Packers Have Big Edge Over Lions in Big-Game Experience

The Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions will rely on their battle-tested quarterbacks for Sunday's Week 18 showdown.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Jan 4, 2023 11:12 PM EST

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will have big-game experience on their side when they host the Detroit Lions on Sunday night.

With a win in the regular-season finale, the Packers will reach the NFC playoffs for the fourth consecutive year and the 12th time in Aaron Rodgers’ tenure as quarterback. The Lions, on the other hand, haven’t reached the playoffs since 2016 and haven’t won a playoff game since 1991. Backup defensive lineman Michael Brockers was the only player on the Lions’ roster who was alive for that playoff win.

“I think it matters in the lead-up. It matters how people deal with that,” Rodgers said after Wednesday’s practice. “We’ve played in some pretty big games over the years. At the same time, it’s a young league. Not a lot of guys in here have been a part of those big games. There’s a smattering of guys, for sure, but there’s always new guys that have got to feel what that pressure feels like of a true win-and-in, lose-and-go-home scenario.”

In 2014 and 2016, the Packers beat the Lions in the final game of the regular season. Those victories gave the Packers division titles – and, ultimately, trips to the NFC Championship Game – and those losses sent the Lions into the wild-card round.

“I think that helps some of us old guys who have experience with it, and then just depends on how guys handle the anxiety and the pressure leading up to it,” Rodgers said. “And once the game starts, it’s football.”

Both quarterbacks have big-game experience. Rodgers has played in five conference championship games, including the victory in 2010 that led to a triumph in the Super Bowl. Lions quarterback Jared Goff led the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2018. While with the Packers, Lions running back Jamaal Williams played in NFC title games in 2019 and 2020. Otherwise, there’s not a lot of big-game experience on their roster.

“When you’re young, absolutely, just playing in these situations where it really matters late in the year, and hopefully, we get some playoff games where it’s truly big, but these games matter,” Goff told reporters on Wednesday. “And they’re big, and they mean more, and it’s on the road. It’s in Lambeau, and all that goes into it, and we’ll be ready. We’ll be ready to have some fun and, hopefully, get after them.”

Lions coach Dan Campbell will lean on his veteran quarterback to provide the steady leadership that’s required in big games.

“It does help because the intensity of this game will go up,” Campbell said. “It will be played like a playoff game because it is win and get in or you don’t win and you go home. They’re looking at it that way, we’re looking at it that way.

“And so, I think out of all positions you want your quarterback to have been there and felt that a little bit. Of all of them, he needs to make sure that his emotions are always on an even plane, and he can think through things like he has all year. He’s been in some huge games. He’s been in the big one, so this won’t be anything new to him and I think it does help, especially in that position.”

This isn’t the playoffs, but close enough. The 28-year-old Goff has played in six career playoff games, including a loss at Lambeau Field in the 2020 divisional round. The 39-year-old Rodgers has started 21 playoff games. That’s a lot of experience in handling the aforementioned anxiety that comes with really big games.

To Rodgers, handling the pressure and nerves starts long before kickoff.

“When I was playing in the Super Bowl, I was super-nervous. I think that’s probably the case for most people,” Rodgers said. “We went to Philly and won a playoff game. Then we’re playing the No. 1 seed (Atlanta), there was nerves there and I played lights out. Then we’re playing our longtime rival (Chicago) for the NFC championship, of course there’s nerves. Then you’re playing in the Super Bowl, there’s even more nerves. I think after you go through that, you get that monkey off your back.

“You learn how to maneuver some of those big games, and it all comes down to just simplifying things. If you really get nervous, you’ve got to go back to the simplest form of your job and that’s the art in it and just talk yourself through the steps and the reads and make things as easy as possible. I think what usually happens for most players is your mind just starts racing so much that you lose track of the single-minded focus that keeps you in the moment.”

Will the Packers find that focus necessary to complete their stunning run to the playoffs? Or are the Lions, who could have six defensive starters in their first or second season, ready for the moment?

“Well, I feel like let’s find out,” Campbell said. “That’s why I want them to know exactly the magnitude of this game because they need to know what this feels like, and they need to know what they’re walking into. At the very least, you find out. You find out and you figure out who can, who can’t, who’s young, who’s not, who’s mature. With where we’re at, let’s go.”