DETROIT – The Green Bay Packers have nobody to blame but themselves for their 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

“We didn’t finish in the red zone. We didn’t finish with kicks,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “It’s disappointing. We left a lot of points out there. We did a decent job moving the ball but we’ve got to do a better job finishing. To score 17 points in a game we should have scored a lot more, is disappointing, so definitely the red zone area is something we’ve got to clean up. On special teams, we’ve got to be able to finish those kicks.”

Here’s our weekly look at the snap counts along with the studs and duds from a crushing loss to the rival Lions.

Packers Snaps on Offense

The Packers played 67 snaps on offense against the Lions.

Quarterback: For the sixth time in seven games, Jordan Love went the distance. His 83.0 passer rating speaks to a mediocre performance. The reality is Love was mostly excellent but didn’t get enough help from his friends.

What a completely different quarterbacking world. Love was pressured on 19 dropbacks (40.4 percent); counterpart Jared Goff was pressured on four (12.1 percent). On passes thrown 10-plus yards downfield against the NFL’s worst pass defense, Love was 5-of-14. On play-action, he was a woeful 2-of-8 for 12 yards.

Running back: in his debut following a six-game punishment, Josh Jacobs led the backfield with 35 snaps. MarShawn Lloyd was next with 24 snaps. Pierre Strong, who was the lead dog last week, was limited to only eight. Kaleb Johnson barely played the last two games and was inactive.

Did Jacobs save the running game? With 11 carries for 36 yards, no. But he ran with more vision and toughness than the rest of the backfield this season. By our count, he had 38 rushing yards after contact. His 25-yard touchdown catch was vintage Jacobs as he broke two tackles. He’ll be kicking himself for dropping a touchdown pass late in the game.

Receivers: As usual, Matthew Golden (57 snaps) and Christian Watson (54) led the way. In his second game back following an ankle injury, Savion Williams once again was a factor at times in his 40 snaps. The other snaps are just filler with Bo Melton (13) and J. Michael Sturdivant (eight) being nonfactors.

After back-to-back 100-yard games, Golden turned 12 targets into six catches for 39 yards. One catch was for 22 yards; the others gained 17.

Tight ends: Tucker Kraft played 59 snaps – more than Jonnu Smith (17), Mark Redman (17) and Josh Whyle (seven) combined.

Kraft caught four passes for 48 yards. There were some vintage snaps, with a 22-yard, tackle-breaking catch on fourth down and a 14-yard touchdown, but not enough of them. Smith caught one pass for 9 yards but mostly has been a nonfactor since his arrival.

Offensive Line: What a wild start. First, Josh Jacobs was tackled into the back of Sean Rhyan’s leg, knocking out the team’s starting center after four snaps. His backup, Jacob Monk, lasted five snaps. So, John Williams, a college left tackle who spent the offseason and start of training camp at center before bouncing back out to tackle, came off the bench and played the final 58 snaps.

“Not much,” Love said of taking snaps with Williams. “I think it’s one of those things where we always talk about that next-man-up mentality. Early on, losing Sean and losing Monk, I think John did a great job being able to step up. He hasn’t taken many reps at center, let alone with the ones. 

“I think for him, that’s just a great job of being ready, being able to come in, be able to make these calls in a position where he hasn’t played too much. We talk about it all the time – that next-man-up mentality – but I think he did a great job tonight.

The other starters went the distance; Aaron Banks played four snaps on special teams after a four-game absence and Kevin Zeitler was inactive.

While left tackle Jordan Morgan gave up the only sack, Love was under fire for most of the game. Right guard Travis Glover gave up seven pressures but left guard Laken Tomlinson pitched a shutout, according to PFF. Williams was charged with three pressures and will start on Thursday against Carolina.

Packers Snaps on Defense

The Packers played 68 snaps on defense against the Lions.

Defensive line: Karl Brooks, as usual, led the defensive tackles with 48 snaps. Rookie Chris McClellan was next with 38 snaps. In his season debut, big Jordon Riley played 29 snaps. Anthony Campbell was the most impactful player with 28 snaps. Devonte Wyatt played the fewest snaps, 23, as he missed time with an ankle injury.

Campbell had one sack and two tackles for losses. Brooks also had a TFL and led the defense in pressures with a meager two but was guilty of the nail-in-the-coffin offside penalty.

Edges: Lukas Van Ness was on the field for 42 snaps. Rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton played 34 snaps, one more than starter Barryn Sorrell. Brenton Cox rounded out the usual balanced group with 29 snaps. Sorrell’s workload was beefed up by 15 snaps on special teams.

The edge players provided exactly zero pressures. Officially, Van Ness had the defense’s one and only quarterback hit but didn’t have a tackle. Had the Packers won, Dennis-Sutton would have been one of the heroes because of his third-and-1 tackle after a catch by Jahmyr Gibbs with about 5 minutes to go.

Linebackers: There were plenty of reasons why the Packers lost, but it wasn’t because of the play of Isaiah McDuffie and Ty’Ron Hopper in place of injured starters Edgerrin Cooper and Zaire Franklin. McDuffie played every snap and Hopper played 63 in the biggest opportunity of his career. Nick Niemann played one snap on defense and a team-high 16 on special teams.

McDuffie had 11 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Hopper had seven tackles.

Cornerbacks: Keisean Nixon and Brandon Cisse played 67 snaps apiece. Carrington Valentine played five snaps when defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon played dime.

Nixon had two tackles for losses and two passes defensed. PFF charged him with 2-of-5 passing for 35 yards in a superb performance. Cisse had two pass breakups, as well, including pushing Jameson Williams out of the back of the end zone on a fourth-down catch. PFF charged him with 6-of-8 for 67 yards and lost an interception when he was flagged for interference when overaggressive at the top of the route against unstoppable Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Safeties: The starters, Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams, as usual, played every snap. McKinney had nine tackles. Williams had seven, but the only play he’ll remember is his dropped interception.

Packers Studs vs. Lions

QB Jordan Love: The best quarterbacks make plays when under pressure. According to PFF, Love was 9-of-18 passing for 125 yards with one touchdown. Overall, he was 27-of-45 passing; many of the 18 incompletions were thrown right on the money.

CB Keisean Nixon: In past seasons, a hot-headed Nixon might have been more a hindrance than help in a big game at Detroit. Not this time. Nixon was sensational. He gave up only two catches, broke up two passes and had two tackles for losses, including a huge one on fourth down that should have helped the Packers win the game.

Packers Duds vs. Lions

RG Travis Glover: The Packers won Glover’s first three games as the right guard. On Sunday, Kevin Zeitler wasn’t even active. Glover was charged with seven pressures and the Packers lost the game. An interesting decision looms for Thursday against Carolina.

Edge Lukas Van Ness: Depending on the source, Van Ness had one pressure (Next Gen Stats) or zero (Pro Football Focus). The Packers needed to pressure Jared Goff but failed miserably. He had zero tackles and one quarterback hit (on Goff’s third-quarter touchdown pass).

K Trey Smack: Kicking in the great indoors of Ford Field, Smack missed 26- and 35-yard field goals. Kickers this season are 80-of-82 on field goals from inside of 30 yards. It’s as automatic as automatic can be. Or should be, anyway. The 35-yarder in the fourth quarter was tipped but the trajectory was too low.

This season, 31 kickers have attempted at least nine field goals. Only three have a worse percentage than Smack’s 68.8 percent. Including extra points, he’s tied for the league lead with seven misses.

In my 19 years covering the Packers on a daily basis, I've never written a blame-the-refs story. Yeah, I get it, the Packers beat themselves, too, but what happened at Ford Field was unaccepable, an embarrassment and, to quote Xavier McKinney, bullshit. ⬇️https://t.co/IJdIl1WAMe

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 26, 2026