The Detroit Lions nearly pulled off the win on Monday Night Football. Alas, the Green Bay Packers benefitted from some truly egregious officiating but also some missed opportunities by the Lions and prevailed 23-22.
Detroit raced out to a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter behind a record-setting performance from Matthew Stafford. It could have been a lot more, however. The Lions settled for two Matt Prater field goals from inside the Packers red zone instead of scoring touchdowns. Low-percentage play calls and poor execution on a couple of shots led to field goals and let the Packers off the hook from falling way behind early.
In the second half, the Lions offense largely ground to a halt. Kerryon Johnson did not run well, nor did the line create opportunities for the running back to find space. Stafford misfired on a couple of passes. Three more Prater field goals were all the Lions could manage on trips into Packers territory.
The Lions needed to be better on offense. That is indisputable. The red zone offense was largely awful. But the Lions defense did in fact make the plays to make all those field goals stand up. The officials saw things otherwise…
Twice the Lions made the play to get off the field and force the Packers into 4th down. Twice the officials concocted phantom, phony, bogus penalties on Trey Flowers to give the Packers new life. Those fake calls directly gave the Packers 10 points on drives that were stopped by the Lions defense.
Should it have come to that? Of course not. The Lions offense needed to take better advantage of the opportunities it was given. But the defense did what was needed to make what the offense did produce stand up and be enough for a victory. That was taken away by inept officiating. Both can be correct, and in this case they are.
