GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – For the seventh time in the last nine years, the Green and Gold will close the regular season against the Silver and Honolulu Blue. It’s the 187th meeting overall between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, conference or division rivals since Detroit entered the NFL in 1930. Because it’s the Lions, with a bit more than rival bragging rights on the line for this year’s season finale, I just had to borrow a phrase from “The Lion King”
“Remember who you are.”
The late King Mufasa whispers that to a matured Simba and it might as well be the Packers saying the very same to the Lions.
Green Bay can clinch it’s NFL leading 36th post-season appearance with a victory Sunday night at Lambeau Field. It would be the 4th straight year Head Coach Matt LaFleur leads his team into the playoffs and for the franchise, it would mark the 23rd time in the last 30 years they’d have a ticket punched for a chance to win the Super Bowl. They’ve been there and of course done that with four Vince Lombardi trophies in their case, a league best 13 championships overall and a 36-25 record over the 61 playoff games in their history.
It’s taken some doing to get into this position, sitting at 4-8 a month ago but a run of victories against the Bears, Rams, Dolphins and Vikings have them needing only to beat Detroit (for the 104th time ever) and they’ll have another game to play with a 9-8 record, a Wild Card berth and the NFC’s seventh seed.
As for the Lions, they are a franchise who have only dreamed of that level of sustained success. Sure, they have 4 NFL championships to their credit, one in 1935 and a dominant stretch in the 1950’s where they captured three titles in a 6 year span, the last, way back in 1957. Their wait for another has been longer than I’ve been alive. This is their first shot at a winning season since 2017. Detroit’s last playoff appearance was in 2016, only their third this century. The Lions last won a post-season game in January of 1992, a 38-6 Wild Card round victory over Dallas. This is a franchise that won’t finish in the NFC North basement for the first time in five years. They endured an 0-16 campaign in 2008 and it was the Packers who finished that “perfect” year off with a 31-21 win. When both teams were on a run of success in the early 1990’s, it was the Packers who eliminated Detroit in the Wild Card round in consecutive seasons, the Sterling Sharpe bomb at the Silverdome and the Barry Sanders, 13 carry, minus one yard effort at Lambeau the following year. Back in 1991, Detroit scored a 21-17 victory over the Packers in Green Bay, significant because it would take another 23 years for the Lions to taste victory on Wisconsin soil again. A run of 24 straight games (including that Barry playoff contest). The streak was finally snapped in 2015. The Lions also took advantage of an Aaron Rodgers-less Green Bay team in ’17 and interim coach Joe Philbin’s swan song in the ’18 finale but the Packers under LaFleur are on a 3 game streak at home making it a 3-28 record for the visitors from across Lake Michigan over the last 30 years.
After winning all of 11 games over the past three seasons, including 3 in Head Coach Dan Campbell’s first season last year, Detroit brings their own resurgent 8-8 record to Lambeau this weekend. They were 1-6 at the time they beat the Pack 15-9 at Ford Field and Detroit hasn’t slowed down since. It appears the culture shift is taking place but they are entering unchartered waters which takes me back to the advice of the Lion King.
Remember who you are.
If the Packers do that, and the Lions think about that, I’d expect the home team to celebrate after the final game of the 2022 campaign.
Some last minute notes:
The Packers had an unusual injury occur during Thursday’s practice. An ambulance was called to the Don Hutson Center after practice squad linebacker D.Q. Thomas collided with a teammate and wound up with a broken femur. Trainers thought it best to give Thomas a more comfortable ride than a golf cart back to the stadium for examination
The final injury report for the week has only tight end Josiah Deguara with an injury designation among the 11 names on the list. He’s questionable after coming down with a calf injury during Wednesday’s practice. Detroit has ruled out backup guard Kayode Awosika and listed five more players, four starters as questionable: Center Frank Ragnow, fullback Jason Cabinda, cornerback Jeff Okudah, safety DeShon Elliott and backup defensive lineman Michael Brockers.
The Green Bay chapter of the Pro Football Writers Association of America presented two players with awards today. Jason Wilde did the honor in the name of a former colleague of his and mine, Tom Mulhern, who was taken from us by cancer a decade ago. The Appleton native was a sportswriter for the Post-Crescent, Green Bay Press Gazette and Wisconsin State Journal. Since 2014, The Tom Mulhern Stand Up Guy Award has been given annually to the player or players who are deemed to be most cooperative with the media. This year’s award winners were Kenny Clark and Rasul Douglas. It’s the second time Clark has been chosen.
Finally, all 32 NFL teams will pay tribute to the courage and fight of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin this weekend. The 24 year old continues his remarkable recovery from the cardiac arrest that occurred last Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals. In just the past two days, while still in intensive care, he awoke with no discernible neurological issues and began speaking, even conducting a zoom session with his Buffalo teammates on Friday. The Packers will have a video tribute on the Jumbotron and the 3 (Hamlin’s jersey number) at each 30 yard line marker on the field will be outlined in blue, a nice touch.
Now to the game itself.
When the Packers have the ball.
The best news here is that Green Bay will have all hands on deck. That could spell trouble for the Lions, coming in with a defense ranked dead last in the NFL. They have two high energy rookies to build around in first round pick Aidan Hutchinson on the defensive line and undersized, speed rushing linebacker James Houston, a sixth round choice. They have 16 sacks combined plus Hutchinson leads all rookies with three interceptions and he’s an edge rusher. One of those came against Aaron Rodgers who tried to flip a tackle eligible pass to David Bakhtiari at Ford Field. Don’t think we’ll see that play again. Don’t think we’ll have to. With Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins making it an All Pro left side up front, look for the Packers to send Aaron Jones outside and hammer A.J. Dillon inside with a ground attack against a defense that gave up a Carolina Panther franchise record 320 rushing yards a couple weeks ago. If the offense can control the line of scrimmage and eat up time of possession, Rodgers may get several chances to strike deep off play action in the passing game with a healthy wide receiver group. The only thing I see slowing down the Green Bay attack is the Pack. If the offense avoids the turnover mistakes that ruined their chances in Detroit, the points should pile up.
When the Lions have the ball.
This makes three explosive units in a row for Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry to contain. Detroit, third best in yards per game, 4th best in scoring offense, has very good talent at nearly every position. Unlike Miami and Minnesota which proved very generous with giveaways, the Lions are far more stingy. In winning 7 of their last 9 games, Detroit has committed only 3 turnovers. Jared Goff has 7 interceptions on the season but his last came against the Packers in November. While Green Bay has piled up 12 takeaways in their last four wins, Detroit just doesn’t give it away. They are a run first unit and the plan of Barry must start with keeping ex-Packer Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift in check. Goff has been very good throwing off play action, directing most of his passes toward Amon-Ra St. Brown who has an even 100 receptions. St. Brown has blossomed into a very good medium to long range route runner. D.J. Chark and rookie Jameson Williams weren’t healthy for the first meeting this year and they only round out the arsenal. Making it all go is Detroit’s offensive line. They’ve invested first round draft picks three times since 2016 to build that wall. Left tackle Taylor Decker (2016), Ragnow at center (’18) and right tackle Penei Sewell (’21). It’s paid off. They protect very well. It will take a big effort from the front seven to control the ground game and find ways to make Goff uncomfortable. Barry may break tendencies by playing even more man coverage against the Detroit receivers to bring creative 5 or 6 man pressures. In the first meeting, the Packers did what no other defensive unit has been able to, keep the Lion offense in check on their home field, giving up just 15 points, but it wasn’t enough. The Packers haven’t given up more than 20 in their current four game winning streak and that number should be good enough Sunday night.
The bottom line.
I’ll admit, I was a non-believer when the Packers were sitting at 4-8 but they’ve convinced me they convinced themselves to be playoff worthy. It’s encouraging to see the Lions under Campbell becoming a much more formidable division rival in coming years but I don’t think they’re prime time worthy just yet.
I like the Pack, 30-24.
