Thanksgiving Love: Pack QB tosses 4 TDs in win

DETROIT -- The Green Bay Packers probably wouldn't mind if the NFL scheduled them for a Thanksgiving game again next year. And the year after. And the year after that.

Jordan Love and Micah Parsons feasted on holiday football once again. The Packers quarterback and defensive star brought a few others along for the ride in Thursday's 31-24 win over the Detroit Lions.

Love stayed perfect on turkey day. The Packers have played on this day during all three years he has been the starting quarterback, and they won every time, with Love playing better each subsequent year. This time, it was with four touchdown passes, including a pair on fourth down.

Parsons, a regular participant on this day from his days with the Dallas Cowboys, added another 2.5 sacks against the Lions to run his career Thanksgiving total to 8.5 sacks in five games.

Throw in big games from receivers Dontayvion Wicks (six catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns) and Christian Watson (four catches for 80 yards and one touchdown) plus coach Matt LaFleur beating the Lions at their own game by dominating on fourth down, and just about everyone in the visitor's locker room went home happy.

"It definitely brings a different vibe to it for sure, the energy out there," Watson said of playing on Thanksgiving. "I mean we bring our own energy most of the time and just go out there and play football," Watson said. "But these ones definitely have a little bit of boost to 'em, so it's definitely fun to play these Thanksgiving games for sure."

The Packers swept the Lions after getting swept by them last season; the Packers' 2024 Thanksgiving game was a home win over the Dolphins.

They clinched Thursday's game thanks to an aggressive call from LaFleur on fourth-and-3 from the Lions' 45-yard line with 1:55 to go when Love hit Wicks for a 16-yard completion. It meant the Packers finished 3-for-3 on fourth downs compared to the Lions' 0-for-2 on fourth downs. A week after the Packers beat the Vikings with a conservative, run-first game plan, they went ultra-aggressive against Detroit.

Love became the first Packers player with multiple touchdown passes on fourth down in the same game since at least 1978, when the Elias Sports Bureau began tracking that stat. Love completed 18-of-30 passes for 234 yards and the four touchdowns -- only the third time in his career he's thrown that many in a game -- while still playing with a painful left (non-throwing) shoulder injury.

In three Thanksgiving games as the starter, Love has completed 68% of his passes for 776 yards with nine touchdowns and no interceptions.

"That's who he is," Parsons said. "He's gonna show up. Injured, hurt, he's gonna fight for his guys and play at the highest level. J-Love's the ultimate competitor. There's not too many quarterbacks that fight like him, through everything he's going through - all the injuries. He just comes in and he works. It's starting to show off. The jump he's making this year is night and day."

A week after Parsons became just the second player to record double-digit sacks in the first five seasons of a career, he reached 12.5 sacks on the season to become the first player in NFL history with at least 12 sacks in each of his first five seasons (since sacks were first tracked in 1982).

"He had a hell of a performance," LaFleur said.

The Packers (8-3-1) put themselves in the thick of the NFC North race with the Bears (8-3), who come to Green Bay next Sunday.

"This was a big win for where we want to go, win the division, playoffs," Parsons said. "That was a playoff game. We just have to stack these up."

About the only downside for the Packers on Thanksgiving was losing defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt. He suffered what is believed to be a season-ending ankle injury in the second half.

"It doesn't look good, guys" LaFleur said. "I'm sick for him, I'm sick for us. I mean, that's a critical loss for our football team, for our defense obviously."