North stars: Lions beat Packers, 34-31, on Jake Bates' walk-off field goal

DETROIT — Before the game even kicked off, the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers put their mutual hatred on display Thursday night at Ford Field.

Lions defensive backs warmed up wearing shirts containing a photo of safety Brian Branch flipping double-middle fingers to the Green Bay sideline from their meeting in Week 9. Then, a Lions fan wearing a Branch jersey — on the field to hold the American flag for the national anthem — was jawing with Packers coach Matt LaFleur. Thus began a long night of words, hard shoves and extracurricular activity.

There was a personal foul assessed to Packers safety Quay Walker for shoving Lions offensive lineman Dan Skipper; after Packers tight end Tucker Kraft was decked in the open field by Branch, Lions linebacker Jack Campbell jumped in his face to gloat about the pain that was inflicted by his teammate. One scuffle after another, words exchanged after seemingly every play.

For decades, this series wasn’t worthy of the word “rivalry” any more than the Harlem Globetrotters’ frequent meetings with the Washington Generals could be described as such.

But for the sixth time in seven meetings with the former big brother, the Lions got the best of the Packers and punched their ticket to the playoffs with a 34-31 walk-off victory, breaking the franchise record for consecutive wins (11) in the process.

After the Packers tied the game, 31-31, on a field goal with 3:38 remaining, Detroit put together an 11-play scoring drive — and for the third time this year, Lions kicker Jake Bates sent the Lions home as winners, with a 35-yard field goal as time expired.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff kick-started the winning drive with a 19-yard completion to Jameson Williams, who had a team-high 80 yards on five catches. Then Goff completed an 11-yard pass to receiver Tim Patrick. And on third-and-7 before the two-minute warning, running back Jahmyr Gibbs took a screen pass just beyond the line to gain.

A holding penalty on Frank Ragnow set the Lions back to first-and-20 — but it didn’t matter. In the end, it was LaFleur’s team backpedaling and the men of Lions coach Dan Campbell playing on the front foot. Goff zipped a 19-yard pass to star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, setting up a third-and-1.

Detroit gambled on fourth down for the fourth time, and Goff tripped while handing the ball off to David Montgomery, who somehow managed to move the sticks with a 7-yard run. Detroit wound the clock down to 2 seconds and Bates booted home the winner.

Patrick, who hadn’t scored since Dec. 2021 entering Thursday night, scored twice, including a critical 1-yard touchdown reception to put the Lions up, 31-28, with 8:39 left in the game.

Detroit’s depleted defense — which lost one of the last men standing from its initial front seven, defensive tackle Alim McNeill (head) — withstood a hat trick from Packers running back Josh Jacobs The Lions held Jacobs in check otherwise, limiting the former All-Pro to 66 yards on 18 attempts (3.7 average).

As the jawing went back and forth, so too did the lead. It exchanged hands four times in the second half before Bates' field goal gave Detroit (12-1) the victory.

And now, with four games remaining, the Lions have a death grip on their NFC North title defense — and Green Bay (9-4) appears destined for a wild-card spot.

Detroit received the opening kickoff and converted twice on third down during the opening series, including a 28-yard pass to Williams that gave the Lions first-and-goal at the 10. After a holding penalty backed Detroit up, Patrick drew an illegal-contact penalty in the end zone that gave the Lions a new set of downs from the 3, where Montgomery scored on the next play to make it a 7-0 Lions lead.

On defense, former Packers defensive lineman Za'Darius Smith immediately made his presence felt. He sacked Packers quarterback Jordan Love on Green Bay's opening play before Detroit's defense got off the field on third down around midfield.

Detroit forced the game's first turnover on the opening play of the second quarter. Cornerback Carlton Davis III knocked the ball away from Packers receiver Christian Watson and linebacker David Long, who was signed by Detroit in mid-November, recovered the ball to set up a 43-yard field goal from Bates that put the Lions up 10-0 at 13:01 in the second quarter.

The Packers got on the board with 5:35 left in the first half on a 12-play drive that featured 10 run plays. Facing third-and-goal from the 3, Love's pass to the end zone was deflected by Terrion Arnold and intercepted by Davis, but the turnover was called back by the 10th penalty on Arnold this season. Jacobs punched it in for Green Bay on the next play, cutting the Packers' deficit to 10-7.

Detroit extended its lead with 11 seconds left in the first half. Detroit gambled on fourth-and-goal from the 2 instead of taking a field goal to close the quarter and Goff delivered to a wide-open Gibbs for a 17-7 lead.

Green Bay answered right out of the locker room, as Love nearly doubled his first-half yardage (31) with a 59-yard completion to Watson down the sideline, setting up a 12-yard touchdown pass to Kraft. On the ensuing Lions possession, Goff threw an interception to defensive back Keisan Nixon that put the Packers right back in the red zone, where Jacobs grabbed Green Bay's first lead, 21-17, on a 6-yard rushing touchdown, his second of the game.

But another fourth-down gamble from Campbell's Lions put Detroit back on top. Facing fourth-and-goal from the 3, Goff fired a strike to Patrick for the receiver's first touchdown since Dec. 19, 2021.

After getting a big stop on defense, the Lions doubled down on their gambling ways when they attempted to convert on fourth-and-1 from their own 31. Gibbs lost a yard, putting momentum right back into the hands of the Packers. Jacobs scored his third touchdown of the night, this time from four yards out, to put Green Bay back on top, 28-24, with 14:20 left in the game.