It will go down as the most typically Detroit Lions blowout of all time.
Only the Lions could make a 40–10 victory feel like a nail-biter into the third quarter. Only the Lions could so effortlessly provoke simultaneous feelings of swagger and terror in their fanbase. This is a highly skilled and deeply flawed football team, with a head coach who personifies the team’s schizophrenic nature. If ever there was a resounding victory that also felt like a harbinger of doom to come, the Lions first Thanksgiving Day victory in a decade was it.
At halftime Thursday afternoon, the Lions had run 42 offensive plays. The Green Bay Packers had gained 43 offensive yards. Total. The Lions lead was just seven points.
On the Lions’ first four drives of the afternoon, they moved the ball 172 yards. They came away with three points. And three turnovers.
This was a game that ended in a 30-point win for Detroit, remember. They were without question the better football team. For half the game, that didn’t matter. Only with Packers quarterback Matt Flynn crumpled in his own end zone after a third-quarter Ndamukong Suh safety did this contest become something more than a win the Lions would somehow earn despite pumping a few more shots into their already bullet-riddled feet.
It was a resounding victory that displayed critical flaws. Which is a shame, really, because the Lions are a team that deserves to be watched well into January.
“When we get out of our own way, we can be pretty special,” running back Reggie Bush said after the game. There might not have been a more bang-on assessment by a player of his own team this season—unless you count Andre Johnson dismissing his Texans with, “We suck,” but that’s low-hanging fruit.
The talent on the Lions is undeniable—as good as on any roster in the NFL, really. The 82.7 yards per game allowed on the ground by the front seven ranks fourth in the NFL. Thursday, they held red-hot rookie Eddie Lacy to 16 yards on 10 carries. The Lions’ offence trails only Denver with 424.5 total yards per game. Bush was among the league leaders in yards from scrimmage even before he added another 182 against the Packers to his total. Matthew Stafford sits behind only Peyton Manning and Drew Brees with his average of 319 passing yards per game. Calvin Johnson might well be the greatest receiver in NFL history.
Johnson’s six catches for 101 yards and a touchdown was referred to post-game as “another day at the office,” and the description was remarkably accurate. Johnson is in the middle of a six-game run during in which he’s averaged 160.3 receiving yards and 1.33 touchdowns per game.
But all those strengths were evident during Thursday’s first half, and the Lions still clung to a one-score lead at halftime… because they really couldn’t get out of their own way. An early fumble by Bush, then a field goal. Then a fumble—returned for a touchdown—and a pick by Stafford on back-to-back drives gave the Packers a 10–3 lead.
The Lions’ tendency to cripple their own efforts with careless mistakes is a reputation that’s well-earned and will be difficult to shake: Five games with at least three turnovers, second in that category only to the 4-6 Giants; a pass defence that ranks 26th in the league, and gives up a disproportionate amount of its yards in huge chunks; a -8 in the takeaways to giveaways category—ahead of just the Vikings, Falcons, Giants, Texans and Jets, who have a combined win-loss record of 15-39.
Judged by their virtues, Detroit is a Super Bowl contender. Seen through the prism of their flaws, the Lions are a threat to cough up any game at any time.
But this is what will make them so much fun in January, should they allow themselves to get there: A Lions playoff run will be a testament to how well a team can pile strength upon strength in the hopes of making their weaknesses irrelevant.
The Lions were dismal at grinding out tough yards between the tackles last season—so they went out and signed Bush, preferring to employ a strategy that would maximize the effectiveness of their short passing game while relying on the former USC star to get his yards in space to the outside.
On defence, rather than focusing their attentions on improving the secondary—annually among the very worst defensive units in football—the Lions have doubled down in recent drafts on pass rushers. If you can’t defend an on-target pass, the philosophy dictates, best make sure the quarterback is under so much pressure that a competent pass is rarely possible.
Against Flynn, this is not a difficult strategy to execute. Against Brees, Russell Wilson, Tony Romo and Cam Newton—any of whom the Lions might meet in the playoffs, and all of whom can either release the ball quickly under duress or escape that pressure until a receiver comes open—it’s likely to be a much less effective strategy. Three of those quarterbacks also play for teams with defences that are adept at forcing turnovers—and a turnover from the Lions rarely even seems like something that needs to be forced, just asked for politely.
It’s against these teams that the Lions will really be tested—not just by a quality opponent, but by coming face to face with just how frail their faults really make them.