Detroit Lions-Green Bay Packers: Five Big Questions

The last time the Detroit Lions won a game at Lambeau Field, Brett Favre was an Atlanta Falcon, Wayne Fontes was coaching, and Erik Kramer was starting for the Lions in place of the injured Rodney Peete.

That was 1991.

Since then, the Green Bay Packers have protected their home field 17 consecutive times against the visiting Lions, and will be heavily favored to run it to 18 this Sunday.

Green Bay started the Lions’ recently snapped 19-game losing streak in 2007, then was the team to send Detroit from 0-15 to the infamous 0-16 mark in Week 17 of 2008.

This is the first time the teams have played since then, which brings us to one of the five biggest questions this week.

1. Will There be (Bad) Blood?

As I mentioned earlier this week, the Lions feel a great deal of animosity towards the Packers to begin with.

They have even more of a problem with Lambeau Field.

Most of the Lions organization, as it stands now, has no history with either the Lions or the Packers.

Over half of the roster and coaching staff are different from the group that made history 10 months ago at Green Bay.

The rest are guys who are sick and tired of losing to the Packers, and guys whose most recent (or perhaps only) memory of Lambeau Field is…less than pleasant.

For those guys, does the motor run a little higher? With a new team, a new attitude, and a winning percentage of .200 already, does vengeance factor in for the Lions this week?

More importantly, would it matter if it did?

2. Who Wins the Line Battles?

The Packers have allowed a league-worst 20 sacks on Aaron Rodgers this season.

Despite getting a bye last week, the Pack has still allowed more sacks in four games than anyone else has in five. We’re talking five sacks a game, here.

The Lions have given up the third-most sacks with 17.

Rather than a quarterback slug-fest, we’re probably looking at a quarterback slugging-fest, right? Well, maybe not.

The Packers have a mediocre defense in just about every area; the Lions have a squad trying to claw its way up to mediocre after being one of the worst in league history last year.

Both defenses have struggled to get pressure on the quarterback thus far this season. The Packers have managed only five sacks this season, the Lions 10.

The Packers are struggling to adjust to Dom Capers’ 3-4 scheme, while the Lions have a blitz-happy coordinator in Gunther Cunningham who has been handcuffed by poor secondary play.

And it’s not just about pass protection.

Both teams have exhibited disappointing and inconsistent running games thus far this season, with each averaging right around 100 total yards rushing per game.

This is a matchup of weakness vs. weakness on both sides, and somebody, mark my words, is going to come out of it looking good.

Come Monday, we’ll be talking about a “resurgence” of one of these units.

But which one?

3. Can Aaron Rodgers Continue His Detroit Dominance?

Aaron Rodgers has played two games against the Detroit Lions thus far in his career.

To date, they’re two of the best games of his career.

Rodgers’ 2008 stat line against the Lions: 45/69, 636 yards, six touchdowns.

The Lions’ secondary is much different than it was when it faced Rodgers last season, though. It was rebuilt in the off-season, in much the same way you repair a car with spare junkyard parts.

And then it breaks down.

And then you find whatever’s hanging around to duct tape everything back together long enough to get to work and back.

That’s the Lions’ secondary this year. The entire group is effectively new, outside of veteran Kalvin Pearson.

And aside from solid-thus-far Anthony Henry, and reigning Defensive Rookie of the Month Louis Delmas, the entire group is either broken, e.g. Eric King, or disappointing, e.g. Philip Buchanon.

The Lions’ solution? This week, it’s a practice squad addition: DeAndre Wright.

In other words, if the Lions are going to slow down Rodgers, they’ll likely have to do it with pressure. A tall order when Cunningham is too afraid of the big play to bring consistent heat.

The question this week might instead be, “How dominant will Rodgers be?”

4. Who is Detroit’s QB? And Who Does He Throw To?

On the other sideline, the quarterback question is a little more precarious.

Is Matthew Stafford practicing? Will he play?

And perhaps more importantly, will Calvin Johnson be available?

I won’t say it doesn’t matter who plays quarterback. Though their skill sets are different, Culpepper and Stafford are playing at approximately the same level.

But Culpepper is gone after this season, and Stafford is making lots of money as the future of the franchise. Culpepper is on the downswing of his career, and Stafford will only get better.

But both guys need Johnson.

Culpepper made a valiant comeback attempt last week with only a rookie (Derrick Williams) and a couple of career No. 3 receivers (Dennis Northcutt and Bryant Johnson) to throw to.

But it fell short, and things could have been much different with the big 81 on the field.

At this point, the question of whether or not Johnson plays is more significant to the health of the passing game than the question of who plays quarterback.

So who will it be? Stafford to Johnson? Culpepper to Johnson? Or Culpepper to John Standeford?

5. Rhythm or Rest?

It’s the question in the second round of every postseason.

One team is hot after playing itself into the playoffs and winning its wild-card round matchup.

The other is a dominant team, well-rested after getting a week off. If that team wins, it’s because it has rested. If it loses, it’s because the team is rusty and out of rhythm.

This is like that, only in Week Six of the season, and between teams with winning percentages of .500 and .200.

The word out of Green Bay is that the Packers have taken the time off to work on protection issues.

Part of that is Rodgers himself giving the line a vote of confidence. No big surprise, since a quarterback can almost always be expected to not throw his own offensive line under the bus.

But the question remains: Will the Packers come out rested and refined, given a bye week to regroup and practice out the kinks?

Or will they be out of sorts, given two full weeks to think about losing to Brett Favre the Viking on Monday Night?

It bodes well for the Packers that the Lions are in no kind of rhythm, having lost two straight after their first win in nearly two years.

In fact, the Lions are in severe need of an off week themselves (and will get one next week), with a good percentage of the roster on the injured list, and no shortage of issues to address in practice.

That being said, the Lions performed much better against the Steelers last week than the Bears in Week Four, and actually seemed to perform better in the second half—a first for this season.

So will the Lions build on their performance? Or will the Packers come out rested and fine-tuned and run away with it? Or some combination of both?