Matt LaFleur Nailed It, But Will Anything Change for Packers After Loss to Lions?

DETROIT – The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers.

The officials beat the Green Bay Packers.

And the Green Bay Packers beat the Green Bay Packers.

It was the trifecta, with there being some symmetry in Green Bay losing by three points, 20-17, to the rival Lions. The Packers’ three-game winning streak was snapped as they fell into last place in the NFC North by blowing a game they should have won, no matter the officiating incompetence.

“We got to grow up fast,” coach Matt LaFleur said.

It was the usual mish-mash of swill for the Packers, who can be kicking butt in one moment and then be kicking themselves in the shins a moment later.

The Packers were guilty of eight penalties for 81 yards.

They went 1-of-4 in the red zone.

They dropped passes.

They missed two field goals.

They couldn’t block in the run game and gave up too much pressure in the pass game.

Otherwise, as the saying goes, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

Not Making Plays

Pro Football Focus charged the Packers with only two drops, including one by Josh Jacobs in the end zone with 3:30 to play. It just seemed like more.

“I feel like a game like today, we left a lot of points out there,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “We didn’t finish in the red zone. We didn’t finish with kicks. It’s disappointing. We left a lot of points out there. We did a decent job moving the ball, and we’ve got to look at it, but we’ve got to do a better job finishing.

“To score 17 points in a game we should have scored a lot more, is disappointing, so definitely the red zone area is something we’ve got to clean up. On special teams, we’ve got to be able to finish those kicks, but we left a lot of points out there.”

Love has to play like an MVP for the Packers to have a chance on offense. And even that’s not enough at times to overcome the maddening cauldron of mediocrity.

At times, Love has to run for his life and turn nothing into something. At other times, Love throws a dime but his receivers either drop the ball or fail to make a contested catch.

Love would never in a million years publicly blame a specific teammate, but his frustration was evident after the game.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to throwing and catching the ball, and we’ve got to make plays,” he said. “I talk about it all the time. When it’s Sunday and the lights are bright, we’ve got to be able to go out there and make plays, and that is the difference in winning and losing.

“If we don’t make the plays, this is what’s going to happen. We’ve got to do a better job of finding ways to do that and it’s one of those things where we’ve got to keep going, keep attacking. Yeah, we’ve got to do a much better job of just executing, throwing and catching and making plays.”

Red Zone, Dead Zone

The Packers have not had a good red-zone offense this season. This should have been the game to get in gear, though. The Lions entered the game ranked 30th in red-zone defense. In goal-to-go situations, they hadn’t recorded a single stop all season.

Instead, Green Bay went 1-of-4 in the red zone and 0-for-1 in goal-to-go.

“We got to finish plays,” LaFleur said. “Certainly, there’s some play calls that I wish we had back, and then we got to finish some plays. And I think usually the better red zone teams typically can run the ball in the red zone, and then you put yourself in more manageable situations. I got to go back and look at it, but it still doesn’t feel as effective as I think it needs to be.”

The return of Josh Jacobs helped a bit overall as he was able to find some hard-charging yards the other backs had failed to get. Still, the Packers finished with 19 carries for 60 yards – right at their league-worst average. On first-and-goal at the 6 on the opening possession, Jacobs carried the ball twice for 3 yards. After that, it was mostly pass, pass and pass some more.

Their last trip in the red zone ended with Jacobs’ critical drop.

“It just comes down to finding ways to score points,” Love said. “I think you’ve got to have a run game to be able to do that and we’ll keep looking at what we can do to improve that. but it just comes down to throwing and catching and we didn’t do a good enough job of that today.”

Trey Smack’s Two Misses

The expectation was there would be some growing pains with rookie kicker Trey Smack. On Sunday, the pain was the agony of defeat. He missed two easy kicks against the Lions, including a 26-yarder on the opening possession and a 35-yarder on the final possession after Jacobs’ dropped touchdown.

What was more unbelievable on the first miss? The absolutely inexcusable delay-of-game penalty that nullified his 21-yard field goal or that he missed from 26 with the perfect conditions that come in an indoor stadium? Entering Sunday, there had been only one missed field goal of shorter than 30 yards all season.

Then came the miss at the end of the game after Jacobs’ dropped touchdown. The ball was tipped; at that distance, the kick must have been low. Instead of leading 20-17, the Lions drove to a walk-off field goal.

“The sun rises every morning and it’s not going to stop for me,” Smack said after the game.

LaFleur said he’d stick with Smack as the kicker.

“Trey’s a guy that I think he’s proved that he can do it and I know he can do it,” LaFleur said. “We got to wipe this one clean and got to move on and hopefully we can be a little bit better.”

How about a lot of bit better?

The Bottom Line

Even though they are in last place in the NFC North, the Packers are still the No. 7 team in the NFC playoff race.

But, really, the Packers are just another of the NFL’s mediocre teams. They are good enough to beat most teams but bad enough to be beaten by anyone. Or, as was the case on Sunday, when the team’s fate was sealed on Karl Brooks’ offside penalty on third-and-5, they can beat themselves on any given Sunday.

“I think we’ve been building some momentum,” LaFleur said. “I think our defense is balling out, doing a lot of great things. That’s a really good offense. I think you hold them to 20 points, you have an opportunity to win the game. Obviously, offensively, we got to score points in the red zone – didn’t do that. Missed a couple kicks, still have too many drops.

“But then there’s some things defensively we got to do better, too, in regards to just the offsides penalties are killer and especially in situations where you know they’re going to hard count and we continue to have these repeated mistakes and we can’t do it. We got to learn from it. We got to grow up. We got to grow up fast.”

But are they capable? After winning nine games in 2024 and nine games in 2025, is it any wonder they are on pace for about nine wins in 2026? Is there any real reason to believe that a team that’s played mistake-filled football through seven games will get its act together for the final 10 games?

Nope.

Xavier McKinney called the officiating "bullshit" (and more) after the Packers lost to the Lions today.

He's absolutely right.

Of course, the Packers did plenty of things to lose the game. But the refs are "kind of f***ing up the games."⬇️https://t.co/IJdIl1WAMe
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 26, 2026

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