Detroit — Sometimes you’re the hammer, sometimes you’re the nail.
And when it comes to fourth down, the Detroit Lions have been the nail a lot lately.
The Green Bay Packers pulverized the Lions at Ford Field on Thanksgiving Day by using their own M.O. against them, as Green Bay converted all of its fourth-down opportunities while the Lions converted none en route to a division-swinging 31-24 victory.
The Lions (7-5) are now 1-4 on Thanksgiving Day under Campbell since 2021 and have been swept in the season series by Green Bay (8-3-1) for the first time in the Campbell era. Detroit is 1 1/2 games behind Chicago (8-3) for first place in the NFC North and a game behind San Francisco for the seventh and final NFC playoff spot.
BOX SCORE: Packers 31, Lions 24
“Look, we dug ourselves into a little bit of a hole. That’s the bottom line. We are in a little bit of a hole. That’s just what it is,” Campbell said. “There’s nothing more than that. All we got to do is worry about cleaning up this and then getting to the next game and finding a way to win the next one in front of us.”
The Packers were 3-for-3 on fourth down, including two touchdowns near the goal line and a 16-yard completion to Dontayvion Wicks that iced the game with 1:55 remaining. The Lions were 0-for-2 on fourth down; the first turnover on downs led to a 51-yard touchdown pass to Watson just two plays later, while the other prevented the Lions from drawing within a score in the fourth quarter.
“That’s the NFL,” linebacker Jack Campbell said. “It comes down to little things, little plays. One play, two plays can change the game. That’s on us.”
Two weeks prior, in another pivotal loss to Philadelphia, the Lions were 0-for-5 on fourth down in a one-score game. They are 0-for their last seven attempts after not attempting a fourth down against the New York Giants.
“This game came down to fourth down in those critical moments, and we were 0-for-2, and they were able to capitalize on three of them,” Dan Campbell said. “Those are the one or two plays that really make the difference when you are playing a really good team.”
The incompletion to Williams came with the Lions trailing 31-21 and 10:55 remaining. Goff took full blame for the misfire to Williams, saying he delivered a bad pass: “That’s the one that will hurt me for a while,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do” to improve on fourth downs, Goff said. “You’ve just got to execute in those big moments. That’s really it. I wish there was some magic potion to take to be better on fourth down, but there’s not. I had Jamo open, he’s streaming across, I’ve got to hit him. That’s the bottom line. There’s no other way to fix it. I hit him there, then we’re one-for-two on fourth down and probably get more points there.”
Campbell said he doesn’t regret the approach and doesn’t believe it’ll change going forward, even with sure-handed tight end Sam LaPorta on injured reserve and receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown set to miss at least a game or two with an ankle injury, which he suffered in the first quarter on Thursday.
“A lot of it depends on where the game is at, too. Where the game’s at, the opponent, how your defense is playing. Do you feel like you have a really good handle on what you’re going to get from that defense? Who you’re going to and all of those things,” Campbell said.
“Going into it, we liked those plays. So no, I wouldn’t say necessarily that’s going to have an effect on me. You always want to convert them, and we’ve had a lot of conversions here. It just didn’t work out here today.”
Packers quarterback Jordan Love passed for 234 yards and four touchdowns while completing 18 of his 30 attempts, as Wicks caught five passes for 94 yards and a touchdown, plus the game-sealing play on fourth down. Christian Watson added 80 yards on three catches for Green Bay.
The Lions’ pass rush made Love sweat at times, but never made him hurt. Detroit had just two quarterback hits, both by defensive tackles (Alim McNeill and Tyleik Williams), with no sacks. Packers defensive end Micah Parsons had 2 1/2 sacks on his own.
The Lions failed to bring Love down and recorded just two sacks over the previous two weeks, with only one of those coming in regulation.
“He’s good at extending plays, obviously,” Jack Campbell said. “That just gives receivers more time to deviate from their route. We just need to do a better job putting pressure on him.”
After an extremely shaky performance by the Lions through two series, Goff rebounded to finish 20-for-26 for 256 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Green Bay bottled up Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, holding him to 68 rushing yards on 20 carries. Williams caught seven passes for 144 yards and a 22-yard touchdown.
The Packers took a 3-point lead on the opening drive. After converting on third-and-short twice — including one play where the Lions’ defense only had 10 players on the field — the Lions got off the field when Alim McNeill forced Love to throw the ball away on third down and settle for a 45-yard field goal off the foot of Brandon McManus.
The Packers added to their lead with a controversial touchdown at 14:19 in the second quarter. Lions safety Brian Branch inexplicably stopped running with Wicks on a fourth-down throw to the end zone, allowing Wicks to make the play. Lions safety Thomas Harper attempted to jar the ball loose by hitting Wicks, causing it to look like Wicks didn’t get two feet down after making the catch, but officials confirmed the touchdown after review.
The Lions got off the mat with 7:54 to go in the second quarter. Tom Kennedy, who had four catches for 36 yards after getting called up from the practice squad, made a massive catch on third-and-long to get Detroit into the red zone for the first time all game. Three plays later, David Montgomery ran the ball in from the Wildcat formation, cutting Detroit’s deficit to 10-7.
The Packers got another break late in the second quarter. The Lions were flagged for having 12 men on the field before a critical third-and-7, which set up third-and-3 from the 4. Alex Anzalone made a stop to get to fourth-and-1, when Packers offensive lineman Anthony Belton was flagged for a false start. After officials convened, they deemed that Packers coach Matt LaFleur got a timeout before the penalty occurred — but that’s not what the replay showed. As Belton began moving early, LaFleur was still covering his face with his call sheet.
LaFleur winked at a reporter when asked if officials got the call right — “Of course, they got it right,” he said — and referee Ron Torbert offered no serious explanation for how the crew resolved the conflict.
“The timeout was called before the false start happened,” Torbert said in an official PFWA pool report.
The Packers lined it again on fourth-and-1 and converted with a 2-yard passing touchdown to Romeo Doubs, who caught the ball in the flat for the score to go up, 17-7, with 2:12 left in the half.
Detroit responded in a hurry to make it a one-score game before the third quarter. Williams found the end zone after spinning out of a would-be tackle-for-loss on third-and-3, then accelerated upfield for a 22-yard touchdown that made it 17-14, Packers lead, going into halftime.
Even after the Packers regained a 10-point lead with the long touchdown to Watson, Detroit’s offense wouldn’t go away, showing a little bit of the old-school resiliency that they showed last week against the Giants. Detroit marched down the field in five plays, culminating with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Isaac TeSlaa, his first catch since Nov. 9, to cut the deficit to 24-21 at 7:25 in the third.
Again, the Packers added to their lead after a fortunate bounce in the red zone. D.J. Reed and Harper forced a fumble by Doubs inside the 5-yard line, but it bounced right into the hands of Packers offensive lineman Rasheed Walker. Three plays later, Green Bay went up 31-21 on a 1-yard touchdown pass in the flat to Wicks.
Jake Bates concluded a lackadaisical Lions drive that took 6:03 off the clock by bringing Detroit within a score, 31-24, on a 31-yard field goal with 2:59 remaining.
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
@nolanbianchi
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