This one warrants a Game Week Thread. packers at Lions Thursday 12/5/25

[Mainevent]

Smith has looked more explosive than he did in Cleveland - but that’s likely due to to his role, as he was opposite the guy the Browns were turning loose and here he is likely getting more free reign to wreak havoc on those clear passing downs.

[ghandi]

They have to play better than they did on Thanksgiving...A more experienced QB like Love at least gives his team a shot at tying that game and probably even winning it....I'm expecting a tough game and possibly a loss.

[froot loops]

Bad timed penalties are part of being clunky. The fumble sucked but they also settled for 3 FGs. And the second half wasn’t great outside of the one TD drive. Granted, Bears D is good and plays the Lions well (I believe they are one of the best at not giving up TDs in the red zone). It was clunky last week and also against Houston. And it felt like Johnson got too cute at times early when it looked like they might blow them out.

Part of this is raised expectations with this squad, so when they don’t put a team away when they have a chance it looks off.

I think bad timed penalties are sometimes just variance. There was a play the Bears had that was either a TD or a huge play that involved a delay of game and an uncalled egregious holding that prevented Za'Darius from a sack. A holding much worse than the one called on St. Brown. There is nothing you can do about it, the refs call some things and swallow the whistle on others. There is nothing to be done, but it's not something you can expect to continue unless you are Cade Cunningham.

There is a large percentage of football decided by game calls that are based on guessing right. I felt the Bears started guessing right a lot more as the game went on, especially defensively.

Also, a big theme of the Dan Campbell era has been the offense sputters a lot more when Decker isn't in there. Skipper played well Thursday but he wasn't Decker.

[CGVT]

I don't know anything about this guy, but in Holmes we trust!

[DanO]

I don't know anything about this guy, but in Holmes we trust!

Mark(Marko Malto) was just telling me this on the phone.

[dsred]

I'm not either. I was just surprised at the spread.

I'm not sure that the talking heads that say the Lions are the best team in football are watching the Lions and understand how many players they have lost to injury.

But the wise guys usually know what they are doing.

I think the Lions offense is going to need to be clicking to win this game. I think the decimated defense is going to give up some points.

The D has been getting by because frankly we have been playing teams with shitty/backup QBs. Let's see which Jordan Love we get Thursday as he's been very inconsistent.

I'm hoping we win this game and if we have to lose one it could be the Buffalo game because it has less impact in a tie breaker situation.

[Sanders Fan]

Lions under Man Campbell are 5-2 against the Packers. I expect them to come out blazing.

[Tom]

The season finale in the 2022 season will always be one of my favorite Lions games of all-time.

[Iron Lion]

The 2nd half against the Bears would've played out the same no matter what, I think, it's just that it would've been considered garbage time stuff had the Lions been blowing them out as they should have. Astonishingly, Eberflus may still have his job if the FGs and Gibbs fumble were all TDs.

With regards to GB, homefield advantage is flipped based on roster construction and packages/personnel/formations that each team uses. If we do win, I expect it to be much closer than the 24-3 we had in the 4th quarter at GB. I am a bit uneasy about this one and I feel our odds are under 50%.

We may see the first losing streak since before MCDC turned the corner mid-2022.

[ghandi]

I expect the Lions to come out better this week offensively. I think that the short week may have limited the offensive game plan somewhat and expect both the offense and defense to have a better game plan with a full week to prepare. I don't really know about the in's and out's of football strategy (more knowledgeable people on here would know more) but it would seem on a short week that you would go with a more vanilla offense/defense than if you had a full week to prepare.

I felt the Lions last year had a terrible game against the packers. I don't expect that to happen next week. Just get out of this game with a win, no more injuries and head into a little bit of a break to get people healthy and fully prepare for the Bills.

I dont know how much stock to put in last years game against the Packers in Detroit at Thanksgiving......It felt like the loss really fell on what ithought was a terrible call (it looked like Jared Goff's arm was moving forward to me) and GB ran it back for a TD....the Lions cant take the Packers lightly though...It almost felt like last week the Lions went into cruise mode in the second half and it almost cost them the game.....

[Lionsfan123]

The D has been getting by because frankly we have been playing teams with shitty/backup QBs. Let's see which Jordan Love we get Thursday as he's been very inconsistent.

I'm hoping we win this game and if we have to lose one it could be the Buffalo game because it has less impact in a tie breaker situation.

I’m more ok with losing to a legit Super Bowl contender like Buffalo than lose to Packers team that have yet to beat one NFC team this year with a winning record. I would hate to lose to them especially now since the fanbase believe they can run the table. Us beating the Packers will be satisfying and break their confidence.

[whatever_gong82]

I’m more ok with losing to a legit Super Bowl contender like Buffalo than lose to Packers team that have yet to beat one NFC team this year with a winning record. I would hate to lose to them especially now since the fanbase believe they can run the table. Us beating the Packers will be satisfying and break their confidence.

I'm not that worried about the Green Bay Packers, because I think that Dan Campbell, Ben Johnson, and Aaron Glenn combined can find a way to beat them.

It's the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers I'm more worried about. I'd also add the Seahawks and Rams in there as well.

[chemiclord]

I'm not worried in the slightest about the Bucs. They caught the Lions while the Lions were effectively still in preseason.

The Eagles are a concern because of their defense and pass rush. Their offense pretty much runs through Barkley, and stopping the run is something the Lions have done really, really well. First to 20 probably wins that game.

The Packers could very well be a threat. I don't think we've seen their best game yet, and they have a ton of young talent. The Packers and the Eagles are probably the biggest hurdles. The Vikings... are once again benefiting from getting pretty much every bounce going their way. They have some talent, but they are winning with smoke and mirrors. The instant that luck dries up, they're done.

[whatever_gong82]

I'm not worried in the slightest about the Bucs. They caught the Lions while the Lions were effectively still in preseason.

The Eagles are a concern because of their defense and pass rush. Their offense pretty much runs through Barkley, and stopping the run is something the Lions have done really, really well. First to 20 probably wins that game.

The Packers could very well be a threat. I don't think we've seen their best game yet, and they have a ton of young talent. The Packers and the Eagles are probably the biggest hurdles. The Vikings... are once again benefiting from getting pretty much every bounce going their way. They have some talent, but they are winning with smoke and mirrors. The instant that luck dries up, they're done.

I forgot about the Packers ability to find talent via the NFL Draft, so I should have suggested that Philadelphia, Green Bay, Tampa, and probably the Rams are the teams I'm concerned about in the postseason.

[Iron Lion]

And if we lose this game to GB, we lose control of the #1 seed.