Lions vs. Packers quick thoughts: What Just Happened?

Go ahead and have a cry. I’ll cry with you. Your Detroit Lions just ended the Green Bay Packers season and their hopes at the playoffs with 20-16 win. What a season.

As always, I have thoughts on this game. These are those thoughts. signature

Changing of the guard

The Lions did it. This is the moment that you’ll look back on and remember as the moment that the Lions ended all of their misery. It’s the moment that they stepped up and said that they were done losing to this team when it mattered and that they were done suffering from Aaron Rodgers magic. The Lions are on their way to the crown of the NFC North and it started Sunday night with the biggest statement win this team has put up in a very long time.

Jamaal did it!

Barry Sanders racked up 16 rushing touchdowns in 1991. It was record that seemed lie it would stand forever. Even Barry never broke it over the course of his hall of fame career. The Lions have been a team that has been so bad at running the ball for so long that it seemed looked impossible to finally be good at it again. Jamaal Williams changed all of that this season. Not only did he finally break Barry Sanders franchise single season rushing touchdown record, but he also broke the streak of seasons without a 1,000 yard rusher in the same game.

On top of it all, Jamaal Williams is the heart and soul of this team. With his contract coming to an end after this season, he is going to be a priority signing for the Lions. The good news is that it seems like Jamaal Williams really loves playing in Detroit and Detroit loves Jamaal Williams playing here.

Jamo is as advertised

The play didn’t wind up counting because of a holding call on Matt Nelson, but the story here is that this is what the future looks like for Jameson Williams and the Lions. You thought he was fast when he got open to make the catch, look how fast he is after the catch. This is the speed that was going to make Williams a likely top five pick before the injury. The Lions got themselves a steal here with the 12th pick. the future is pretty bright here.

Aidan Hutchinson may have won the rookie of the year Sunday night

It’s been no secret at all that Hutchinson has been very good in his rookie year. It’s definitely not a secret after he balled out in primetime in front of the entire football watching world. There’s still a very good case for Sauce Gardner and Tariq Woolen has his too, but Hutchinson showed that he is 100% a player that got picked at the right spot. Unless you think that spot should be one higher.

Hutchinson finished the game with 2 sacks and finished the season with 9.5 sacks and three interceptions. We’ll see if that winds up being good enough for him to be the first Lions rookie to bring home the defensive rookie of the year award since Ndamukong Suh.

Intros

Please let the Lions get some more primetime games on Sunday in 2023. Just so we can see what the team will do during their SNF player intros. I have no idea what Jamaal Williams is talking about here, apparently it has something to do with anime, but I laughed my ass off. Then there was Malcolm Rodriguez from Oklahoma State proclaiming that he went to “Barry Sanders University.” Sanders of course played at OSU for those Lions fans that have been sleeping under a rock or are much younger than me.

Catch of the year

We got receivers out here making catches with their ass. You can’t team isn’t super close.

How much does Aaron Rodgers hate Kerby Joseph?

Kerby Joseph picked off Aaron Rodgers twice when the Lions played the Packers in Week 9. Apparently he didn’t think that was good enough, so he picked him off twice in this game too. Luckily one of them counted.

That’s going to do it for What Just Happened this season

It’s been another super fun season and I absolutely love writing these WJH recaps. As we head to the offseason I just want to say thank you to everyone who has not only read this recap series this season, but has also read all my work this year too. I also want to thank everyone for making this the best year we’ve head here at POD. I can’t wait till next season. Stay with until then though. We’ll have everything you want and need for free agency, the draft and whatever else you want.