Once the dust settles and the sting of defeat fades after the Green Bay Packers' loss to the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football, they will take confidence from their performance.
Everybody is talking up the Detroit Lions' chances — it's understandable after winning 11 straight — but the Packers made them work for it until the final second. Had a few extra minutes remained, or a bad penalty call or two went in the Packers' favor, who knows what might've happened?
Before Thursday night, the Lions had outscored their previous six Ford Field visitors by a combined 102 points. The Packers gave them a real scare, and they weren't even at their best, especially in the first half.
The Packers know this, and they can take confidence back to Green Bay and (hopefully) into the playoffs. And make no mistake, Kenny Clark is prepared for a third game against the Lions.
Kenny Clark makes a bold statement about potential Lions rematch in playoffs
Clark had an excellent game against the Lions and knows the Packers can beat their NFC North rivals. He believes they will meet again this season.
"We're definitely going to be back here, and we'll be excited to play them again once we do," said Clark, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
You know what they say? It's difficult to beat the same team three times in the same season. Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a Super Bowl run that included a playoff win over the New Orleans Saints, a team that had outscored the Bucs by 46 points in two regular-season victories.
The Packers will believe they can inflict the same heartbreak on the Lions.
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And Clark is a big reason for that. He would be the first to admit that he hasn't played close to his three-time Pro Bowl best this year. Well, we should make that past tense. He hadn't played at that level. He sure did on Thursday night.
Clark earned the Packers' highest PFF grade of the game, and his grades have taken an upward trajectory since the first meeting with Detroit. On Thursday Night Football, Clark pressured Jared Goff only once but dominated against the run by recording six stops, his most since Week 15 of the 2019 season. The Lions had no answer for him.
It follows a positive trend for the entire defensive front, who had to adjust to a new scheme under Jeff Hafley.
Rashan Gary, for example, recorded just nine pressures and one sack in the Packers' opening six games. He has 26 pressures and five sacks in the seven games since then. Lukas Van Ness went from four pressures and one sack in the first seven games to nine pressures and three sacks since.
The Packers are an ascending team, and their improvement from the first game against the Lions shows they have closed the gap.
No home playoff team wants to see the Packers walk into their building. They proved they can compete with the best teams in the NFL. They must show they can take the next step and close out a victory, but it's hard to disagree with Clark's comments about a potential rematch with the Lions.