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    • The Packers' mistakes were ultimately too big to overcome in the loss to the Lions
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    The Packers' mistakes were ultimately too big to overcome in the loss to the Lions

    Kathleen William Posted on

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    GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers' season dangerously reached the halfway point shortly after Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph returned quarterback Jordan Love's league-leading 10th interception 27 yards for a touchdown.

    There they were, 8½ games into a 17-game season.

    At that point, trailing the Lions 17-3, the Packers had committed eight penalties, bringing their season total to 74, good enough for third in the NFL for most infractions. At the end of the game, they were tied for second place, one shy of Baltimore's league-high score of 76.

    According to a PackersNews analysis, they also had four drops, bringing their total on the season to 22, which ranked second-most in the NFL according to multiple statistics websites. By the end of the game they had two more, putting them at or near the top.

    When the Packers went to the locker room, they were still 6-2 and failed to get disqualified to improve to 7-2, which seemed like a miracle considering all the game-winning mistakes this season.

    The Packers had been living on the edge all season, but it took the 6-1 Lions, arguably the best team in the NFL, to push them off the cliff. The Packers buckled under the weight of the Lions' nearly flawless performance, falling 24-14 in a game that could have turned them from pursuers to hunted.

    “Against good teams, everyone has to play their best game,” said running back Josh Jacobs after the loss. “That's exactly what matters: the details, the execution, all those things. To beat a good team you have to give your best. This is something we have to learn.”

    That play wasn't enough to stop the Packers from beating Indianapolis (4-4), Tennessee (2-6), the Los Angeles Rams (4-4), the Arizona Cardinals (5-4) and the Houston Texans (6). ) -3) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2-7).

    But those teams are a combined 23-28 and aside from the Cardinals and Texans, they haven't really beaten any of the other teams.

    It turned out that the Packers had started the season 6-2 against their will. They did just enough to prevail, putting the interceptions, penalties and drops down to the cost of doing business and addressing them every week with locker room language rather than treating them as the disease they have become.

    “It just comes down to focusing on the things we don’t do well,” Love said. “As we go through the week of practice, we’re just sorting out those details. When we make mistakes, it means we don't just let these things go to waste. Just stay true to the details and the fundamentals and focus on the things we need to clean up.”

    “Far too many mistakes” against the Lions

    The punishments were devastating. The Packers made a stupid mistake on the first play of the game when Keisean Nixon was charged with unnecessary roughness after returning the opening kickoff 29 yards to the Green Bay 40-yard line.

    It wasn't clear what he was doing, but it didn't matter. It's the Packers' fifth penalty of the season that falls into the category of unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct.

    “I don’t know how many penalties there were, but right off the bat we get a personal foul or whatever they called on Keisean, which is completely unacceptable,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “They have their first drive, it's four-and-goal at the 5-yard line (and) we jump offsides and that gives them a chance to go for it and they get a touchdown there.

    “Then when we were driving or getting into scoring position, it seemed like we had false starts, we had snaps where the ball was on the ground. There are just way too many mistakes and you can’t make that against a good football team because they have to pay for it.”

    The false starts were inexplicable because the Packers were playing at home and operating on a “double count,” meaning Love would try to get the Lions offside on the first count and then resort to the second count if they didn't jump .

    That's common practice and there was no excuse for the Packers committing four false start penalties at home.

    Jacobs, guard Sean Rhyan, receiver Romeo Doubs and tackle Zach Tom signed one each. Each appeared in a different series and two of them – Rhyan's and Doubs' – appeared at the Detroit 32 and were instrumental in keeping the Packers scoreless.

    In fact, the Packers committed false starts and failed to score in all four series.

    “This is unacceptable,” Rhyan said of his penalty. “I try to get off the line quickly, but I need to listen better. I need to get (expletive) better.”

    As bad as those penalties were, the Packers could have overcome them if Love hadn't thrown a pick-six and they hadn't dropped so many passes.

    The interception is a terrible trend that LaFleur needs to eliminate from Love's game if he wants to take this team anywhere. Love has been taking unimaginable risks with the ball all season, throwing it places it should never be thrown.

    And all that happened is that the Packers won six of their first eight games. If the loss to the Lions, where the Packers' defense allowed just 17 points and just one play of over 20 yards, isn't a wake-up call for Love, then the season is on the upswing.

    “In a one-possession game, you have to be smart with the football,” LaFleur said, declining to say much more about it.

    The rain played a role in the lost passes, and LaFleur must take some of the blame for throwing the ball 39 times compared to just 22 for Lions quarterback Jared Goff, but the offense was left in the rain on Thursday practiced and knew that Love might not be exactly normal since he had suffered a groin injury.

    Despite all their penalties and Love's pick-six, they would have made it a game if it hadn't been for the drops.

    The drops are piling up for the Packers

    Running back Chris Brooks should have had a catch on third-and-5 on the game's first drive, even if the throw wasn't perfect. If he catches the ball, he'll likely score or set up the Packers inside the 5-yard line. Instead, it becomes a Brandon McManus field goal.

    Tight end Tucker Kraft lets a pass bounce off his hands on third-and-6 at the 28-yard line. It's a safe first down. Instead, McManus missed from 46 yards.

    Receiver Dontayvion Wicks drops a catchable ball on third-and-3 at the Packers 37-yard line with the Packers trailing 24-3 with more than 8 minutes left in the third quarter. Instead of a first down, the Packers punt.

    Wicks has to turn around to catch a ball in the end zone on fourth-and-1 from the Detroit 9 with the Packers trailing 24-6 with more than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and it is knocked out of his hand .

    At least it's another seven points after drops from Brooks and Kraft, and the Packers would have trailed 24-21 instead of 24-14 after scoring on Emanuel Wilson's 2-yard run with 3:52 left in the game.

    “It was just something we had to deal with today,” Doubs said. “Of course it's not ideal to catch footballs in the rain, but for us that's no excuse. We will make this a learning experience.”

    If this season is going to go anywhere, it's going to be better. With a goodbye looming, the Packers had better take their lesson home with them.

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    Kathleen William
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