Packers Week in Review: Beaten at the Gun in Detroit, a Center Crisis, and a Door Creaking Open for Parsons

The three-game winning streak is over, and it ended in the most frustrating way on the menu: Green Bay had the game won in Detroit and gave it back. There’s no time to sit with it, either — the Panthers are at Lambeau tomorrow night. Let’s get through it.

20-17: Beaten at the Gun in Detroit

Jake Bates kicked a 22-yard field goal as time expired, and the Lions beat the Packers 20-17 at Ford Field on Sunday.

Jordan Love finished 27-of-45 for 274 yards, two touchdowns and one interception — the pick by Brian Branch, back from the Achilles injury that ended his 2025 season. Tucker Kraft caught a 14-yard touchdown in the first quarter, and a Jared Goff fumble early in the third — one of two Lions fumbles Isaiah McDuffie recovered — set up a 25-yard touchdown catch by Josh Jacobs that put Green Bay up 14-10, its only lead of the day.

The Lions’ numbers were bigger. Goff went 22-of-32 for 303 yards and two touchdowns, both to Jameson Williams (five catches, 91 yards). Amon-Ra St. Brown had nine catches for 153 yards, and Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 116 yards on 29 carries. Green Bay rushed for 60 yards total, went 5-of-15 on third down, scored one touchdown in four red-zone trips, and was flagged eight times.

The officiating will get its headlines, and some of it earned them — two questionable roughing-the-passer calls on the Packers, including one on Karl Brooks on the final drive. Per the Packers’ own takeaways column, Green Bay has now been called for eight roughing-the-passer penalties this season; its opponents have been called for zero. Tom Brady was critical of the calls on the broadcast.

But here’s the thing, and the next two sections are the thing: the Packers still should have won this game.

The Stop That Should Have Won It

With 4:53 left and the game tied 17-17, Dan Campbell did the most Dan Campbell thing available to him: he went for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 24-yard line. Keisean Nixon stuffed Gibbs for a 2-yard loss, and Green Bay took over already in field-goal range, with a chance to bleed the clock and kick the winner.

The Packers reached the Detroit 17. On third-and-5, Love’s throw to Jacobs in the end zone was dropped — in and out. And then the kick, which is its own section below.

Detroit took over and drove 71 yards in 10 plays. Gibbs slid down short of the end zone on purpose to burn Green Bay’s last timeout and the clock with it, helped along when Brooks jumped offsides on third-and-5 at the 20 and handed the Lions a fresh set of downs. Bates’ chip shot was a formality.

A defense that had just made the play of the game watched it evaporate in about four minutes.

Trey Smack, Again

Two weeks ago in this space, after the Bears game, we called Smack’s 70 percent “one to watch.” It’s louder now.

The rookie missed two field goals in a three-point loss. The first came on the opening drive: he made a 21-yarder that was wiped out by a delay-of-game penalty, then missed the retry from 26 yards wide right — the shortest missed field goal in the NFL this season. The second was the 35-yarder with about 3:25 left that would have given Green Bay the lead after Nixon’s stop; D.J. Wonnum got fingers on it and it went wide right. In between, to be fair, Smack made a 43-yarder with 7:10 left to tie the game at 17.

Smack didn’t hide from it afterward: “It’s a rough loss. I take accountability for my actions.” Good on him. But six points of missed kicks in a three-point division loss is the whole ballgame, and this is now two of the last three Sundays where the kicking has been a story. LaFleur stood by him after Chicago. Whether that changes is one of the real questions of the short week.

Jacobs Is Back

Sunday was Josh Jacobs’ first game of the season, activated last week after coming off the commissioner’s exempt list.

The rushing line was modest — 11 carries for 36 yards, in a game where Green Bay ran for 60 as a team — but as a receiver he was explosive: five catches for 55 yards, including the 25-yard touchdown where he broke tackles down the sideline. That’s the element this offense has been missing; the Packers came into the week averaging 2.9 yards per carry.

The dropped touchdown late will follow him into the film room, and it should. But the debut was the debut this team needed from him. Now he gets a Panthers defense on four days’ rest. Or, more accurately, on three.

The Injury Sweep: Now It’s the Middle of the Offensive Line

Same rule as last week — everything we found, not just the headline.

The center position is a crisis. Starter Sean Rhyan left in the first quarter at Detroit when Jacobs fell into the back of his legs. Per Ian Rapoport, it’s believed to be a high-ankle sprain — typically a four-to-six-week injury — and Rhyan is a candidate for injured reserve. Backup Jacob Monk replaced him, hurt his quad almost immediately, and has since been placed on injured reserve. That left John Williams, who had never played center in college or the NFL, to play the final 58 snaps — and by all accounts he held up. He could start Thursday; rookie Jager Burton, inactive Sunday, is the other option.

Zaire Franklin won’t play Thursday. The starting linebacker and defensive captain missed the Detroit game with what was listed as a shin injury; Rapoport reports it’s a hairline fracture in his leg, suffered when he was accidentally kicked in practice. Green Bay did not put him on injured reserve, which signals minimal missed time — but LaFleur has already said he’s out against Carolina. McDuffie takes his spot and the green dot, on top of those two fumble recoveries Sunday.

Matthew Golden (shoulder, and now a foot as well) was a non-participant on the estimated practice reports Monday and Tuesday. He left the Lions game for a play, looked shaken up, and finished — but on a short week, “estimated non-participant” is not where you want your most productive receiver.

Travis Glover, who has started the last four games at right guard, is also a non-participant with a knee injury. If he can’t go, 36-year-old Kevin Zeitler — signed Sept. 30 and yet to play — could make his Packers debut. Aaron Banks (knee/toe) was limited; he was active Sunday for the first time since Week 2 but didn’t play a snap on offense.

For the running tally: Jayden Reed, Zach Bako-Bewele, Edgerrin Cooper and Javon Hargrave remain done for the season. And then there’s the next section.

Parsons: The Answer Changed

For weeks, the answer on Micah Parsons has been some version of no. On Tuesday, it changed.

Asked whether Parsons will return to practice next week, LaFleur said: “I sure hope so.” Pressed — so you’re saying there’s a chance? — he added: “I’m saying there’s a chance.” ESPN’s Rob Demovsky noted that LaFleur’s previous answers to that exact question had been a hard no.

Some mechanics, because they matter: Parsons is still on the reserve/PUP list, coming back from the torn ACL he suffered on Dec. 14, 2025. When the Packers open his 21-day practice window, the clock starts — at the end of it, he either goes on the 53-man roster or he doesn’t play this season. Opening it next week does not mean he plays next week; he’ll need a ramp. Reading the reporting together, the Thanksgiving Eve game at the Rams on Nov. 25 looks like the realistic debut target, with anything before the Week 11 bye a bonus.

He is not playing Thursday against Carolina. But this is the first week the timeline has moved toward Green Bay instead of away from it. As always: treat any specific date as a guess.

Next Up: Panthers, Tomorrow Night

Thursday, Oct. 29 — 7:15 p.m. CT / 9:15 p.m. Brasília time, vs. the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field, on Prime Video (Thursday Night Football).

Carolina is 3-3 and somehow leading the NFC South, coming off a 43-13 home loss to Tampa Bay in which Bryce Young was benched for the fourth quarter after three turnovers and five sacks; coach Dave Canales says he’ll play. Green Bay is 4-3 — last in the NFC North behind Minnesota (6-0), Chicago (5-2) and Detroit (4-2), while still holding the NFC’s final wild-card spot. The division is a cage fight this year.

Short week, a third-string center, no Franklin, no Parsons, and a get-right game that has to be gotten right. After this one: at New England on Nov. 8, the Vikings at Lambeau on Nov. 15, and then the bye.

Go Pack Go. 💛💚

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Cover photo: Jordan Love at Lambeau Field. Photo by Joe Glorioso / All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.