The Packers left Sunday with a 17-20 loss to the Lions, and the result dropped Green Bay to 4-3. It was an ugly game all around, and that included the officiating, but the bigger issue for the Packers was simpler: they made too many mistakes of their own.
Dropped passes, missed field goals, and sloppy football showed up in every phase. That put Green Bay back in the basement of the NFC North despite its winning record, though the Packers are still sitting in seventh place in the NFC. With a Thursday night matchup against the Carolina Panthers coming fast, there isn’t much time to dwell on it.
There also wasn’t much room for celebration in the game-ball department. In fact, this was the shortest list of the season.
Javon Bullard earned the top nod, and his presence clearly changed how Detroit approached the game. Amon-Ra St.
Brown usually works almost exclusively out of the slot, the area Bullard plays, but the Lions shifted St. Brown outside for this one.
That move helped St. Brown avoid Bullard and still do damage, as he finished with nine catches for 153 yards.
The larger point is that Bullard’s reputation was strong enough to alter the Lions’ plan. That should normally be a win for Green Bay, even if it meant the Packers’ outside corners had to carry more of the burden.
Tucker Kraft also picked up a game ball after giving Green Bay a glimpse of the player it expects. Coming off a major injury, Kraft has started slowly, but Sunday was a step forward.
Jordan Love spread the ball around, with five different receivers catching at least three passes and four players landing in the 47-57-yard range. Kraft contributed four catches for 48 yards and his second touchdown of the season.
He’s gradually looking more and more like himself.
Keisean Nixon rounded out the list. Coverage wasn’t his best work, and he got beaten on a couple of drives, but the energy never dipped. He also avoided the kind of penalties that can swing his day the wrong way.
Nixon finished with four solo tackles, including two for loss, and his biggest moment came on fourth-and-one from the Lions’ own 23-yard-line. He came flying around the corner and stopped the ball carrier in the backfield, giving Green Bay excellent field position to try to steal the game.
The Packers couldn’t cash it in, settling for a field goal attempt that rookie Trey Smack missed for his second and final miss of the night. Even so, Nixon’s effort stood out enough to earn him a spot on a very short list.
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Packers Loss Fueled A Ref Debate Fans Wont Let Go
The Packers 20-17 loss to Detroit was decided by Jake Bates game-winning field goal, but the final score only told part of the story. The afternoon also turned into a showcase for officiating debate, with the game marked by a string of controversial flags, including roughing-the-passer calls against Green Bay and an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Lions that kept drawing attention throughout the broadcast.
Tom Brady added to the noise from the Fox booth, pushing back hard on several of the rulings and making it clear he did not agree with how the game was being officiated. For Packers fans, the frustration was obvious: a divisional game slipped away in the final moments, and the calls around it only gave them more to argue about long after the kick sailed through. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Win Sparked A Postgame NFL Reaction Packers Fans Hated
Frustration spilled well beyond the final whistle after Green Bays 20-17 loss to Detroit, with Xavier McKinney taking aim at the officiating and making clear he was willing to risk a fine if it meant saying what he thought. The postgame mood around the Packers only sharpened when Fox analyst Tom Brady also questioned several calls against Green Bay, including a roughing the passer penalty that drew plenty of second-guessing from viewers and fans alike.
Social media only made the sting worse for Packers supporters when the league itself got pulled into the conversation. The NFL posted a celebratory clip tied to a key late penalty against Green Bay, and the reaction from fans was immediate, with many seeing it as a tone-deaf move that felt less like neutral coverage and more like the league piling on a team already furious about the way the game was officiated. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Loss To Lions Sparks A Frustrated Micah Parsons Response
Green Bays 20-17 loss to Detroit left the Packers with more than a tough result to digest. A walk-off field goal ended the game after the Lions benefited from a roughing-the-passer penalty, and the finish only added to the frustration around a night when Green Bay also left points on the field with two missed field goals and a costly interception by Jordan Love.
Even while rehabbing a knee injury and not playing, Micah Parsons made his displeasure clear afterward on social media, a reaction that fit the mood around a game the Packers let get away. The officiating call became the flash point, but it landed against a backdrop of missed chances that made an already painful division loss feel even harder to swallow. [Read more 🡒]