The Packers have been humiliated before by the Lions on Thanksgiving Day

The Green Bay Packers trouncing by the Detroit Lions yesterday was the most lopsided loss in the Mike McCarthy era, one of the few times the Packers have not been competitive. I’m just “guessing” here, but after only a few days of rest I suspect that Matt Flynn’s elbow “issues” resurfaced; being overly “generous,” this probably helped account for his embarrassing performance, although frankly no one on the team could properly say that they didn’t have a hand in it. Aaron Rodgers is slated to return for the next game, but with only four games remaining, it seems only a matter of regaining some dignity. The Packers have had worse losses, such as the 1980 “stolen signals” game when the Chicago Bears annihilated the Packers 61-7, but this game was just total ineptness all around. 

Now for a history lesson. The Lions have played virtually every Thanksgiving for the past 60 years. They played the Packers 20 times, and lead the series 12-7-1.  The 1986 game was expected to be a snore fest with both teams  having losing records, but the 2-10 Packers used an 83-yard punt return to win the game 44-40. But the most famous of these matchups was in 1962, which featured what was probably the Packers greatest team, winning all but one game and outscoring their opponents by an average of 19 points per game. Against the Philadelphia Eagles—who defeated the Packers in the NFL championship game two years prior—the Packers won perhaps the most lopsided victory in team history, 49-0, outgaining the Eagles 628 to 54, with 37 first downs to the Eagles’ mere 3. 

Coming into their Thanksgiving Day matchup against the Lions, the Packers were 10-0, outscoring their opponents 310 to 77. The Packers were certainly not invincible; they had been dominated by the Baltimore Colts the previous game in every way but the scoreboard, but the expectation was to win a tough game in Detroit and complete an undefeated season. But on this Thanksgiving Day game, the Lions humiliated Lombardi’s Packers. The 26-0 score after three quarters only told part of the story; in 29 drop backs, Bart Starr was sacked 10 times for losses of 93 yards. That the final score was a “respectable” 26-14 was due to the fact that the Lions committed five turnovers, including a fumble in the end zone for one Packer score. 

Thanks to this season’s somewhat unexpected embarrassment against the Lions, the Packers’ season seems to be lost. But if I were a Lions fan, I wouldn’t crow too much. Since 1954, Detroit has a 1-10 playoff record, that lone win all the way back in 1991.