Thursday night at Lambeau Field was supposed to be a battle of new NFC powers. A showcase of the two titans of the NFC North. Instead, somewhat surprisingly, it turned into a definitive statement for the Detroit Lions. And the Green Bay Packers probably never had a real chance.
After an early Jared Goff mishap, Detroit turned on the afterburners. It absolutely pummelled the Packers for the better part of 30 minutes en route to a rousing 27-3 halftime lead. It got so bad that Packers fans actually began booing the team at the break.
The disparity between the two teams couldn’t have been bigger on a statistical level, too:
Total yards: Lions (248) to Packers (20)
Third-down efficiency: Lions (5/9) to Packers (1/6)
Yards per play: Lions (7.1) to Packers (1.0)
The @Lions defense has been everywhere this half 🔥#DETvsGB on Prime Video
Also available on #NFLPlus https://t.co/zUoTWf7h2y pic.twitter.com/fbGAl7KsEh— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2023
The 27-3 deficit was also one of the biggest the Packers have faced at home in the last 50 years:
The Packers are down by 24 points at home for just the third time in the last 50 seasons, including playoffs.
The others:
2002 Wild card vs. ATL (down 24)
2006 Week 13 vs. NYJ (down 31)per @ESPNStatsInfo
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) September 29, 2023
I think it was easy to see that the Lions were better beforehand. Perhaps we might have underestimated just how much better. Because this Detroit squad resembles an NFC juggernaut — provided they can hold on.