It's easy to sit and blame the officials after a heartbreaking loss, but the Green Bay Packers have every right to be frustrated after their last-second defeat to the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football.
The refs directly influenced the final two drives of the game, both in favor of the Lions. Unfortunately, it followed a similar pattern from earlier in the contest.
Down by three points, Jordan Love threw a touchdown to Josh Jacobs for what would've given them a four-point cushion. Instead, they called Christian Watson for offensive pass interference after he ran into Lions safety Kerby Joseph. It cost the Packers four points, as they had to settle for a Brandon McManus field goal to tie things up.
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It was a debatable penalty, as Watson's path was no different than a slant. However, their lack of consistency ended up costing the Packers even more moments later.
Refs missed blatant penalty on final drive of Packers' loss
The penalty on Watson changed the game. Instead of needing a touchdown, Detroit required only a field goal to win. Then came another bad call. Facing 2nd-and-17 from the Packers' 37-yard line, Jared Goff threw to Amon-Ra St. Brown for 16 yards. However, he clearly pushed off on Keisean Nixon before getting open. It was so blatant that Nixon stopped running to ask the officials for a flag.
Instead of 3rd-and-17 and comfortably out of field goal range, the Lions were now at the Packers' 21-yard line.
"But the Packers get 7 taken off the board for Watson running into a DB in his way," former Packers quarterback Kurt Benkert wrote on X after the play.
He's right. The officials' inconsistency crushed the Packers.
There’s been a ton of questionable and downright egregious stuff that Lions players have been getting away with all night.
— Zachary Jacobson (@zacobson) December 6, 2024
It's a huge swing, as the refs took a Packers touchdown off the board and then allowed the Lions to get into field-goal range. Brutal. It wasn't even St. Brown's worst penalty that went uncalled. Earlier in the game, he shoved Packers safety Xavier McKinney in the face, causing his helmet to come off. Again, no flag.
We should be talking about what a great game it was, and it truly was. The Packers may have been unable to close it out, but they showed championship potential throughout the contest. One team had to lose, and it ultimately came down to who had the ball last.
The Packers' hopes of winning the NFC North go up in smoke, but they are almost guaranteed a playoff berth, and they proved they can compete with arguably the league's best team on the road.
They may meet again in January.