What we learned from Detroit’s 34-31 win

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1. Lions clinch playoff spot with gutsy win. Jared Goff hit 13 straight passes in the fourth quarter and the Lions converted four of their five fourth downs, including a fumble late. In a 31-31 game with 43 seconds left, the Lions could have kicked a field goal to take a three-point lead. But of course it’s not the Dan Campbell style. The Lions went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 21-yard line, and Goff was stepped on by one of his linemen, barely able to hand it off to David Montgomery for a 7-yard gain. It looked up Jake Bates‘ game-winning 35-yard field goal that sent the Lions to 12-1, winners of 11 straight – and they are now officially in the playoffs. This felt like a playoff atmosphere, and as good a Thursday night as you could wish for. The Packers played very well, but the Lions were just a tad better.
2. Love got hot late, but the Packers fell short. Jordan love struggled to get into a groove in the first half, but he made up for it with a strong second half, completing 9 of 13 passes for 175 yards and leading four second-half scoring drives to erase a 10-point deficit. But the Packers burned a third-quarter timeout on a possession they ended up punting (on fourth-and-3 from their 37), which hurt them late. Christian Watson had a big game stretching the field for the Packers, but he was flagged for a costly illegal contact penalty that blocked on a Josh Jacobs touchdown that was wiped out. Watson also fumbled in the first half after a 20-yard gain into Detroit territory. Penalties hurt in the first half and fell behind, 17-7. Little mistakes piled up all night and against the Lions it doesn’t take much to beat you.
3. The Lions’ shorthanded defense was game, but they are even more beaten. Detroit’s defense was already down Joshua Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike and DJ reader — not to mention their 18 players on injured reserve — when one of their best remaining defensive linemen, Alim McNeill (head) was ruled in the first half. That stretched the Lions’ defense about as far as it could go. Pat O’Connor played a career-high 37 snaps — and was a threat. Later, Brian Branch came off the field. It was all hands on deck. The Lions allowed four touchdowns, but two of them came on short fields after an interception and a turnover on downs. I can’t blame them for those two. It wasn’t pretty, and the Lions had some costly penalties in the first half (and some lucky calls that weren’t made against them), but they chewed in a really tough effort. They forced a late three-and-out and held Green Bay to a late field goal, and the offense took care of business.
4. The Packers can beat anyone out there. Yes, Green Bay just lost a tough division game and watched its rival celebrate a playoff spot. Of course, the Packers walk away bitterly. There will be a few calls that went against the Packers that will be debated. But they should also know after this game that they can go toe-to-toe with pretty much any team out there and match up pretty well. The Lions were beat up, but so were the Packers, who were missing key starters on both sides. I suspect one of the reasons Dan Campbell went for it late on fourth down was he didn’t want to give the ball back to Jordan Love a second time. Love began to cut the lions open a little. He averaged more than 10 yards per carry. pass attempt; the problem was the Packers barely had the ball and only ran 45 plays. The Green Bay defense couldn’t hold the Lions in the red zone and on four of five fourth downs, but otherwise that group pretty much held together. Losses are rarely encouraging, but the Packers are a dangerous team.
5. Goff, Johnson rally after INT, fourth down stop. The Lions built a 17-7 lead with an impressive first half, but saw it quickly melt away as the Packers scored two touchdowns in the first three-plus minutes of the second half. Jared Goff was mostly good Thursday, but he forced one more pass Tim Patrick which was picked off at the Detroit 16 just after the Packers scored on their first drive of the third quarter. Momentum swung in a huge way. But offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called a cool, smart drive for Goff, mixed in the run game and got the Lions back in the end zone. On their next drive, Johnson called for one Jahmyr Gibbs run on fourth down that was stopped – their only fourth-down failure of the night. But both he and Goff were in their bag on kickoff and game-winning drives. Patrick (two TDs) was outstanding. Dan Skippereven with an early penalty, was fantastic in Taylor Decker ‘s place. The Lions played with their typical bravado and toughness, and their two most important offensive heads were locked in late.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Packers-Lions (via NFL Pro): Christian Watson was matched against Carlton Davis on eight of his 19 routes (42.1%) in Week 14, catching three of his five targets for 108 yards (62.5% completion rate). Watson was targeted just twice across his 11 other routes (18.1% target rate). Watson recorded a 59-yard reception in the third quarter, the most receiving air yards (39) allowed by Davis this season. Watson was pressured on 73.7% of all his routes against the Lions, finishing with season highs in targets (five), receptions (three) and yards (94) against press coverage.

NFL Research: Tim Patrick had gone 1,082 days — and two serious injuries — since his last touchdown. On Thursday, he scored twice.