Breaking: Packers World Crumbling: Lions Delivers…

Sunday’s game was supposed to be a showdown between two heavyweights fighting for first place in the NFC North.

When the game started, it looked like we were well on our way to an old-fashioned slugfest that would make Wayne Fontes and Mike Holmgren proud.

The only slugging that took place was the mighty fist of the Detroit Lions across the chin of the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers fell behind 24-3, and have been outscored at Lambeau Field 44-6 in the last two years against the Lions.

By the end of the game, there was a clear reminder as to which of these teams is among the league’s elite.

Perhaps befitting of a game that was not truly close after halftime, our stock report would have you to believe the sky is falling.

That starts with the $220 million man.

Falling

Jordan Love

Yes, Jordan Love was playing hurt. That’s admirable. The toughness of any NFL player is admirable.

The reality is, once you step between the lines, those things do not matter anymore.

The other reality is that a groin injury does not force Love to throw what amounts to a terrible interception.

With the team trailing 10-3, Love uncorked his league-leading ninth interception of the season.

Kerby Joseph was on the receiving end of this one, and returned it for a touchdown. That made the score 17-3, with the Lions set to get the ball to begin the second half.

They scored, and the game was over for all intents and purposes.

Love entered the season as an MVP candidate. He received a healthy $220 million extension based on his play to close out the 2023 season.

Yes, the highs have been high, but Matt LaFleur often says that taking care of the football is the quarterbacks first job.

Love has been both reckless and careless this season.

Some of these mistakes are not going to matter against the middling teams of the NFL, but they’ve certainly mattered in games against the league’s best.

Jordan Love was paid this offseason to play well in, and win games like today’s showdown against the Lions.

In the big games that have taken place in the 2024 season, he’s done neither.

Penalties

If we were ranking issues that surround the 2024 Green Bay Packers, penalties might be at the very top of that list.

It was fitting that the game started with a penalty on a big return from Keisean Nixon.

That was the first of eight penalties that would be assessed against Green Bay in the first half.

Each penalty appeared to be more costly than the last.