Lions Lose to Packers 27-15

The Green Bay Packers did not beat the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. Let us be clear on this one. The Lions beat themselves!

Let us make another thing clear. Only half of the Lions team came to play on Turkey Day!

The Lions defense was spectacular in the first half. The Packers had the ball 5 different possessions and only one of them ended with points. That 2 play, 13 yard drive came via a Matthew Stafford interception near his own endzone.

Going into the half, the Lions were down 7-0 and the defense had for all practical purposes, shut the Packers high powered offense down. At halftime, Rodgers had only 65 yards passing, and their entire offense only netted 88 yards. Nobody could have asked for more.

Unfortunately, the offense, once again, did not show up. The Lions offense had the ball for 6 possessions in the first half. None ended in points. One drive ended on the second play with an interception that led to the packers only first half score and their last drive only lasted two plays before time ran out. With at least one time-out left and :30 on the clock, the Lions did not even attempt to move the ball down field. They called a short pass to Morris and did not use the timeout, nor did they hurry to the line as they let the clock run down. Then they threw another short pass to Morris and let the clock expire.

The second half came and everything fell apart.

The Packers first drive of the third quarter went 11 plays and 77 yards for a touchdown. The Lions followed that with a decent drive that ended with Matthew Stafford's second pick of the game and Rodgers next pass went 65 yards for another TD. The Lions next drive only lasted two more plays before Stafford threw his 3rd pick of the game and a field goal later the Packers had a 24-0 lead.

It is obvious that the effort by the Lions defense to only see it wasted by an inept offense is getting to them. The Lions defense is showing their frustration and Ndamukong Suh finally snapped as he committed his worst penalty of his career. Though many call him a dirty player, I disagree. He is a rough player but not dirty. Before today, I have yet to see a single play by him that I felt was truly uncalled for and dirty. Today he lost his temper as he was taken to the turf by a GB lineman and he shoved the other players helmet into the turf a few times then stomped on him as he got up.

In the end, the Lions lost the game 15 to 27, but truth be told, it is not the loss that is hard to take. Though I called for a win, for the Lions to lose to the undefeated Packers was not unexpected. What made this game rough was the lack of an offense in the first half for the 9th game in their last 11. What was rough was watching the team shoot itself in the foot repeatedly with penalties at critical times. What made this game hard to watch was the lack of any passes thrown downfield. It seems Linehan just doesn't have the ability to understand that you cannot have a consistent offense if you only throw short passes.

It was a very disheartening showing by an extremely talented team playing far beneath itself. If the NFL was to take the Thanksgiving game away from Detroit, I would not say I can blame them. They are simply too talented to look as bad as they did today. They were undisciplined, and the coaches came in with a horrible game plan. At least on offense.