Lions Don't Play Anywhere Near Standard in Disappointing Loss

The Detroit Lions entered the 2025 season with sky-high expectations.

Equipped with one of the league’s deepest rosters and the confidence that comes with being a legitimate Super Bowl contender, Detroit was expected to make a statement in its season opener. 

Instead, the Lions laid an egg at Lambeau Field, falling, 27-13, to the Green Bay Packers in a game that raised more questions than answers about their readiness to meet championship-level standards.

From the opening drive, it was Green Bay – not Detroit – that looked like the reigning back-to-back NFC North champions. 

Jordan Love and the Packers’ offense moved the ball at will, scoring on their first three possessions, including a touchdown strike to tight end Tucker Kraft that immediately put the Lions on their heels. 

Meanwhile, Detroit’s offense sputtered, producing a lone field goal in two first-half red-zone trips, with Jared Goff tossing a costly interception on the other.

For a team that boasted the league’s No. 1-ranked offense just a year ago, the performance was vastly underwhelming. 

Detroit managed just 246 total yards of offense – its second-fewest in a game since 2022 – and reached the end zone only once, courtesy of a late touchdown pass from Goff to rookie wideout Isaac TeSlaa with under a minute remaining. By then, the outcome had long been decided.

What was most concerning, though, wasn’t the lack of production, but instead the lack of identity. 

The Lions, under head man Dan Campbell, have established a reputation as a hard-nosed, physical team that wins at the line of scrimmage and sets the tone offensively with a bruising ground attack. 

On Sunday, that was far from the case. The running back tandem of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs – one of the league’s most dynamic last season – was kept in check all game long. The duo produced a measly 44 rushing yards with no scores. 

Additionally, Gibbs’ 10 catches resulted in just 31 yards, the lowest single-game total in league history for a player with that many receptions.

If the offense was underwhelming, the defense was downright concerning, especially when it came to generating pressure on Love. 

The Lions finished the game without a single sack, and were barely able to muster a semblance of a pass-rush against the Green Bay signal-caller. 

Meanwhile, All-Pro pass-rusher Micah Parsons, acquired by the Packers in a blockbuster trade at the end of August, repeatedly wreaked havoc against Goff. 

Parsons even forced Goff’s first-half interception, displaying exactly why many Lions fans and pundits alike thought the organization should have aggressively pursued him.

Aidan Hutchinson, the centerpiece of Detroit’s pass-rush, was neutralized for much of the afternoon and clearly outshined by Parsons. 

Without pressure up front, the Lions’ secondary was left vulnerable, and Green Bay took full advantage by controlling the pace of the game from start to finish.

In many ways, the opener highlighted the challenges facing new coordinators John Morton (offense) and Kelvin Sheppard (defense). 

Morton’s play-calling lacked rhythm, with drives stalling before they could gain momentum. The red-zone execution was particularly lackluster, as Detroit converted just one of four trips into points. 

Sheppard’s defense, meanwhile, looked unprepared and struggled to adjust to Green Bay’s balanced attack. 

Both coaches will be under heavy scrutiny moving forward, as Week 1 was a harsh reminder that replacing veteran coordinators with inexperienced play-callers can come with growing pains.

After the game, Goff didn’t mince words about the offense’s inefficient play. 

"Not even close to good enough, right?" the Lions franchise quarterback expressed. "There needs to be an urgency of improvement. There has to be. Today wasn't even close to good enough offensively.” 

Campbell struck a more measured tone but acknowledged the disappointment. 

"I thought we’d be much cleaner than we were," he said in the postgame. "But there again, you’re talking about a few plays that were critical. Like I told the team, these are so correctable, and we’ll hit it head on. Our players are accountable, man, they’re ready. Nobody takes it worse than they do, and that’s the good news. We got the right dudes.”

Still, accountability alone won’t fix the deeper issues that were exposed on Sunday. 

Detroit didn’t just lose; it failed to play anything close to a winning brand of football. 

The grit, execution and swagger that defined last year’s NFC North champions were missing. And in their place was an uninspired performance that made the Lions look like the very antithesis of a Super Bowl contender.

One game doesn’t define a season, but it surely can set a tone. 

And for the Lions, the takeaway from Week 1 is crystal clear: they are a long way away from meeting their standard.

Detroit Lions Still Trust Pass-Rush, Players Have to 'Step Up'

The Detroit Lions were not able to pressure Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love consistently.

As a result, Dan Campbell's squad found themselves training by two touchdowns at halftime.

But in the second half, Detroit's defense did settle down, but the momentum gained early carried the Packers to the Week 1 victory.

It was clear Detroit's pass-rush was outmatched by the blocking schemes of the Packers early in the contest.

Green Bay made the effort to give extra attention to Aidan Hutchinson, but nobody else on the Lions' defensive line was able to consistently win one-on-one battles.

“They did a good job. They short set, (Jordan Love) he does a good job of bouncing in there, he’s got pocket mobility. The backs were stepping up pretty good," said Campbell on Monday. "(Josh) Jacobs did a really good job of shutting down some of the twist game, the stunts, the picks, all those that we’ll do some of.

"And then inevitably, when we got out of that a little bit, we’ve got some guys that have to win a one-on-one, they’ve got to step up and make their plays when they’re there. And we’ll adjust, like I said, we’ll keep repping it, we’ll keep working it. We’ll keep tweaking with guys too, and trying to find guys that we can put in a one-on-one and let them have a chance to win.”

Appearing on 97.1 The Ticket Tuesday morning, Campbell was asked how the team is planning to approach the pass-rush, if Hutchinson continues to get double-teamed and chipped.

"We'll have to get it from the interior. We'll have to get it from our linebackers and we'll have to get it from the other side," Campbell said. "I mentioned this yesterday. We did have guys, we had a few guys that had some one-on-ones, and they just they got to win those, you know. That being said, we have got to do a better job on the back end, too. It all goes hand in hand. Rush and coverage always go hand in hand. We're going to adapt. We'll switch some things up. And look, we switched things up in the second half, too. And though we didn't get a sack, we did get some pressures, and we got off the field. So, I thought we settled down and started making some plays."

Given the message has been similar the past couple of seasons, the team has not racked up the sack totals in Campbell's tenure.

Last year, though, the team ranked second in the league with a total of 345 pressures.

"I do believe we have the guys that can win one-on-one. And there's different ways to win. Certainly, everybody would love to see the speed ball off the edge and nobody can touch him. But those guys are -- that's a rarity when you can find one of those guys. But then it's the guys, these guys who can push the middle of the pocket, man. You can get an edge, and you can open it up and you can drive it right back into the quarterback's lap.

"So, there's different ways to apply pressure on the quarterback. And the bottom line is you just got to make them uncomfortable," Campbell explained further. "If we can make them uncomfortable, get get in his lap here a little bit, then normally good things will happen when you can do that. But, it requires everybody doing their job and you got to get there with urgency."