Tuesday open thread: Do you feel better, worse, or the same after the Lions’ loss to the Packers?

By the time the Detroit Lions jumped out to a 13-0 lead over the Green Bay Packers, the leaders atop the the NFC North, what was impressive wasn’t so much the score as it was the way they did it.

Flea flickers, play-action passes on first down, each of their first three drives ending in points—and at Lambeau of all places. For the first half, this Lions team looked like the team that went toe-to-toe with the Kansas City Chiefs for four quarters two weekends ago.

And it ended in an all too familiar way, as well.

Let’s get right into it.

Today’s Question of the Day is...

Do you feel better, worse, or the same after the Lions’ loss to the Packers?

It’s hard to feel any better about this team after another loss, but it’s hard to even imagine how things got to the place it did in the first place. The Lions were in command. Matthew Stafford was zipping the ball all over the field. Receivers were gaining separation, making catches. The offense moved the ball at will.

And then, it stopped. Stafford cooled down in the second half. The Lions were benefactors of two second half turnovers, both of which had them starting in plus-territory. A muffed punt put the Lions on Green Bay’s 34-yard line at the beginning of the third quarter, and a 55-yard interception return by Justin Coleman brought Detroit to the Packers’ 48-yard line. Here are the drive summaries of those two opportunities:

4 plays, 2 yards, 0:58; 41-yard field goal by Matt Prater
4 plays, 8 yards, 0:52; 54-yard field goal by Matt Prater

After that second field goal, the Lions went up 22-13, had yet another opportunity to ice the game after the Packers scored a touchdown to pull it within two points, and this was their drive:

6 plays, 16 yards, 2:17; 41-yard punt by Sam Martin

Was the officiating bad during the most critical juncture of “Monday Night Football”? Yeah, it was really, really bad—and it definitely had an effect on the outcome of this game.

Should an illegal hands to the face penalty ever earn another team an automatic first down? Probably not, no.

But here’s where I am, yet again, with this iteration of Detroit Lions football: I think it’s pretty good, but I know—for sure—that it’s not great.

In back-to-back games, this team had a chance to close out both the Chiefs and the Packers, and they couldn’t do it. Both weeks, when the offense needed something at the end of the game, it couldn’t muster up even an iota of the energy it starts off with each and every week.

And again, without even running the ball or stopping the run—two things the Lions did not do well in this game—Detroit was there, involved in the finish until the very end.

Ultimately, the Lions lost this one, squandered not only an opportunity to beat the Packers on the road, but to once again jump up to the top of the NFC North, get off to a 1-0 start in the division, and show how they’ve grown since the heartbreaker they lost to the Chiefs. Show that the team has the capability to finish out football games.

They didn’t, and for all of those aforementioned reasons, I’m feeling a little worse about this Lions team after Week 6’s loss to the Packers.

Your turn.