The Green Bay Packers learned a tough lesson on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 4. They still have some work to do to hang with the better teams in the NFC as they were dismantled by the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay got the game started well enough, intercepting Jared Goff on the third play of the game. That set the team up in great field position, but they were unable to do anything with it, gaining zero yards.
Anders Carlson would knock through a 34-yard field goal to give the Packers a 3-0 lead, but it was all Detroit through the rest of the first half. The Lions would score on their next four possessions, opening up a commanding 24-3 lead. After a few punts back and forth, they scored again before intermission, taking a 27-3 lead into halftime.
The Lions racked up 196 yards of offense in the first quarter alone, while the Packers had only 230 in the entire game. While Green Bay showed some life in the second half, the hole was far too deep to dig out of this time around.
The big deficit turned Green Bay into a passing team and Jordan Love struggled a bit through the air. He completed 23-of-36 passes for 246 yards, an improvement in the accuracy department, but had two interceptions in the game. He threw for one touchdown and ran another in.
The rushing offense was once again stuck in the mud for Green Bay. That is something they need to figure out, and fast, otherwise, teams are going to start pinning their ears back and getting after Love knowing that the team cannot take the pressure off of him on the ground.
On the opposite side of the ball, they once again struggled to slow down the run. The Lions totaled 211 yards on the ground, led by David Montgomery with 121 on 32 carries. Detroit was intent on winning the battle at the line of scrimmage and they did, creating a massive edge in time of possession. They had the ball for 37:58 while Green Bay had it only for 22:02.
With the loss, the Packers fall to 2-2 on the season with a road trip ahead of them. They will be facing the Las Vegas Raiders in Sin City on Monday Night Football in Week 5. Their next game will be against the Denver Broncos in the Mile High City in Week 7, as their bye is sandwiched between the road trip.
