The Lions’ road to the playoffs just got a lot harder, but it’s there, 6 other takeaways
The Lions lost a hard one to the Packers, but the season is far from over.
Welp, this one was a lot of fun from a football fan’s point of view, but it didn’t go the way that Detroit Lions fans hoped. The Lions played a competitive game, but when they needed it, they couldn’t get things done, and it cost them a 31-24 loss to their NFC North rivals.
The Lions’ road just got a lot harder for the playoffs and the division title.
The road to the playoffs will be a hard one
The good news is that Frank Ragnow is coming back, and that’s huge. The bad news is that Amon-Ra St. Brown went down with an injury, and we don’t know how long he’ll be out. From here, the Lions have the Cowboys, Rams, Steelers, Vikings, and Bears. That Rams game will be tough, but there are four pretty possible wins here. That would have the Lions at 11-6, assuming they lose in L.A.
The Bears have the Eagles, the Packers twice, the 49ers, and the Lions. The Packers have the Bears twice, the Broncos, and the Ravens. These two teams have a much harder go than the Lions do right now. The 49ers are a team to watch, though. They have the Seahawks, Colts, and Bears left. Things can happen. Don’t start reading mock drafts yet. Unless it’s mine. You can read those.
Goff Report
Jared Goff went 0-3 in the first quarter and then threw 15 straight completions. Sadly, that streak was broken by a Jameson Williams drop on fourth down. Outside of that, Goff played a pretty good game in this one. He navigated the pressure for the most part, unless Micah Parsons was coming his way. He ended the game going 20-of-26 for 256 yards and two touchdowns.
The Lions made a huge mistake with Terrion Arnold
I get coming back from concussion protocol and all, but playing him just 17 snaps opened the Packers’ pass game up, especially when targeting Amik Robertson. He was targeted nine times and allowed five catches for 95 yards and a touchdown.
That included Christian Watson’s 51-yard touchdown. Arnold should have been out there all game since he’s a much better outside corner than Robertson.
Aggression kills again
It’s hard because, on one hand, you want to play to win, but on the other hand, you have to take points when they’re available. The Lions went for it on a fourth-and-3 in field goal range in the fourth quarter, and that would have been the time for a Jake Bates field goal to make it a seven-point game.
Instead, Williams dropped the pass, and that was that Campbell has to curb this stuff a little bit. You have to play the points game at times, and this was that time.
Questionable officiating spots the Packers 14 points
The officiating in the first half was some of the worst we’ve seen for a Lions game this year. The Packers got away with multiple delay-of-game penalties, but the thing that really hurt was the phantom timeout on the Packers’ second touchdown.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was extremely late to call a timeout on what could have been either a delay of game or a false start on the Packers, and officials still let it count. The Packers scored a touchdown on the next play. A play they shouldn’t have had where they had it.
The other one was Dontayvion Wick’s touchdown, which he bobbled all over the place and stepped out of bounds on, and still somehow counted as a catch. All these years after the Calvin Johnson rule, and we still don’t know what a catch is.
Amon-Ra St. Tom
The Lions lost All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown early in the game, and they needed someone to step up. Tom Kennedy did it in the second quarter with this huge catch that put the Lions in position to get into the end zone.
Best Thanksgiving halftime show ever
Wow! Jack White absolutely rocked it. It’s very rare for me to get goosebumps during a Thanksgiving halftime show. Honestly, I rarely even watch them. But that was awesome, man, and the inclusion of Eminem was perfect.
Everyone was rocking and singing along to Seven Nation Army, too. See what happens when you get a Detroit artist out there? Big Sean doesn’t count. He didn’t do any of his hits, so he’s disqualified. Plus, he was never actually on a stage; he was all over the building.
Fooling the Packers’ defense with the touchdown, they got called back against the Chiefs
This is the exact formation the Lions used for the David Montgomery touchdown pass to Jared Goff against the Chiefs. While that didn’t count, the Lions got it on film, and all they needed was for the Packers to believe they’d do it.
The Packers bit on the pass, and it opened up the wildcat touchdown. Good stuff from the Lions.