The Good, Bad and Ugly From Green Bay Packers’ Week 7 Loss to Detroit Lions

There's a ton of talk about referees and bad calls in the immediate aftermath of the Green Bay Packers' Week 7 loss to the Detroit Lions, but the Packers lost this game themselves.

Where there several indefensible flags thrown by the referees in Detroit? Yes there were.

The problem for Matt LaFleur's Packers is that there were also several indefensible mistakes made that cost Green Bay the game.

Points were left all over the board, execution failed in key moments and ultimately, the Packers fell to the bottom of the NFC North and at 4-3 are now looking up at the 4-2 Lions, 5-2 Chicago Bears and 6-0 Minnesota Vikings.

The Packers haven't won the NFC North since 2021, when Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback, and their chances of winning the division in 2026 took a massive hit because of this loss. 

Where there a few good things that happened in this one for the Pack? There were a couple, but they were few and far in between. We'll try to highlight a few positives, but this one was largely bad and ugly.

The Good:

Let's give Jonathan Gannon and the defense credit. The Lions came into this game averaging 32.8 points per game. Gannon's defense held Detroit to just 20 points and three of those came on a last-second field goal.

The defense also gave Green Bay a chance to win the game. The Packers forced two turnovers as well as two turnover on downs. The second one came with 4:53 to go in a tie game and Dan Campbell and the Lions foolishly going for it on their own 24 yard line.

That fourth-down stand should have won the Packers the game. They got the ball back just outside of their own red zone and should have been able to put up at least three points.

That's not how it went down, which is why this game had so much more bad and ugly than good.

The Bad:

Yes, the Packers got screwed by the refs on multiple occasions, but they also hurt themselves far too often. You can't make many mistakes and win a divisional matchup on the road, but this game was full of them for the Packers and just about everyone shares the blame.

Let's talk about that last drive. The Packers got the ball back with a 1st and 10 on the Detroit 22-yard line with 4:50 to go. Not only did they barely move the ball in three plays, but rookie kicker Trey Smack missed a 35-yard field goal that would have given Green Bay the lead. Yes, it was technically blocked by a fingertip, but the kick wasn't straight and true to begin with.

The Packers had a chance to go up by a touchdown on that drive but Josh Jacobs dropped a pass on a wheel route in the end zone. It was one of multiple drops from the Packers, who now lead the league in drops with 18.

Many of the flags thrown against Green Bay were terrible calls by the officials, but the Packers also committed a delay of game on their first drive, which pushed a field goal attempt back five yards and led to a miss. Green Bay also jumped offsides late in the game on 3rd and 5, giving Detroit a free first down and essentially letting the Lions run out the clock and kick the game-winner.

Self-inflicted wounds have killed the Packers in 2026.

The Ugly:

It's time to have a conversation about the rookie kicker. Smack has a big leg. That much is for certain.

He's now missed five field goals this season, though, and he's also missed two extra points.

The missed field goals against Detroit were extra egregious because they came from just 26 and 35 yards, respectively.

Those are chip shots for an NFL kicker, so the fact that Smack missed both would suggest that he's got a confidence problem more than anything else. We know he has the leg, but does he have the mental fortitude to kick consistently when the pressure is on?

Four of his five missed field goals and one of his missed extra points have come against NFC North opponents, so that's an extremely concerning trend as far as far as Smack's ability to kick under pressure is concerned.

And yet, the Packers are notoriously slow to make changes when they may need to, so LaFleur is going to give Smack every opportunity to try to turn this thing around. 

“Certainly, you never want to go through it, but Trey’s a guy that I think he’s proven that he can do it, and I know he can do it,” LaFleur said in the postgame. “We’ve got to wipe this one clean and got to move on and hopefully we can be a little bit better.”