The Packers knew they were going to be playing without quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Thursday in Detroit, but the fact that the 46 guys who were in uniform would also be taking the majority of the day off came as a surprise to them.
Green Bay got overwhelmed in every phase of the game during their 40-10 loss. From an offensive line that couldn’t block to special teams units that couldn’t cover kicks to a defense that couldn’t tackle, the Packers came up with a total zero against the Lions and coach Mike McCarthy didn’t try to sugarcoat anything after the game was over.
McCarthy called the loss, which saw the Lions outgain the Packers by more than 400 yards, “very disappointing and embarrassing” and said the Lions “tilted” the game in their direction by dominating the matchups up front. McCarthy acknowledged that it is hard when Rodgers and others are missing from the lineup, but that the players there still have to execute at a much higher level than they did on Thursday.
“We don’t feel very good about ourselves right at this minute. I think that’s to be expected,” McCarthy said in his postgame press conference. “Everybody knows what the expectations are every time they take the field, that’s to win football games. We’ve played eight, nine games in a row. We’re a wounded team that got drilled today by a good football team. That’s the facts of the matter. We have a long weekend. Hopefully, we’ll get some more people back but frankly, you have to run the football, you have to pass protect, you have to get off blocks, you have to tackle.”
With an 0-4-1 record and poor play all over the field since Rodgers’ injury, the Packers have looked a lot like a one-man show in the first five weeks. The star of that show hopes to return against the Falcons next week and the team’s flickering playoff hopes appear to rest entirely on his shoulders.