Packers heating up at the perfect time, but looming Lions clash might reveal their true ceiling
Five weeks separate the two games between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions this season. On November 3, the Lions won 24-14, and it was 17-3 at halftime. Next Thursday is a season-defining moment for the Packers, who have won the three games since the first matchup and need this win to be real […]
Five weeks separate the two games between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions this season. On November 3, the Lions won 24-14, and it was 17-3 at halftime. Next Thursday is a season-defining moment for the Packers, who have won the three games since the first matchup and need this win to be real competitors for the NFC North title.
Right now, the Lions are 11-1, and the Packers are 9-3. If the Packers get three wins behind and with a tie-breaking disadvantage, the division will be out of the equation.
"We have a great challenge in front of us, in Detroit, one of the premier teams in the National Football League," Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said on Thursday night, right after the win over the Miami Dolphins. "We're gonna have to play our best to have an opportunity to beat them."
Even though the Lions enter the game as the favorites because of what they have done this season, it's not like Detroit is invincible. They had some tough games against the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears lately, and the Packers are getting better at the right time.
"We're building a good thing on offense right now, we're getting in that rhythm, finding that groove," quarterback Jordan Love mentioned. "We just gotta keep being consistent. We'll take it another week at a time. We know who we got this week coming up, it's a really good Lions team. They got us the first game, so we'll look at everything, look at all the film, and put our gameplan together. But just the rhythm we're finding on offense right now, the way the defense is playing, I think we're in a good spot."
In Week 9, it was not exactly a bad game by the Packers — Green Bay actually outgained the Lions, 411 yards to 261. But early mistakes, including a Jordan Love pick-six, got it out of hand. LaFleur thinks the team is in a better place to avoid mistakes right now.
"I just love the mentality of our football team," LaFleur added. "They strain for one another, they fight, they block."
Last year, Jordan Love pulled off one of his best performances of the year at Ford Field. On Thursday, the Packers will need another one of those. And it's as big of a regular season game as there will be in 2024 for Green Bay.
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