DETROIT – The Packers went into Ford Field and ruined the Lions' Thanksgiving with a 31-24 victory Thursday.
Here are five takeaways from the big triumph:
- The Packers won the fourth-down battle all game, starting with the offense in the first half.
Twice early on, Green Bay faced fourth downs in scoring territory and refused to settle for field goals.
First, on fourth-and-3 from the 22, QB Jordan Love went for broke on a boundary shot to the end zone for Dontayvion Wicks, who made a great play to get both feet down for the score.
"That's the kind of look we saw earlier on a different play we ran, and we felt like we could take advantage if we run a different route," Love said. "It's fourth down and you've got to make a play anywhere. To be able to make one in the end zone and come away with seven there is huge."
It gave the Packers a 10-0 lead, but they weren't done on fourth down. Not by a longshot.
After a Lions TD, Green Bay's next drive came down to fourth-and-1 from the 2 – after Detroit was called for 12 men on the field on third down to move the Packers closer – and Love fired outside toward the pylon where Romeo Doubs snagged it for a 17-7 margin.
"The only way you come into this place, which is not an easy place to play, is you've got to be aggressive," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said.
- They won the fourth-down battle on defense in the second half as well.
The Lions scored late in the first half to get within 17-14 and then had the ball to start the third quarter, getting across midfield.
But on fourth-and-3 from the Green Bay 47, the defense led by Micah Parsons and Isaiah McDuffie swarmed a run by Jahmyr Gibbs. Two plays later, Love fired deep to Christian Watson for a 51-yard touchdown to restore Green Bay's 10-point lead.
Love said that was a shot play discussed at halftime, and when the Lions stuck with their man coverage on the outside, the Packers kept attacking it.
"That's everything we've been hoping for and trying to get," Love said of the offense capitalizing on a big defensive stop. "Great job by Christian, great job by the O-line. That's the complementary ball we have to keep trying to stack and keep trying to build upon."
Then in the fourth quarter, another fourth-down stop required a little luck. After safety Evan Williams shot into the backfield to stop Gibbs for no gain on third-and-3 from the Green Bay 21, QB Jared Goff rolled right on fourth down and hit Jameson Williams in the hands, only to have him drop it.
Detroit could've made it a one-score game there with a field goal, but the fourth-down failure kept the Packers up by 10.
- And they won on fourth down again with the game on the line.
The Lions put together a long drive that stalled in goal-to-go thanks to a Parsons sack on third down, giving him 2½ sacks in the game. Detroit kicked the field goal this time to get within seven points.
"Certainly you felt Micah Parsons today," LaFleur said. "He had a helluva performance."
Added Love: "He's a problem out there. Definitely fun to watch."
That gave the Packers 2:59 to kill on offense, and they picked up one first down on a third-down pass to Watson. Three plays later, with the Lions out of timeouts, it was third-and-3 from the Detroit 45.
LaFleur had decided during the two-minute warning he was keeping the game in his offense's hands.
"I told Jordan, hey, we've got two downs here," he said. "Gotta get one of the two. Our guys just made a play."
It came on the second one, after a third-down toss to Watson was dropped. On fourth-abnd-3, the Packers initially tried to draw the Lions offside and called timeout.
On the re-rack, Love found Wicks over the middle, once again versus man coverage, and he leaped for a 16-yard reception to ice the game.
"Was there ever a doubt?" LaFleur quipped, though he certainly acknowledged the risk of giving the Lions the ball back near midfield in a seven-point game.
"It is what it is. I'd rather go down swinging, similar to how we did in Arizona. Sometimes it can bite you, absolutely, and you just have to deal with the consequences."
- There were big performances and a bad injury.
Love threw four TD passes and posted a 124.2 rating, joining Brett Favre as the only Packers QBs to throw four TDs in a Thanksgiving game.
Meanwhile Parsons now has 8½ sacks in five career Thanksgiving games.
Running back Josh Jacobs returned from a 1½-game absence to rush 17 times for 83 yards. Watson finished with four catches for 80 yards and his long score.
Perhaps the biggest props go to Wicks, not just for the fourth downs but for his best game of the season: six catches for 94 yards and two TDs.
After a season plagued with drops in 2024 and then slowed by a recurring calf injury in 2025, the third-year receiver came up huge.
"It's never been for him a lack of talent," LaFleur said of Wicks. "He's always had the talent. He's a natural plucker of the football.
"I speak for myself and our staff, we never wavered on his ability."
The bad news came in the form of an ankle injury to defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt late in the fourth quarter on Parsons' third-down sack in goal-to-go. Wyatt had to be carted off the field and LaFleur lamented it "doesn't look good" and made the big win a little bittersweet.
"I'm sick for him, sick for us," he said. "That's a critical loss for our football team. I've got a lotta love for Devonte Wyatt, and our whole locker room does, too."
- The NFC North remains a battle.
At 8-3-1 after three straight wins, the Packers will now watch on Black Friday as the first-place Bears, at 8-3, take on the Super Bowl champion Eagles. A Chicago loss would vault Green Bay into first place.
But whether the Packers enter next week in first or second, the Bears are coming to Lambeau Field in 10 days.
"Obviously we know what's at stake with this game and with every division game we have," Love said. "The NFC North is a tight race. A lot of good football teams in our division and you've got to come out and handle business.
"You've got to come in and win these games and try to control your own destiny."
