Rich Weighs In on the Lions Improving to 4-2 with a Win over NFC North Rival Packers

Packers-Lions on Sunday was, in Rich's words, "as epic a game as we've seen this year," and also a mess. It was chock-full of mistakes, missed kicks, fourth-down attempts galore and officiating calls that left him asking what the officials were looking at. Detroit survived it all to improve to 4-2.

Green Bay went for it on fourth down four times in the first half alone. Josh Jacobs returned and looked like he would not be much of a factor early, then broke out in the second half with a remarkable catch and run out of the backfield. Late, he had a chance to grab one that would have put the Packers up and potentially won the game, and it became one of the many drops Green Bay has suffered this year. Rich called that the headline.

The other headline is the Lions offense, and Rich is done hearing about who left. "We are not talking about where's Ben Johnson anymore," he said. Drew Petzing came over from the Cardinals staff and has been great. Rich pointed out a fun wrinkle: Green Bay defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is the one who hired Petzing in Arizona, and the two squared off as coordinators in this game.

When someone noted Detroit only scored 20 points, Rich pushed back. Division games are not always going to be 40-37, he said, and the individual numbers were still gaudy. Jameson Williams now has back-to-back games with multiple touchdowns. Jahmyr Gibbs, in a game where he supposedly did not go off, still ran for 116 yards, and he became the first Lions player since 1997 with five games of 100 scrimmage yards in his team's first six games of a season. The last one? "Barry Sanders," Rich said. "That's what he's looking like."

Amon-Ra St. Brown posted his fifth career game with 150 receiving yards, tying Herman Moore for the second most in franchise history and trailing only Calvin Johnson, who is 10 ahead. Sam LaPorta, who had been catching grief, came away with nothing on a week when tight ends everywhere else were scoring. And Jared Goff threw for another 300 yards without an interception. His 1,788 passing yards without a pick through the first six games of a season are the second most all time, behind only Drew Brees.

So Rich set the offense aside. The question now is the defense, and the answer is encouraging. Detroit allowed a season-low 17 points. Brian Branch is back and made a massive play knocking away a deep ball. Over the last two games against Arizona and Green Bay, the defense has been rolling, and Rich reminded everyone that this Packers offense had just eviscerated the Cowboys.

Dan Campbell sees it building. "There is a confidence. There is a trust that's building with some of these guys," Campbell said after the game. "We're trying to defend every blade of grass. And that's what good defenses do." He added that he is proud of the group and feels like "we're getting better."

Detroit is now 3-0 at home for the second straight season. Before this stretch, its last 3-0 home start came in 2007. Next up is Minnesota at home, which Rich framed as arguably the best defense against arguably the best offense, in a division Rich called arguably the best top to bottom. "Let's go," he said. Rich picked the Lions to win the North before the season, and given a mulligan he would stick with them, even with the way the Bears look right now.

They needed this one. The Lions are 1-1 in the division after going 2-4 in it last year, including a sweep by the Packers.

And they nearly gave it away. Detroit led going into halftime and had the ball on both sides of the break, fumbling each time. The second fumble led to a Packers score and a 14-10 Green Bay lead. Even field goals there, Rich said, and the Lions could have had a stranglehold. Then, with 4:53 to go, they went for it on fourth-and-one from their own 24. "That was nuts," Rich said.

What saved them was Green Bay's own kicking trouble. The Packers missed one field goal and had another blocked. "The Lions basically were like, 'Take it,'" Rich said. "And the Packers on occasion went, 'Nah.'"