Did anybody see this coming? The Green Bay Packers offense has been on a roll. They hadn’t turned it over in five games and were facing a team (Detroit) with just 2 wins on the season. The Lions are supposed to be the team that lacked intensity, given the long season and all of the losing they’ve already gone through.
Instead, the Packers were the team that failed to play at a high level. They couldn’t even match the Lions intensity, let alone surpass it and lost yesterday’s divisional game 7-3 at Detroit.
I’ve heard nothing but “December football” from Mike McCarthy the last few weeks. He’s never volunteered a definition of “December football”, but my guess is it wasn’t supposed to look like yesterday.
The Packers rushed for just 66 net yards and gave up 190 to the Lions. My definition of December football would certainly include those two things, running the ball and stopping the run.
The Packers are by no means out of the playoff picture following their loss to the Lions, but their options are decreasing. With three games left to play, the Packers best option still appears to be gaining a playoff berth as NFC North Division Champions. But they’ll need to win and get a little help from the Bears.
Following yesterday’s defeat at the hands of the Lions, the Packers face the prospect of playing without their starting quarterback this week. Aaron Rodgers suffered a concussion, his second of the season. His status for Sunday’s game against the Patriots probably won’t be known until late in the week at the earliest.
There’s a chance Rodgers won’t be able to play, which would mean the Packers would start Matt Flynn and would likely have to find a quarterback to fill some depth. Without Rodgers, the Packers post-season chances decrease dramaticly.
Dropped passes, turnovers and penalties. Things we haven’t seen from the Packers during the past couple of weeks, but they’ve reared their ugly head at a bad time. We’ll see if it’s a small bump in the road, or a major pothole that has derailed their season?
AUDIO: Mike McCarthy on the Packers miserable game against the Lions :26