Aaron Rodgers

You'd expect no less from the Packers, no more from the Lions

Published Dec. 4, 2015 8:53 a.m. ET

Alex Marvez

What could have been -- Green Bay continuing to lose ground in the playoff race with Detroit moving one giant step closer toward becoming the first team to ever start 0-5 and reach the postseason.

What it is instead -- the Packers are still the Packers and the Lions are still the Lions.

Such is the impact of two plays that gave Green Bay a stunning 27-23 comeback win Thursday night at Ford Field.

A controversial facemask penalty by Lions defensive end Devin Taylor on Aaron Rodgers with no time remaining in regulation gave the Packers one last chance for an improbable win. Green Bay's star quarterback took advantage, heaving a 61-yard desperation pass that tight end Richard Rodgers caught for the game-winning touchdown.

The Packers avenged their infamous "Fail Mary" loss of 2012. The Lions simply failed.

Lions head coach Jim Caldwell admitted after the game that his defense was expecting a series of Packers laterals rather than a Rodgers bomb, which is why "prevent" personnel like 6-foot-5 wide receiver Calvin Johnson wasn't on the field to deflect a pass in the end zone. Detroit also may have assumed Rodgers couldn't throw the football that far.

He did, leaving the Lions in what cornerback Darius Slay described afterward as "shock mode."

"We weren't in the position to defend that," Slay admitted in his postgame interview.

The Lions (4-8) are now realistically out of position to make a playoff run after having won three straight games. Beating the Packers would have given Detroit a fourth straight victory heading into a remaining schedule that features four opponents (St. Louis, New Orleans, San Francisco and Chicago) with a combined record of 16-28.

A 9-7 mark might not have been good enough to land a wild-card berth but it would have kept the Lions in the playoff conversation coming down the stretch.

Instead, Detroit is playing out the string heading into an uncertain future. The Lions already fired general manager Martin Mayhew earlier this season. Caldwell is now hoping to avoid the same fate as Detroit settles upon someone new to make the team's personnel decisions.

One of the questions Caldwell may have to answer from his new boss is how the Lions let this one slip away.

As for the Packers, the biggest comeback win of Rodgers' career will either be remembered as a pretty snapshot in a future Hall of Fame career or something that makes a big-picture impact for the 2015 season. The fact that Green Bay needed such a ridiculous play to win is reflective of how inconsistent the offense has played for much of the year. Rodgers admitted his unit's first-half performance was "terrible" as the Lions opened a 20-0 lead.

The Packers are still trying to compensate for the season-ending knee injury suffered by wide receiver Jordy Nelson in August. It wasn't as simple as moving Randall Cobb to the No. 1 receiver role like some folks assumed. Cobb is better in the slot and there is no other outside threat with the speed or skills to stretch the field.

Nobody outside the Packers organization can say for sure, but the play-calling transition from head coach Mike McCarthy to assistant Tom Clements doesn't appear to have gone as smoothly as hoped. The offensive line has underperformed, especially in short-yardage situations, and injuries have taken a toll. A plodding running game is also hit-and-miss with Eddie Lacy not looking as sharp as the past two seasons because of his own physical ailments and an obvious weight gain.

The Packers would be wise to start giving John Crockett a larger role in the offense. An undrafted rookie free agent from North Dakota State, Crockett provided a second-half boost in his NFL debut with five carries for 22 yards after Lacy and James Starks produced 19 yards combined on 14 attempts through the first two quarters. Crockett was sprier than either back and has fresh legs coming from the practice squad.

There is even a fitting Miami Vice-inspired nickname for the backfield Green Bay could field moving forward: Crockett and Tubby (Lacy).

All kidding aside, Green Bay still needs to find answers heading down the home stretch. The Packers (8-4) lead Seattle (6-5) for the NFC's top wild-card seed and remain in position to catch Minnesota (8-3) for the NFC North crown. Green Bay also should be a heavy favorite to defeat the Tony Romo-less Dallas Cowboys (3-8) at home after a nine-day break.

The schedule gets tougher from there with road games against Oakland (5-6) and Arizona (9-2) before the season-ending rematch versus the Vikings at Lambeau Field. Even with Thursday night's win, there is no guarantee Green Bay will make the playoffs for a seventh straight season.

The Packers, though, are squarely in position to do so. The Lions? They'll be heading into 2016 still having not won a playoff game in a (italics) quarter-century (close italics).

That year (1991) also marked the last time Detroit swept the Packers during the regular season. The Lions let the opportunity to end the streak slip away while Green Bay leaves the Motor City rejuvenated after having dropped four of its past five outings.

"It counts as one win. It feels like more," McCarthy told the media afterward. "I think we all feel that way."

Just like it feels like more than one loss for a Lions team far too accustomed to such misery.