The Green Bay Packers got an unexpected extra chance to stop the Detroit Lions’ offense on Thursday night.
They still couldn’t manage it.
With 43 seconds remaining in a 31-31 tie, the Lions faced a fourth-and-inches from the Packers’ 21-yard line. They were in easy field-goal range for Jake Bates, but Coach Dan Campbell decided he didn’t want to leave Green Bay with any time left on the clock.
He kept his offense on the field. If the Packers had made a stop, they would have had a chance for a surprising victory.
“That maybe surprised me a little bit, but that’s how Dan has been throughout his career,” said Packers coach Matt LaFleur.
David Montgomery ran through the line for a 7-yard gain. Two plays later, Bates kicked a 35-yard field goal as time ran out, giving the Lions a 34-31 win.
“They gave us an opportunity and we didn’t take it,” LaFleur said. “Hats off to them.”
After starting the season 2-2, the Packers had gone 7-2. However, both of their losses were to the NFC North rival Lions (12-1), making it unlikely that they will win the division title.
Earlier losses came against the top teams in the NFC: Philadelphia and division rival Minnesota.
This time, Jordan Love led the Packers to 24 second-half points and two leads of 21-17 and 28-24. However, the defense couldn’t get a stop.
The Lions had two possessions in the fourth quarter — a 70-yard touchdown drive to take a 31-28 lead and a 53-yard drive to end the game after the Packers had the ball. Jared Goff was 10 of 10 for 105 yards and a touchdown on those drives.
“We gave him a ton of time to throw at the end,” LaFleur said. “They ran a ton of screens today and it really hurt us.”
On the first fourth-quarter drive, Goff completed passes of 11 and 14 yards. On the final possession, he had completions of 19, 11, and 16 yards.
“I’m sure there are things we could do differently,” LaFleur said. “But Jared is a great quarterback, and they have great playmakers on offense. He gets them the ball, and they get their yard-after-catch machine rolling.”
Love didn’t blame his teammates.
“Obviously, we’d love to see the defense get the stop at the end and give us the ball back with a chance to win or get to overtime,” he said. “But we put them in a 17-7 hole in the first half — we got off to such a slow start.”
Love completed 3 of 7 passes for 31 yards in the first half and also took a sack. He played well in the second half, completing 9 of 13 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown, but he wasn’t happy with his performance.
“I just didn’t make enough plays early on,” he said. “They’ve got a really good offense, and I think we are just as good, but that slow start hurt us.”
The Packers could face the Lions again in the playoffs.
“That’s a long way away,” LaFleur said. “But I do think we have a really good ball team.”
