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.
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