Do you remember when the Green Bay Packers were 3-6 midway through the 2023 NFL season and fans started thinking ahead to the quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft?
Jordan Love’s first year as the starting
quarterback of the franchise didn’t start out so well; after a 38-point explosion in Chicago to start the season, the Packers offense struggled to find that gear again for several games. In their next 8 games, the Packers scored fewer than 20 points give times, going 2-6 in that span. Finally, however, the group seemed to start turning the corner a bit in a week 10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Toyotathon started the following week — though Packers fans would take some time to realize what it had in store for Love and the team.
Week 11 saw the Packers defeat the Los Angeles Chargers 23-20, and the offense stayed turnover-free for the first time since Week 2. Love posted the first 300-yard passing game of his career and, finally, things were looking up. But at 4-6, the Packers needed to finish no worse than 5-2 in the final seven games to have a shot at a playoff berth, and just four days later, they headed to Detroit for a date with the 8-2 Lions on Thanksgiving.
What happened in that game was a performance that is well and truly worthy of remembrance. So let’s look back at the Packers’ 29-22 upset of the Lions, which helped buoy the green and gold to the 5-2 finish they needed to sneak into the playoffs and deliver a legendary Wild Card round upset. Here are some of the most memorable moments from that game.
Who’s In/Who’s Out
Green Bay’s lineup for this game was quite unorthodox. The Packers were missing several starters in this game; running back Aaron Jones was inactive, as was starting tight end Luke Musgrave. Green Bay also had no Jaire Alexander, while Rasul Douglas had been traded away at the deadline a few weeks later.
That meant that AJ Dillon was the Packers’ lead running back, while Tucker Kraft started at tight end for the first time in this game. Meanwhile, Green Bay’s outside cornerbacks were a rookie Carrington Valentine and veteran journeyman Corey Ballentine.
The Opening Coin Toss
Green Bay got the opening kickoff a week earlier when the Chargers won the toss and deferred. For the game in Detroit, with the Packers installed as 8-point underdogs, Matt LaFleur decided he wanted his offense on the field immediately no matter what and the Packers bucked the current trend by receiving the opening kick. The mindset of starting aggressively on offense was something the head coach wanted to instill in his team, and he dialed up a deep shot on the first play from scrimmage.
Was this the first “just chuck it to Watson” play of Love’s career? It certainly feels like the first truly impactful one, at least.
Four plays later, Love hooked up with Jayden Reed for a 10-yard touchdown (a pretty ludicrous one, at that) and the pressure was officially on the Lions to respond.
Tucker Kraft’s first TD
Respond they did, as the Lions drove 73 yards in 8 plays for a touchdown. Sam LaPorta did the bulk of the work with a 31-yard catch and then a 7-yard touchdown reception, though Riley Patterson’s missed PAT kept the Packers up by one point. But Green Bay was ready with a response of their own.
They put together a lengthy drive in a tie game, going 75 yards in 10 plays, none of them longer than 15 yards. The methodical drive culminated in the first career touchdown for Tucker Kraft, who started blocking then leaked out for a wide-open 9-yard score:
Rashan Gary’s Huge 3-Sack Day
After Kraft’s score extended the Packers’ lead, it was the defense’s turn to make some big plays. Several of them came from Rashan Gary, the Michigan native who had torn his ACL on the Ford Field turf a little over a year prior. Gary delivered on the second play of the Lions’ next drive, stripping the football from Jared Goff. The ball bounced into the waiting hands of safety Jonathan Owens, who scooped it up and easily sprinted into the end zone for a 27-yard score.
On the Lions’ very next drive, Karl Brooks knocked the ball out of Goff’s hands as he tried to scramble up the middle to convert a 3rd-and-5, recovering that fumble himself for the game’s second turnover.
Gary was the star, however, for the Packers’ defense. He would go on to record two more sacks in the game for a 3-sack day, stripping Goff of the ball a second time on a 4th down in Packers territory early in the 4th quarter. He was emotional in the locker room, and his
Lions’ 4th Down Failures
Lions head coach Dan Campbell is known for his aggressiveness on 4th down, and he certainly lived up to the billing in this game. However, those results did not go his way, as the Lions converted just one of five attempts in this game.
Attempt #1
It’s 4th-and-4 at the Packers’ 35 with 2:03 left in the second quarter. Green Bay is leading lead 23-6 and Dan Campbell wants more than just a long 53-yard field goal attempt so he dials up a pass. Unfortunately for him, Preston Smith hit him as he threw the ball, causing an incomplete pass. Neither team would score before the half, with Anders Carlson missing a 63-yard field goal as time expired.
Attempt #2
Facing a 4th-and-4 at their own 23-yard line midway through the third quarter, Campbell dialed up a fake punt with a direct snap to Jalen Reeves-Maybin. The Packers’ special teams units were alert and ready, however, stopping Reeves-Maybin for no gain on the play and taking over deep in Lions territory.
Campbell took the blame for the call after the game, saying “that’s a bad call on me.” It certainly put the Lions in a tough spot when, three plays later, Jordan Love hit Christian Watson on a beautiful slot fade for a 16-yard touchdown to extend the Packers’ lead to 15 points.
Attempt #3
Facing a 4th-and-7 at the Packers’ 31 early in the fourth quarter while down 29-14, Goff dropped back to pass and Gary delivered his third sack of the game, forcing and recovering a fumble on the play.
Attempt #4
Another attempt came on 4th-and-7 on the next Lions’ drive. After driving into the red zone, they kept the offense on the field at the Packers’ 12 but Goff’s pass for Sam LaPorta went incomplete.
Attempt #5
Finally, the Lions got a conversion on 4th down just before the two-minute warning. Still down by 15, they got a 7-yard catch from Jahmyr Gibbs on 4th-and-1 from their own 33. Their drive would end in a touchdown and a two-point conversion to close the Packers’ lead to seven at 29-22, but Green Bay recovered the Lions’ onside kick attempt and kneeled out the clock.
Jordan Love’s Turkey Leg Snub
Love finished the day with a tremendous stat line, going 22-for-32 for 268 yards and three touchdowns while adding 39 rushing yards on three carries. However, despite naming him as the player of the game, the FOX broadcast team did not honor him with the traditional postgame turkey. Instead, during the game color commentator Greg Olsen ate a turducken that FOX had prepared for the booth crew, but there was no postgame meal to be found for Love and the Packers.
One year later, that wrong was righted, though it took a different network to do it. Love once again earned player of the game honors in the Packers’ 30-17 win over the Miami Dolphins in last year’s Thanksgiving night game, and Tucker Kraft said after the game that “the one thing that was most important to me, was making sure Jordan got his leg.”
That game two years ago was filled with highlights, great individual performances, and memorable moments for the Packers. Hopefully they will fill up Cheeseheads’ memories with plenty more of those — and put another W on the board — on Thanksgiving 2025.
