Fans who traveled to Lambeau Field expecting to see a championship-caliber Detroit Lions squad were instead left with frustration, as the team fell 27–13 to the Green Bay Packers in Week 1.
From the start, Detroit’s offensive line struggled mightily. Jared Goff had little protection, the running backs had no space to operate, and the Packers’ defensive front dictated the game. On the other side, Detroit’s pass rush was nearly invisible in the opening half, allowing Jordan Love ample time to exploit the secondary.
Head coach Dan Campbell didn’t sugarcoat things after the loss.
“We didn’t coach well enough—myself included—and we didn’t play well enough,” Campbell said at the postgame press conference.
He noted that while the outcome was tough to swallow, the game wasn’t as lopsided as it looked on the surface. According to him, the Lions made crucial mistakes at the worst possible times—errors that completely shifted momentum.
Detroit’s lone bright spot came in the fourth quarter, when rookie wideout Isaac TeSlaa hauled in his first career catch for a touchdown. Still, penalties, missed chances, and a costly red-zone interception from Goff doomed any comeback attempt.
Statistically, Goff started efficiently, completing 13 of 16 passes in the first half. Yet the offense looked conservative and stagnant. His 4.7 yards per attempt was far below last season’s average of 8.6, when he ranked among MVP candidates. His interception to Packers safety Evan Williams highlighted Detroit’s offensive woes.
The play-calling under new offensive coordinator John Morton didn’t show the explosiveness fans had grown accustomed to under Ben Johnson. Combined with an offensive line featuring three new starters, the result was a unit that couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t protect the quarterback (four sacks allowed), and couldn’t sustain drives.
Defensively, Detroit bottled up the run game but couldn’t pressure Love, leaving the Packers free to pile up points off favorable field position. In every phase—coaching, execution, and physicality—Green Bay looked sharper.
Veteran guard Graham Glasgow, tasked with replacing retired center Frank Ragnow, also had a rough debut. Rookie Tate Ratledge had competed with him for the job in camp, but Week 1 showed little reason to be confident in the reshuffled line. Jahmyr Gibbs managed just six yards on his longest carry of the day.
Analysts were quick to point out the red flags. The Packers were stronger at the line of scrimmage, more disciplined, and more aggressive. Detroit, meanwhile, looked unprepared and unsettled with new coordinators and fresh faces in key spots.
The Lions’ performance drew harsh analogies—some calling the game tape unwatchable and others suggesting the team “laid an egg.” Writers emphasized how far Detroit must go just to match Green Bay’s level of execution.
Still, it’s only Week 1, and Campbell made it clear the season is far from over. The challenge ahead: cleaning up sloppy mistakes and proving that this opening stumble was an outlier, not the standard.
