Lions Fall Short in Thanksgiving Duel with Packers
November 28, 2025
Joe Burrow had a nice quote this week. “You grow up going through Thanksgiving. You have your meals, and you sit on the couch, watch the Lions vs somebody. Watch Matthew Stafford throw for 300-400 yards with Calvin Johnson, and probably lose the game.” Spot on. If you grew up in the Detroit area, you grew up watching a ton of those losses, but it’s our favorite tradition around these parts! The Lions came into the day with an all time Thanksgiving day record of 38-45-2 and 3-7 through the last 10 games .. so, yeah, it’s a bit of a tradition.
This matchup came with a ton on the line. The Bears have secured the division lead putting more pressure on the Packers and Lions to come away with a win and try to keep up. Green Bay welcomed back their star running back Josh Jacobs in hopes of getting a bit of a boost. Truth be told, the running game was just fine leaning on Emanuel Wilson last week while Jacobs was out. But Jacobs sat out with this matchup on Thanksgiving circled as one they’d want their workhorse in. He might’ve been in for a big day had he not been held back by his knee contusion that he’s been working through, but he gave up a few possessions and almost came out of the game early on after a collision with Brian Branch. Jacobs battled through but failed to reach the endzone.
Fortunately for Green Bay, Jordan Love rose all the way to the occasion. Something about playing in Detroit on Thanksgiving brings the best out of him. He threw for 268 and 3 touchdowns in 2023 and threw for 234 and 4 touchdowns today. Simply put, he was unstoppable. The score was 17-14 in Green Bay’s favor heading into half. Love took it upon himself to complete a 51-yard bomb to Christian Watson to open the second half and they’d never let Detroit catch them from there. The Lions were able to generate 18 pressures on Love but it resulted in just one hit and no sacks. Defensively, the Packers were doing enough to keep the gap between them and Detroit all afternoon. Jahmyr Gibbs was essentially a non-factor, despite the Lions’ insistence to ram him up the middle repeatedly. It wasn’t there, but Detroit kept attacking the same by way of the run game and the Packers gladly accepted it.
The Lions lost Amon-Ra St. Brown early in the first quarter to an ankle injury and he never returned. At this point in time, the severity is unclear but he was rolled up while blocking which almost never ends up well for the player involved. After registering 0 receptions last week, Jameson Williams stepped up in a big way bringing in 7 catches for 144 yards and a touchdown. He had a couple amazing plays, but his touchdown grab shouldn’t have made it to the endzone, his pure will and effort to escape a tackle and hit light speed for six points was all the difference. Other depth receivers stepped up like Tom Kennedy who went 4 for 36 and Isaac TeSlaa who caught his third touchdown of his rookie campaign.
It was refreshing to see David Montgomery get some action again. Though, it didn’t happen until Jahymr Gibbs was clearly being stuffed for minimal yardage. Detroit has been incredibly stubborn as of late. Gibbs is a phenomenal player, no one doubts that, but the Lions are now moving away from the recipe that made them great and becoming too hyper focused on making Gibbs their Superman. When he’s taken away, like today, they struggle mightily to adjust and that was ultimately their downfall. The great teams will key in on that and be able to stop that. The schedule for Detroit won’t get any easier with Dallas and Los Angeles the next two weeks. They’re already on the outside looking for the playoffs and another poor few weeks could completely knock them out.
Keith, Author
Keith runs youth flag football leagues by day, and by night he hosts the podcast and writes articles with the confidence of a man who’s been rushing quarterbacks since dial-up. A longtime flag football DE and lifelong Falcons fan, he’s no stranger to heartbreak and enjoys watching the bears get slaughtered each week. Equal parts coach, critic, and chaos, Keith calls it like he sees it… even if it hurts.
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