Detroit Lions

Kings of the North: Why the Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:10 a.m. ET

Fansided, Kenn Korb/FanSided via Lombardi Ave

Though both teams were officially in the playoffs by the time they took the field last Sunday, there was still plenty to fight for between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.

The winner here would be kings of the NFC North — either a return to normalcy for Green Bay after a one-year absence from the top, or a drastically new reality for Detroit, a team which hadn’t come away with a division crown since the early days of Brett Favre in Wisconsin (1993, to be exact).

The loser would be relegated to traveling to face the Seahawks in Seattle, rather than getting at least one home game to boost their hopes of making a mark on this postseason.

It was rough going at first, with the Packers falling behind by a touchdown at one point, but they eventually worked their way around issues including penalties and finding enough healthy bodies to field a defense to come away with an eventual 31-24 win which wasn’t quite as close as the scoreboard would make it seem.

Here’s how they brought the win to fruition…

Jan 1, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Green Bay Packers running back Ty Montgomery (88) runs the ball during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Rushing Hydra

The run game sure has improved since the early season.

After barely being able to find bodies to take handoffs towards the middle of the year, Green Bay all of a sudden has an embarrassment of options they have to feel comfortable feeding the ball to in stretches. It truly seems they find some new player of stylistic combination each week, and against the Lions it was no different.

In this one we saw a strong joining of power, elusiveness, and scrambles to put up what became a statistically excellent day on the ground for Green Bay.

The power was provided early and often by Aaron Ripkowski. The fullback hadn’t seen much offensive burn this year outside of blocking, but when he did get the ball he proved to be impossible to take down without a handful of guys converging on him at once. His surprisingly high workload (9 carries, 61 yards; also a 7 yard TD catch) probably doesn’t get repeated barring injuries around him, but that ability to constantly bash through the opponent for decent chunks of yardage (seven of his nine runs gained at least 5 yards; two gained 10+) is the sort of hard-charging weapon needed for the playoffs.

The elusiveness was provided by Ty Montgomery. He has already proved to be great a making guys miss, and brought some more of that to the table here (along with his own showings of power and speed). It was a slow start for Montgomery (only one first-half carry), but he turned in solid chunk gains in the second half (five of seven second-half carries went for over 5 yards, including one for 11) as the Packers turned an early deficit into a huge lead.

Then comes the scrambling. The yardage provided wasn’t quite as strong overall, but the overall impact of Aaron Rodgers being able to scramble around healthily was not only good to see — especially after those multiple leg injuries sapped away parts of that ability for a solid two months — but was a strong influence in not only preventing sacks but turning busted plays into something. Taking out the three kneel downs from the end of the game, Rodgers picked up 46 yards on 7 scrambles — two of which hit at least 12 yards. The yardage itself didn’t matter on most of these; instead, just the fact that Rodgers turned probable negative plays into positive ones made all the difference.

Between these guys, we saw 147 of Green Bay’s 153 rushing yards. These three each provide their own unique contributions to the run game. Add in Christine Michael (only 6 yards in this one, but has done better with bigger workloads in other contests since being brought onto the roster) and the Packers have gone from having to throw on nearly every snap midway through the year to being a team capable of tearing apart a defense in a multitude of different ways on the ground.

Jan 1, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Green Bay Packers strong safety Micah Hyde (33) celebrates an interception during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Hyde Making Big-Time Impact

The corner spot for Green Bay has been the sorest of sore spots on the defense all season, and somehow just keeps getting worse overall.

Sam Shields hasn’t been around since Week 1, and after promising rookie years both Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins have been endlessly injured and terrible.

The best player at the position has been second-year undrafted corner LaDarius Gunter by miles (though that says more about the dearth of solid play from the others than anything, as Gunter has been mostly average in a role he probably never expected to be in).

Lately though, we’ve seen someone else begin to step up at this position: Micah Hyde.

Hyde has had a rough season of his own, with blown coverages and athletic limitations (as well as his own injuries) sapping his effectiveness; for a good portion of the year it seemed he was only on the roster anymore because Green Bay literally had no other options to send out there. In the past couple of weeks he’s begun to turn that narrative around, and this Lions game was possibly the best showing of the bunch.

He was the shining star for the defense, coming away as Pro Football Focus’ top-graded Green Bay defender on the evening. His INT of MAtthew Stafford towards the end of this contest was the first and only turnover forced by either side and effectively ended any small chance of Detroit making a comeback.

Another note on that play: he was playing as an outside corner, something he rarely does. With Rollins’ neck injury and nobody else really even physically capable of suiting up at corner, more of this my be coming in the playoffs.

In the wake of Randall Cobb‘s recent injury struggles, Hyde also has been helping on special teams as well. This week wasn’t as strong for him the the previous outing, but he did take 2 of his punt returns up for double-digit yardage (one came back due to a penalty; that’s not his fault, though).

All in all, the strong performance from Hyde at Green Bay’s most treacherously damaged position group was the exact sort of effort the team needed to not just win this contest, but prove they may actually have a passable answer when they face the Giants — and, should they win that contest, any other team in the playoffs.

Jan 1, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Geronimo Allison (81) completes a pass while being pressured by Detroit Lions corner back Crezdon Butler (41) during the fourth quarter at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

A New Passing Dynamic

When it has come to the deep passing game for Green Bay, all we have heard said in recent years is either that Jordy Nelson is their deep weapon or they don’t even really have a deep attack. This appears to be morphing into some new exciting answers now, however.

While Jordy may not be the deep weapon he once was (Robert Mays of The Ringer noted that he has no TDs of 40+ yards, after he put in seven of those in 2014), the Packers may have found a duo capable of bringing out these big plays in Jared Cook and Geronimo Allison.

Cook is the more obvious answer of the two. His size is monstrous (6’5″, 254 lbs), and his athleticism is off-the-charts enticing; when properly utilized (which he was not throughout most of his career — especially the Rams portion) he can be a devastating weapon. When he has been healthy this year, he’s given Green Bay’s offense an incredible chess piece, and his impact of just being out there has an undoubtable impact (in fact, his return since the game versus Washington has coincided with the offense awakening from a calendar-year slumber of mediocrity).

He can line up anywhere for them (in-line, split wide alone or in trips/bunch formations, as an h-back), able to bust open routes up the middle of the field or cherry-pick over outmatched corners on the outside.

Allison’s impact hasn’t been as constant — mostly due to the guys in front of him seeing tons more snaps — but when he has gotten opportunities he’s been able to do what few Packers’ receivers have in the past couple years: force separation.

When on the field, Allison is able to actually add something to plays in the sort of way nobody did for Green Bay last year.

Someone like Davante Adams can make plays happen, but his main damage comes in close quarters, contested catches (and his mystifying penchant for drops dulls his positive impact and excitement some); Allison can actually break away to beat his man, and that can bring about the sort of big plays a player like Jordy should not be consistently relied on to do alone anymore.

On Sunday, Cook put up 4 catches for 56 yards. Three of his catches were for at least 11 yards, two for 15+ yards. Allison was even more impressive: 4 catches, 91 yards and a TD, with all four catches picking up at least 10 yards and two going for 30+.

This offense has already looked dangerous, but having legitimate deep threats in abundance (to go along with these two, Jordy has been adding back some of that deep ball magic again recently) will only make this team an even greater challenge for any playoff foes they come up against.

Jan 1, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams (17) celebrates in front of back judge Tony Steratore (112) after a touchdown during the third quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Packers won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Bracketing Halftime With Scores

I talk a lot about 2-for-1s in these weekly articles, and for good reason: these aren’t necessarily always going to happen, but there is a sizable chance each week that a team will either be granted the opportunity to profit from one or be forced to defend against one. These opportunities can completely flip a game on its head, turning deficits into leads or decent advantages into insurmountable ones.

Early in the season we saw Green Bay falling well short of both converting and defending against these chances, even when gifted with excellent field position. That’s changed in the recent going, and this was yet another positive example for them.

Following two straight Detroit touchdown drives, Green Bay found themselves down 14-7 with just 23 seconds before halftime. Instead of staying conservative however, the Packers got aggressive.

Even with a delay of game penalty after the kickoff, Green Bay went into Detroit territory on one play (a 39 yard Rodgers-Allison connection) and ended up with a field goal at the half to get the deficit to 14-10.

After the half, the Packers got the ball back and methodically worked their way down the field. Gains of 5, 7, 3, and 11 put them into Detroit territory.

Gains of 6,5, and 4 continued their march. Following a false start, big plays of 20 and 16 to Jordy put them close to the endzone, and a short Adams grab finished things off with a touchdown.

Because of their strong play bracketing halftime, Green Bay was able to quickly turn a 14-7 deficit into a 17-14 lead. This 10 point flip changed the game, and gave Green Bay the rhythm they needed to eventually take this matchup.

Jan 1, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Geronimo Allison (81) scores a touchdown while Detroit Lions middle linebacker Tahir Whitehead (59) applies pressures during the fourth quarter at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Sustaining Drives In The 2nd Half

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish”.

That rang true in this game, particularly in terms of the way drives were sustained (or not) by Green Bay.

In the first half, Green Bay had five drives; just one of those would cross the minor milestones of 4 minutes and/or 7+ plays. Among those drives, we saw three punts, a field goal, a touchdown; the touchdown came on that singular long drive. With these short, quickly-ending drives, the Packers found themselves lucky to only be down 14-10 at the half.

The second half was a vastly different affair. There were four meaningful drives in the final two quarters (not counting two kneeldown drives), and they all saw the Packers eating up clock and sustaining possessions in a much more effective manner than in the previous two quarters.

Each of these four drives lasted at least 4:37 of game clock and managed 8 or more plays; between them, 20:02 of the 30 available 2nd half minutes were eaten away. In those four possessions, the Packers scored three touchdowns and punted only once.

Meanwhile, their own defense was stepping up (with the added bonus of being more rested due to these sustained offensive drives), holding the Lions to only an additional field goal until a bad punt by Jacob Schum gave Matthew Stafford a shot at a garbage-time TD with 13 seconds remaining.

With these sustained drives providing the offense with multiple scores and the maligned defense getting as little time as possible on the field, Green Bay fully transformed a 14-10 deficit into a 31-17 lead that easily held up in garbage time for the eventual 31-24 ending score.

With the playoffs ready to begin this weekend, Green Bay will need more of this second-half showing if they have hopes to continue running the table all the way to a championship.