Two questionable fourth down calls by the officials, two costly fourth down decisions by Dan Campbell and another week with a dormant pass rush sent the Lions to a 31-24 loss to the Packers on Thanksgiving.
The first officiating controversy came on the Packers' first touchdown, a 22-yard pass on fourth down from Jordan Love to Dontayvion Wicks where it appeared that Wicks never had complete control of the ball with both feet in bounds. The officials quickly reviewed it and upheld the call on the field of a touchdown.
The second, more egregious gaffe came directly before the Packers' second touchdown when a Green Bay offensive lineman was flagged for a false start on 4th and 1 that likely would have forced the Packers into a field goal only for the officials to rule that Matt LaFleur called a timeout before the penalty.
Television replays showed that the false start clearly happened first. The Packers were granted the timeout all the same and Love threw a touchdown to Romeo Doubs on the ensuing play.
The costly decisions by Campbell came in the second half. First, he left his offense on the field on 4th and 3 from near midfield on the Lions' opening drive of the third quarter. Jahmyr Gibbs was stuffed trying to run up the gut behind Detroit's wounded offensive line, and Love threw a 51-yard touchdown to Christian Watson two plays later.
Campbell went for it again on 4th and 3 in the fourth quarter from Green Bay's 21-yard line and Goff rolled out and threw slightly behind Jameson Williams, who couldn't corral the catchable pass. Detroit's defense followed up with a stop, but it took potential points off the board for the Lions.
In the trenches, the Lions failed to sufficiently protect Jared Goff, who was sacked three times by Micah Parsons and pressured into some missed passes. On the other side, they failed to mount enough pressure on Jordan Love, who threw four touchdowns and was not sacked.