DETROIT – The surging Green Bay Packers will face one of their biggest tests of the season on Sunday against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.

The Lions have an elite quarterback with Jared Goff. An elite running back with Jahmyr Gibbs. An elite receiver corps led by Amon-Ra St. Brown. The offensive line is powerful.

To extend their winning streak to four games, the Packers are going to need to play their best game this season. Are they capable of eliminating their abundance of unforced errors to score enough points to beat the high-powered Lions?

No. Here are three reasons why the Packers will lose.

1. Jahmyr Gibbs (at Home)

The Packers have played against one really good running back this season. That, of course, was the Week 3 game against Atlanta, when they were swamped by Bijan Robinson, who is either the best or second-best running back in the NFL.

On Sunday, they will face the Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs, who is the other back in contention to be the best in the business.

Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon understands the challenge.

“He’s faster than everybody,” he said. “He has elite vision, I would say. He can make any cut that you want, he’s got really good contact balance, he’s stronger – for not like a huge back, I think he breaks a lot of tackles. And in the pass game, he’s a run-and-pass threat.

“He’s a really good player. Big-time challenge. We always say point of attack. There’s certain plays at the point of attack where the ball is. All 11 are at the point of attack when you defend this guy.”

There’s no place like home for Gibbs. On the road, he averages 4.77 yards per carry. At home, he averages 5.77 yards per carry. That’s the best in NFL history among running backs with 300-plus career carries in home games, according to Stathead.

The Packers have done well against him, though. In six career matchups, he’s never hit 70 rushing yards and he’s rushed for only one touchdown.

“We play him twice a year, so knowing who he is and knowing exactly what we got to do to contain him, because there’s going to be some plays where he’s going to get his,” nickel Javon Bullard said. “Sometimes it’s inevitable in this league – good players are going to make good plays. I think all of us have to do our job and be on the same page so we can contain them.”

Robinson leads the NFL with 785 rushing-receiving yards, a number gained over six games. Gibbs is third with 747 yards in five games.

He is one of five running backs in NFL history with at least 700 scrimmage yards and nine scrimmage touchdowns in his team’s first five games, and the first in almost a quarter-century. Three of the other backs are Pro Football Hall of Famers Jim Brown (1958 and 1963 with Cleveland), Eric Dickerson (1983 with the Rams) and Emmitt Smith (1995 with Dallas), and the other player was Priest Holmes (2002 with Kansas City).

Asked if there were lessons learned from the game against Robinson – the only game in which Green Bay’s run defense faltered – coach Matt LaFleur said:

“Sure. Lessons on what not to do. You’ve got to do a great job of maintaining your leverage. Everybody’s got certain leverage points on the play, and the other thing is you cannot relax for 1 second against this guy because he’s capable of reversing field and scoring touchdowns. He’s got elite change-of-direction skills, he can stick his foot in the ground, bounce one way, but he’s also got elite home-run speed, and then he’s also a factor out of the backfield.

“Shoot, he could go probably line up at slot receiver for most teams. I just think he’s a really dynamic player in this league.”

The Packers have to slow down Gibbs. Otherwise, the player listed below might be unstoppable.

2. Jared Goff (With Time)

Jared Goff has his flaws but it’s impossible to ignore his incredible efficiency. Since the start of the 2024 season, he is second in the NFL with a 108.9 passer rating. He is first in passing yards and passing touchdowns and third in yards per attempt and completion percentage.

It’s been more of the same this season. Goff has thrown 12 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

As is the case with most quarterbacks, Goff is lethal from a clean pocket. According to Pro Football Focus, he ranks fourth this season with a clean-pocket passer rating of 122.7. With time, he’s completed 74.1 percent of his passes. When pressured, he’s completed 50.0 percent. He also leads the league in play-action yards.

“I think it’s tough for any quarterback to throw when he’s on his back,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “You’ve got to try to move guys off the spot. I think he’s done such a tremendous job. He doesn’t need a lot of space to let the ball go. He’s pretty confident in what he sees, he will let it rip, and he trusts his playmakers to go make the plays. He’s always been a really decisive quarterback.

“He handles pressure really well, very poised, and I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect, especially working with him for a year and just watching how he went about his business. Got a lot of love and respect for him.”

With Micah Parsons providing 2.5 sacks and serving as the closer, the Packers won 31-24 during last season’s game at Ford Field. Without Parsons, the Packers’ pass rush has been predictably sporadic. Mostly, it’s been up to Jonathan Gannon to create it.

The team’s four best pass rushers are arguably Parsons, Lukas Van Ness, Edgerrin Cooper and Zaire Franklin. Parsons and Cooper are on injured reserve and Franklin, an impact blitzer, won’t play after sustaining an injured shin at practice.

So, from Green Bay’s perspective, the best defense might be a productive offense. Maybe the only way to make life difficult for Goff will be forcing him to play from behind and getting him into third-and-long situations so Gannon can get creative.

“I think it’s going to be making sure that we put the ball in the end zone, scoring points, making them feel like they’ve got to push the ball down the field,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “And then I think another part of that is going to be the disguise game and what we do disguise-wise.”

3. Jordan Love (Without Time)

A good pass defense, as any coordinator would quickly tell you, combines rush and coverage.

The Lions have a great pass rush. They play no coverage.

It defies belief that the Lions are No. 1 in the NFL in sacks and No. 32 in passing yards allowed.

Even while playing one fewer game than most teams, Detroit leads the league with 20 sacks. With so much attention paid to Pro Bowl defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (four sacks) and defensive tackle Alim McNeill (3.5 sacks), D.J. Wonnum enters the game tied for sixth in the league with five sacks.

Hutchinson, of course, is the game-wrecker. He had 11.5 sacks in 2023, 7.5 sacks in only five games in 2024 and 14.5 sacks in his comeback season in 2025. He rushes the passer from the left and the right side, meaning he’ll be probing for mismatches against left tackle Jordan Morgan and right tackle Anthony Belton, neither of whom have been consistently good.

Love has played much better this season when under pressure. He was at or near the bottom of the league last year in completion percentage, yards per attempt and passer rating when pressured. This year, according to PFF, of 34 quarterbacks who have been pressured at least 30 times, Love is 18th in completion percentage, fourth in yards per attempt and 13th in passer rating.

He destroyed the Cowboys last week, when he was under siege throughout but was 9-of-15 for 135 yards and one touchdown.

“Yeah, going against a good defense,” Love said on Wednesday when asked about facing a good pass rush with a sore back. “It’s one of those things where we see them twice a year so we’re familiar with these guys. First time playing them this year, but we know what that team’s about. Obviously, good defense, good offense, as well.

“It’s one of those things where you’ve got to have the right mindset coming into the week and just put all the preparation and focus into what we might see from them. And, obviously, we’ve got to go out there and play our best game and put up a lot of points. We’ve had some good games against them in the past, so I expect nothing less. It comes down to going out there on Sunday and executing.”

In Part 1 of our weekly pair of stories, here are three reasons why the Packers will beat the Lions - leading off with the ultimate mismatch. ⬇️https://t.co/h8WIsYnMIP

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 25, 2026