The Detroit Lions come to Lambeau for a big NFC North battle with the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. It’s not often that it’s the Packers who looked worse last week than the Lions, but such is the case after a puzzling 38-3 loss to the Saints. The result really defied reason, but it could be good medicine to be drawing the Lions in their home opener. The Lions lost on Sunday, 41-33, but remarkably salvaged a cover for their backers, despite being down 41-17 with less than two minutes left. Astoundingly, they were driving for the potential game-tying score before coming up short in a memorable comeback attempt. Who can get the cover at Lambeau this week?
Green Bay Red Flags?
Any team can have a bad one-game window. And when it happens at the beginning of the season, it can leave a disproportionately-negative impression. Still, when you’re coming off an offseason where there was a lot of internal drama and then you see a team that has been wildly successful look like the worst team in the league, it rightfully raises eyebrows. It’s one thing to come up short. It’s another to put up three points against a Saints’ defense that isn’t considered elite, while allowing cast-away Jameis Winston to look like the greatest thing since sliced bread. At the very least, it’s very odd.
Detroit is Dangerous
There are issues-galore on this Lions’ team. But a 42-17 loss ended up looking a lot better when they came to life. Goff has maybe gotten a bad rap. We saw him look effective in spots, connecting eight times each with three different players through the air. Running backs D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams are very versatile and offer a lot of options. TJ Hockenson is becoming one of the best tight ends in the conference. They have a variety of players who can do legitimate damage.
Look for the Packers to Surge
Barring the unlikely scenario where Rodgers is just going to phone it in this season, you’d think some urgency would resonate in their home-opener. It sets up pretty well for a week of atonement. And it wasn’t just Rodgers who was bad on Sunday. After watching Jimmy Garoppolo shred the Detroit “D” during stretches, with anonymous RB Elijah Mitchell going over 100 yards, we should see better from Rodgers and guys like Aaron Jones against this defense.
While Green Bay was lit up by Jameis Winston and his vast cast of weapons, their defense will be tested to a lesser degree this week. Detroit doesn’t have the receiver package to wreak that kind of havoc. Many weeks, their most-prolific ball-catchers are going to be backs. But if the Lions can pick up where they left off, where they were marching up and down the field with a defense that was getting after it and taking the ball away, it could be trouble on a Green Bay team that looked as listless as they’ve been in years.
What to Look For
Last week could turn out to be a sign we should have followed. There is another possibility—that we see an even more fired-up Packers team than we otherwise would have seen. It’s time for professional pride to kick in following a performance of a team that was hardly NFL-worthy. In front of their faithful fans in a home-opener, it’s difficult to picture the kind of listless showing that would let a team like Detroit hang around and cover with a chance to win. I look for the offense to move more freely, along with a defense that takes it to the Lions and that offensive line.
