three-and-out.
Campbell’s aggressiveness nearly backfired in the fourth quarter when Detroit went for it on fourth down deep in its own territory. Gibbs was stuffed, giving Green Bay the ball back, but the Packers couldn’t turn that into points. Smack’s 35-yard attempt was partially blocked by DJ Wonnum and missed.
From there, Detroit put together the finish it needed. The Lions marched 71 yards in 10 plays, and Jake Bates drilled a 22-yard field goal as time expired to seal the 20-17 win.
There were a few more notes that stood out along the way: Goff passed Derek Carr (41,245) for the third-most passing yards through 11-career seasons in NFL history, Lions fan Cody DeLorenzo completed a 313-mile ultramarathon run for charity from Lambeau Field in Green Bay to Ford Field in Detroit with the game ball and was rewarded by the organization with two Super Bowl tickets, and cornerback Ennis Rakestraw injured his ankle and was listed as questionable to return in the fourth quarter.
In Other News...
Lions Suddenly Face A Bigger NFC Test Than The Standings Show
After seven weeks, the NFC picture has tightened into something that looks less like a division race and more like a weekly survival test. The Vikings are still unbeaten at the top of the North, while the Bears, Lions and Packers all sit in playoff position, and even Seattle is lurking just outside the bracket. For Detroit, the margin for error is already thin enough that every divisional result can change how the standings feel from one Sunday to the next.
What makes the next stretch especially tricky is how little room there is to separate contenders from pretenders. The Lions are in the mix, but the path ahead runs through a conference that keeps stacking competent teams on top of one another, with upcoming games set to shape not just the North but the broader NFC race. And when Detroit gets its next crack at Minnesota, it will be facing a team that has been suffocating opponents defensively, which only raises the stakes of every possession before that matchup even arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Got A Huge Late-Game Break From An Unexpected Defender
Late in the fourth quarter, the Lions got a break from an unlikely place when defensive tackle DJ Wonnum got a hand on Green Bay kicker Trey Smacks 35-yard field-goal attempt. The deflection helped send the kick wide and kept the game tied in a tense finish that was hanging on every snap.
It was the kind of play that can disappear in the blur of a close game, and even some Lions teammates did not realize Wonnum had made the difference until after it was over. Detroit ultimately walked away with a 20-17 win, and the late stop loomed large because it prevented the Packers from taking the lead when the pressure was at its highest. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Got The Injury Reassurance Fans Wanted After Packers Win
The Lions left Lambeau with a win and, as often happens after a physical NFC North game, a little injury cleanup on the side. Dan Campbell said after Week 7 that Amon-Ra St. Brown and Ennis Rakestraw came out with minor issues, the kind of postgame concern that tends to linger only long enough to make everyone hold their breath before the next week begins.
For Detroit, the encouraging part is the timing. Neither player is expected to miss the upcoming matchup with the Vikings, even if one or both sits out a practice day along the way, and the Lions have enough depth to absorb a short absence if needed. Rakestraw had a role against Green Bay, logging 31 percent of the defensive snaps, and the message around the injury report is that this looks more like a brief inconvenience than a real setback. [Read more 🡒]