Playing defense was voluntary in the Week 18 matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. There were 67 points combined between the two teams, but it was the Lions who took down the top-seeded Packers to close out the regular season.
Green Bay had no reason to get up for this game with the first-round bye already in hand. However, even with the starters playing most of the first half, they were still trailing going into halftime. The defense looked dejected as tacklers and made little to no attempt to cover Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. The Packers’ defense has been trending in the wrong direction for about a month and made no attempt to make any corrections on Sunday.
Unfortunately, Jordan Love couldn’t lead a second-half comeback, but it was beneficial for him to get some additional in-game reps before a long layoff. Outside of the starters getting some work, as well as Love, one positive takeaway is that no one was seriously injured. Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling and corner Chandon Sullivan both exited the game early but hopefully were kept out for precautionary reasons.