Jordan Love, Packers Thrill Fans in Shock Lions Upset to Keep NFL Playoff Hopes Alive

Jordan Love’s evolution into a quality NFL quarterback continued Thursday, as he led the Green Bay Packers to a 29-22 upset win over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day.

After struggling through a lull in the middle of the season, Love has delivered strong performances in three straight weeks, and he came through with arguably the best showing of his young career Thursday, going 22-of-32 for 268 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, while also rushing for 39 yards on three carries.

Love handed the Lions only their third loss of the season, and helped the Packers move to 5-6, thus keeping them in the thick of the NFC playoff race.

The 25-year-old signal-caller was surgical in his dissection of the Detroit secondary, often changing his arm angle and making off-platform throws, which garnered him a ton of praise on social media:

Love got the Packers on the board on their first drive of the game, hitting Christian Watson for a 53-yard bomb on the first play from scrimmage, and then throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to rookie Jayden Reed:

He followed that up with a nine-yard touchdown pass Tucker Kraft later in the first quarter, and then a beautiful 16-yard scoring strike to Watson in the third quarter after Detroit had cut the deficit to nine points:

While it can be argued that Love doesn’t have a true No. 1 wideout, he got multiple pass-catchers involved Thursday, completing a pass to seven different players.

He also helped guide Watson to what was by far his best game of the season with five receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Love’s performance was that he was without injured running back Aaron Jones, essentially leaving him with the banged-up AJ Dillon as the only semblance of a running game supporting him.

Love was the catalyst on offense for Green Bay, but it was an all-around team effort, as the defense came up big despite missing some key players in cornerback Jaire Alexander and linebacker De’Vondre Campbell.

Even at far less than full strength, the Packers defense sacked Lions quarterback Jared Goff three times, forced three turnovers and held Detroit to 1-of-5 on fourth down.

Following a four-game losing streak, the Packers have now won two games in a row and three of their last four, and Love has thrown nine touchdown passes and no interceptions over the past three contests.

On the heels of their biggest win of the season in Detroit, the Packers will look to pull off another huge upset next week when they host the Kansas City Chiefs.