The Detroit Lions were dominant after a shaky start and snapped a few losing streaks.
Matthew Stafford made up for some mistakes with three touchdown passes, including one to Calvin Johnson, to help Detroit score 37 straight points to beat the Green Bay Packers 40-10 on Thursday.
The Lions (7-5) had lost their last two games, five consecutive against Green Bay and a franchise-record nine straight in their annual showcase on Thanksgiving.
The Packers (5-6-1) have a five-game winless streak for the first time since 2008, showing how valuable Aaron Rodgers is for the franchise. Rodgers has missed four-plus games since fracturing his left collarbone.
“We’re a wounded team that got drilled by a good football team,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.
Matt Flynn became the fourth starting quarterback for Green Bay this year and was sacked seven times, once by Ndamukong Suh for a safety.
Flynn was 10 of 20 for 139 yards with an interception and two fumbles.
Stafford was 22 of 35 for 330 yards with two interceptions and a fumble that was returned by Morgan Burnett to put the Packers up 10-3 early in the second quarter.
After that, Detroit did whatever it wanted on both sides of the ball.
Reggie Bush bounced back from a fumble deep in Green Bay territory with a go-ahead, 1-yard TD run to give Detroit a 17-10 lead late in the first half. He finished with 117 yards rushing and 65 yards receiving.
Detroit’s Joique Bell ran for 94 yards and a score. Johnson had six receptions for 101 yards and a 20-yard TD to put the Lions up 24-10 early in the third quarter.
The Packers have been leaning on rookie running back Eddie Lacy lately, but he was limited to 16 yards on 10 carries against one of the NFL’s best defenses against the run.
The Lions gained 561 yards and gave up just 126.
Green Bay didn’t have more than 100 yards of offense until there was a little more than a minute left, then Flynn fumbled in a fitting end for a game that he and his banged-up team would like to forget.
“We’re not used to anything like this — not on this team,” linebacker A.J. Hawk said. “This is something that is going to make a lot of guys on this team think, and that’s good. We need to find some answers because they just ran the ball down our throats.”
Categories
