Lions beat Packers to clinch playoff spot after Campbell’s gutsy fourth-down calls
Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes, Jake Bates made a 35-yard field goal as time expired and the Detroit Lions clinched a playoff spot with a 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night.
The NFC-best Lions (12-1) broke a franchise record with their 11th straight victory – including two over the Packers (9-4) – and stayed ahead of Minnesota (10-2) in the highly competitive NFC North.
Detroit coach Dan Campbell went for it five times on fourth down and made it four times, including with one yard to go at the Green Bay 21 with 43 seconds left. David Montgomery then ran for seven yards and barely got a handoff from Goff after the quarterback tripped and fell to the grass. That allowed the Lions to attempt a field goal without giving the Packers the ball back, and Bates hit his third game-winning kick this season.
Goff threw two touchdown passes on fourth down, one to Tim Patrick, who had two touchdown catches. He also threw an interception in the third quarter and set up one of Josh Jacobs’ career-high matching three TD runs for the Packers.
Patrick said Campbell told his team before the game that they would be aggressive on fourth downs. “[Campbell] let us know before the game that if we are close, we will go for it [on fourth down] … and we went out and were executed,” said Patrick, who missed the 2022 and 2023 seasons due to injury. “We wanted to end the match on our terms.”
Goff found Jahymr Gibbs open in the end zone for a two-yard pass on a fourth down with 11 seconds left in the first half, putting Detroit ahead 17-7. Goff later connected with Patrick on a one-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter.
Green Bay took advantage of the one time Campbell’s aggressiveness didn’t play out, denying Gibbs a fourth-down run late in the third quarter from the Detroit 31. Jacobs scored for a third time on a three-yard run on the ensuing drive. .
Brandon McManus made a 32-yard field goal with 3:38 remaining to pull the Packers to a 31-31 tie in a game that saw four lead changes earlier in the second half.
The Lions’ final drive started with Goff’s 19-yard pass to Jameson Williams. He also connected with Amon-Ra St Brown for 16 yards on the decisive possession. Goff finished 32 of 41 for 283 yards, and six Lions players had at least five receptions. Jordan Love was 12 of 20 for 206 yards with a touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft early in the third quarter.
Patrick said the game had special resonance for him personally. “Tomorrow is my father’s birthday. He died and that was it. “I am blessed, very blessed,” he said.