How this third-quarter Detroit Lions’ sequence lost the game vs. the Green Bay Packers

Show Caption

What’s the opposite of complementary football?

Whatever it is, that’s what the Detroit Lions played in the third quarter of their 31-24 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Ford Field.

The Lions’ defense couldn’t get off the field and their offense couldn’t stay on it in the third. It proved to be the turning point of the game.

The Packers started out on offense after halftime with the score tied at 14. Then quarterback Aaron Rodgers put together a methodical 75-yard drive that lasted 8 minutes, 49 seconds and ended his 6-yard scramble for a 21-14 lead.

[ The real reason Detroit Lions never had a chance to upset the Packers ]

The Lions’ offense took the field and went three-and-out on a possession that lasted 1:12.

Rodgers then led the Packers on a 79-yard drive that lasted 7:49 and culminated in his 4-yard touchdown pass to Robert Tonyan for a 28-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.

LIONS GRADES: Matthew Stafford shines, but defense cannot do its part

SOCIAL REAX: Refs in spotlight as Packers beat Lions, but the pain feels brand new

LOOK AHEAD: Here’s who the next Lions GM should keep, and who should go

That meant the Lions’ defense was on the field for consecutive drives that totaled 16 minutes, 38 seconds — with only a breather that took a little more than a minute.

Receiver Marvin Jones said the offense wanted after the Packers’ opening possession of the third quarter to sustain a long drive to give the defense a rest.

“Yeah, most definitely,” he said. “I think that first one coming out they took up most of the time in the third quarter, so that’s a time we as an offense — we’re very confident in ourselves and our ability to go down the field and punch it in and score or whatever.

“We just didn’t do it that time and we knew we had 12 on the other side. He starts directing and doing these long drives and taking a lot of time off the clock. We’ve got to go in there and we’ve got to score and we’ve got to respond and stuff like that. So yeah, we definitely could have helped them by not going three and out. I think we all fought toward the end.”

[ If Matthew Stafford’s Detroit Lions career is over, it came to a fitting end ]

Lions safety Duron Harmon didn’t point the finger at the offense and instead said the defense blew a chance on the first drive when the Packers wiggled out of a third-and-14 situation from the Detroit 42 with a 21-yard pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

“On that first one, we put ourselves in that position,” Harmon said. “So I mean it’s tough but you’ve got to keep going. We had an opportunity to get them off on third and 14 and we didn’t do it, so that’s on us. It’s nothing they did. We had opportunity to get off and we couldn’t get off.”

Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.

This article was originally published by Freep.com. Read the original article here.