The Packers got away with one but Detroit Lions still need fixes

The hole and the wink aren’t related. Not really. 

Well, maybe. 

OK, they are. 

Just not how you think. And not how you want. 

There is cause-and-effect. There is coincidence.  

What happened at Ford Field on Thursday, Nov. 27, when the Green Bay Packers benefited from the officials’ mistake – or two – also exposed the Detroit Lions. 

Again. 

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The Lions haven’t been good enough this season – in the trenches, on the margins – and it’s jarring, as reality so often is.  

On Thursday, they couldn’t pressure the quarterback, they couldn’t protect their own quarterback when they absolutely needed to. They couldn’t convert on third-and-short or fourth-and-short, and Green Bay could – and did. 

The difference in the game, said the man who winked – Packers coach Matt LaFleur. The difference in the game, said the man who mentioned the “hole” – Lions coach Dan Campbell.  

As in: “We are in a little bit of a hole. That’s just what it is,” Campbell said after his team’s 31-24 loss. “There’s nothing more than that. All we got to do is worry about cleaning up this and then getting to the next game and finding a way to win the next one.” 

The next one is, of course, against the Dallas Cowboys. Right back at Ford Field. Also a Thursday game (on Dec. 4). This time at night. Another must-win. 

Though there are must-wins and there are must-wins. The Lions aren’t at the latter just yet. Too many games left. Too many possibilities.  

The season isn’t finished, even if it feels like it will be soon. Then again, that feeling is also a way to cope, to deal with unmet expectations, to deal with being in “a hole,” to say: It’s over … and move on to college hoops or hockey, or even the Pistons. 

Or to silence in your basement. 

A wink and a nod from LaFleur

Which brings us back to the wink, which many will relate to the “hole,” because behind the wink, there is acknowledgement of a gift, from an official. 

No, not cash or anything so direct or gauche. But the gift of a gathering, where folks dressed in black-and-white stripes huddled to discuss whether LaFleur had called a timeout before one of his offensive linemen jumped offsides, and concluded the timeout came first.  

“Of course, they got it right,” said LaFleur, who winked as he said it. “What do you think?” 

And:  

“Yeah, I was calling timeout. … We call it a delay situation. Obviously, it was a timeout that we were going to use if they didn’t jump offsides, so we were going for it there regardless.” 

If the flag stays, maybe the Packers convert. Maybe they don’t. But for LaFleur to act like fourth-and-6 is the same as fourth-and-1 is well, worthy of a wink.  

That’s a tough look for the NFL, and an exasperating look for Lions fans. But so is the lack of a pass rush, and the season-long inability to make the play or two needed to win against the better teams in the league. 

All of it can be true. The Lions got jilted. The Packers thought it was funny. The Lions still need to play much, much better. 

Yeah, he winked. That’s indisputable. Nor is proof hard to find. Search “LaFleur and wink” and watch it pop up quickly – everywhere. Or at least everywhere the NFL and its officials are discussed, or everywhere the NFL is discussed. 

And now everywhere the Lions are discussed.  

The refs blew it. Then said they didn’t. That’s maddening, too. That’s also not why the Lions lost and fell further into their hole in the NFC North and overall playoff standings.  

That could change. A lot needs to change with the Lions first.  

“It all starts with you doing your job, which is us, and finding a way to win the next one in front of us,” said Campbell. “It really is that simple. Don’t make more of it than need be. It’s frustrating, it sucks, it’s tough, but we did it to ourselves and we’re the only ones who are going to get out of it as well.” 

Wink …  

… or not.  

Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.