On Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers officially put the rest of the NFC North — and frankly, the rest of the NFL — on notice that they are a serious Super Bowl contender. Green Bay dominated the Detroit Lions, who went 15-2 and were the NFC’s #1 seed a year ago, controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football and coasting to a comfortable 27-13 victory.
While their offensive explosiveness was largely responsible for an early 17-3 lead, the defense will be the biggest story throughout
the upcoming short week. The Packers contained Detroit’s talented running game all game long, holding Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery to less than 50 yards on the ground combined. With a big lead, the pass rush got fired up, buoyed by the team’s big new addition from a week ago.
Micah Parsons made his Packers debut and although he didn’t fill up the box score early on, he was making a major impact when he was on the field. He got quick pressure on Jared Goff frequently in passing situations, helping to free up other Packers defenders for big plays. His pressure helped force an interception by Evan Williams in the first half and a sack by Lukas Van Ness in the second, and then Parsons eventually tracked down a scrambling Goff in the fourth quarter with the game largely out of reach to record his first sack as a Packer.
It was a dominant performance by the Packers’ offensive line throughout the game on Sunday, as Jordan Love was barely touched through sixty minutes. Detroit officially logged just two quarterback hits in the game while Love had an efficient game, going 16-for-22 for 188 yards and two touchdowns. But Parsons and the resurgent Packers defense will be the story in the coming days, and they will have a chance to take out another member of last year’s NFC playoff field in a few days when the Washington Commanders come to Lambeau Field.
The Packers opened up with the football and marched right down the field to post an early touchdown. Rookie receivers Matthew Golden and Savion Williams each recorded their first NFL catches on the initial drive, with Golden’s converting a 3rd-and-6, while Love converted another third down earlier on the series with a 20-yard gain to Romeo Doubs. Tucker Kraft helped draw a personal foul penalty on Brian Branch, who tore off Kraft’s helmet and then threw it away from the Packers tight end to draw the flag, and then Kraft delivered the first score of the Packers’ season. Jordan Love delivered a perfect throw to Kraft at the goal line over the middle on 3rd-and-9 from the 15, fitting the ball between two defenders and giving the Packers a 7-0 lead.
Green Bay’s defense took the field with Micah Parsons on the sideline, but he took the field on 3rd-and-long following two short gains by the Lions offense. Parsons delivered a pressure against All-Pro Penei Sewell, helping force Jared Goff to dump off to a covered Jahmyr Gibbs well short of the sticks.
Golden returned the punt for 11 yards, setting the Packers up just shy of midfield for their second series. They moved into field goal range thanks to a 26-yard gain to a wide-open Jayden Reed, but Love could not hook up with Doubs in the front corner of the end zone on third down. Brandon McManus hit his first field goal attempt of the year from 34 yards out to make the lead 10-0 after 11 minutes of game time.
Detroit got on the board on their second offensive series, pushing into field goal range with the help of a soft taunting penalty on Xavier McKinney. Parsons started to see his snap count tick up as the drive wore on, working in on a handful of second down plays as the Lions moved the ball down the field. Facing a 3rd-and-5, the Packers lined up Parsons over the center and drew a double-team, and Goff threw incomplete to Sam LaPorta to bring on Jake Bates for a field goal.
After that nine-minute drive, it took just two plays for the Packers to respond with a touchdown. After the Lions’ kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback to set Green Bay up at the 35, Love dialed up a bomb to Doubs for 48 yards then hit Reed for a 17-yard touchdown. Reed got wide open off a legal pick from Dontayvion Wicks, and it was an easy pitch and catch for a score that extended Green Bay’s lead to 17-3:
Another long Lions drive killed off more than seven minutes of clock and most of the rest of the first half. They converted two third downs and a 4th-and-2, but Parsons affected another Goff throw on 3rd-and-6 from inside the red zone. He quickly got around Sewell once again and Goff tried to hit Amon-Ra St. Brown with a quick pass, but safety Evan Williams jumped the route and picked off the pass, preserving the two-touchdown lead and giving Green Bay’s offense a chance to extend it with just over a minute left in the half.
Check out the quick pressure by Parsons here, lined up towards the bottom of the screen:
Green Bay was not able to get a first down, but they managed to bleed off enough clock — thanks in part to a 65-yard bomb of a punt from Daniel Whelan — to take the game into halftime.
Out of the break, Detroit held the football for more than five minutes yet again, but the Packers managed to get a stop in the red zone. The Lions got a pair of big pickups from LaPorta, but the defense tackled Gibbs for a loss of six yards on second down and pressure on Goff once again on 3rd-and-long forced a checkdown and a field goal to cut the Packers’ lead to 17-6.
After a three-and-out by Green Bay, the Packers got a big sack from Lukas Van Ness on third down to stop a Lions drive. He, Gary, and Parsons were on the field together, and Parsons forced Goff to step up in the pocket and right into Van Ness for the sack.
The Packers looked like they would give the ball back quickly, but penalties on Detroit gave them a major assist. With Green Bay facing a 3rd-and-6, Lions cornerback Rock Ya-Sin was flagged for holding in the secondary, erasing a pick-six by Brian Branch and giving the Packers a first down. The penalty and a few tough runs by Josh Jacobs managed to help them get across midfield, as they took four minutes off the clock and pinned the Lions inside their own 10-yard line after a punt.
Gary struck then, coming up with his first sack of the year on first down. He nearly brough Goff down in the end zone, but he fell forward just ahead of the goal line to avoid a safety. Two handoffs later, the Lions had to punt backed up at the one-half yard line, and Jayden Reed’s return set up the Packers at the Lions’ 36.
Jacobs picked up a first down on the ground, then Matt LaFleur channeled his counterpart Dan Campbell by keeping his offense on the field on 4th-and-inches. He dialed up a QB sneak by Love, giving the offense first-and-goal with a chance to make it a three-possession game. Two carries later, Jacobs did just that, punching into the end zone for his first touchdown of the year and a 24-6 lead with eight minutes remaining.
The Packers teed off on Goff, and Devonte Wyatt picked up a sack on 4th-and-2 to effectively put the game on ice, forcing a turnover on downs. McManus added another field goal to give the Packers a 21-point lead, allowing the defense to tee off on Goff throughout the last several minutes.
They did just that, with Parsons eventually recording his first Packers sack, which sent the Green Bay sideline into an absolute frenzy:
The Lions added a highlight-reel touchdown catch from rookie wideout Isaac TeSlaa to finish out the scoring on the game.
Detroit will host the Chicago Bears next Sunday afternoon, while Green Bay hosts the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football in four days.
