Thoughts From the Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions (11/3/2024)

Some thoughts from today's 24-14 Green Bay Packers' loss to the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field:

Not to take anything away from the Detroit Lions, who were near perfect, this game was as much about the Packers underperforming as the Lions overperforming. Lots of frustrating penalties and almost as many dropped passes. Love's bad throw on the pick-6 late in the first half certainly didn't help much.

I would take a healthy Jordan Love over most quarterbacks in the NFL but I'm not so certain the Packers wouldn't have been better off starting Malik Willis in this game. The groin injury was clearly impacting Love's mobility and likely was a factor on some of his off-target throws. Green Bay is also lucky he didn't aggravate it more. A Willis-led offense also would have put more emphasis on the run, which would have been more suitable for that weather.

I'm going to give the defense a thumbs up though. Not counting the seven points from Love's interception, the defense only gave up 17 points against the league's top-scoring offense. Yes, the weather likely factored into that as well but considering they were short-handed in the secondary, I'll still count that as a win.

I love that tight end sneak with Tucker Kraft, especially how Green Bay sets it up out of the shotgun by having him line up as a receiver then move under center prior to the snap. It makes it more difficult for defenses to defend and sets up the potential for a big play on a fake.

The bye week couldn't have arrived at a better time. Green Bay is still very much in the playoff hunt but are now 0-2 against NFC North opponents, both losses at home. They also have a number of key players who need time to heal. The week off will help with the healing while also giving the team a chance to regroup.