Acme Packing Company
Do you remember when the Green Bay Packers were 3-6 midway through the 2023 NFL season and fans started thinking ahead to the quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft?
Jordan Love’s first year as the starting quarterback of the franchise didn’t start out so well; after a 38-point explosion in Chicago to start the season, the Packers offense struggled to find that gear again for several games. In their next 8 games, the Packers scored fewer than 20 points give times, going 2-6 in that span. Finally, however, the group seemed to start turning the corner a bit in a week 10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Toyotathon started the following week — though Packers fans would take some time to realize what it had in store for Love and the team.
Week 11 saw the Packers defeat the Los Angeles Chargers 23-20, and the offense stayed turnover-free for the first time since Week 2. Love posted the first 300-yard passing game of his career and, finally, things were looking up. But at 4-6, the Packers needed to finish no worse than 5-2 in the final seven games to have a shot at a playoff berth, and just four days later, they headed to Detroit for a date with the 8-2 Lions on Thanksgiving.
What happened in that game was a performance that is well and truly worthy of remembrance. So let’s look back at the Packers’ 29-22 upset of the Lions, which helped buoy the green and gold to the 5-2 finish they needed to sneak into the playoffs and deliver a legendary Wild Card round upset. Here are some of the most memorable moments from that game.
Green Bay’s lineup for this game was quite unorthodox. The Packers were missing several starters in this game; running back Aaron Jones was inactive, as was starting tight end Luke Musgrave. Green Bay also had no Jaire Alexander, while Rasul Douglas had been traded away at the deadline a few weeks later.
That meant that AJ Dillon was the Packers’ lead running back, while Tucker Kraft started at tight end for the first time in this game. Meanwhile, Green Bay’s outside cornerbacks were a rookie Carrington Valentine and veteran journeyman Corey Ballentine.
Green Bay got the opening kickoff a week earlier when the Chargers won the toss and deferred. For the game in Detroit, with the Packers installed as 8-point underdogs, Matt LaFleur decided he wanted his offense on the field immediately no matter what and the Packers bucked the current trend by receiving the opening kick. The mindset of starting aggressively on offense was something the head coach wanted to instill in his team, and he dialed up a deep shot on the first play from scrimmage.
Was this the first “just chuck it to Watson” play of Love’s career? It certainly feels like the first truly impactful one, at least.
Four plays later, Love hooked up with Jayden Reed...
