Detroit Lions players and coaches talked all week about having something to play for Sunday, even with the playoffs off the board.
Sweeping the season series from the Packers, finishing with a winning record (9-7), going 5-1 in the division, and just finishing an otherwise disappointing season on a positive note heading into the offseason were all goals this team talked about this week.
Detroit played well in all three phases Sunday, and accomplished those goals still left on the table by easily dispatching the Packers, 35-11, at Ford Field to end their season on a good note.
Detroit entered the game fourth in the NFL in takeaways with 28. They forced three in the first half vs. Green Bay (two fumbles and an interception), two of which thwarted Packers scoring opportunities inside Detroit's red zone. The other, a muffed punt by the Packers, resulted in a Matthew Stafford 3-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Jones Jr. that helped the Lions jump out to a 17-3 lead in the second quarter.
Lions cornerback Darius Slay recorded his eighth interception of the season late in the fourth quarter to ice the victory.
The Lions won the turnover battle 4-0 in this one.
Rookie receiver Kenny Golladay scored on a 54-yard catch and run in the first half. Golden Tate had a 71-yard scoring strike from Stafford in the second half. Ameer Abdullah capped off the Lions scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Matt Prater added two field goals of 28 and 30 yards, respectively.
QB Comparison: Stafford finished the game with the second-highest passer rating of his career at 140.4. He completed 20 of his 29 passes for 323 yards and those three touchdowns and no turnovers.
Brett Hundley was 14-of-24 passing for 172 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for a passer rating of 59.7.
Sack master: When veteran defensive end Ziggy Ansah is healthy, he can still be a dominant pass rusher, as he's shown the last two weeks.
Ansah, who's been dealing with an assortment of injuries all season long, has looked much more explosive the last couple weeks, and the stats show it.
He had three sacks last week in Cincinnati and another three Sunday vs. Green Bay, giving him 12.0 for the season.
"I've been dealing with a lot all year long and I'm just happy that I'm able to come out and produce and help my team," Ansah said this week.
"I just come in every week and practice and do the best that I can just to help my team and put my team in a better position to win a game."
It's his second double-digit sack performance of his career, and the first since he had 14.5 in his 2015 Pro Bowl season.
Play of the game: The Packers opened the game with an onside kick that caught the Lions off guard to open the game.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Lions got a bit of redemption with a razzle dazzle two-point play of their own. Following an Ameer Abdullah 7-yard touchdown run that gave the Lions a 33-11 lead, Detroit went for two points to make the lead 24 and did so with a reverse pass from Tate to Stafford.
Abdullah took a direct snap and went right, pitched it back to Tate going left on the reverse and Tate lofted a pass to a wide-open Stafford in the end zone for the conversion.
Jim Bob Cooter with some creativity to end the year.
1,000-yard teammates: A 71-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to Tate in the third quarter helped push Tate over 1,000 yards for the season (1,003), making he and Marvin Jones Jr. (1,101) the first pair of Lions teammates since Tate and Calvin Johnson in 2014 to both record 1,000-yards receiving in the same season.
Tate and Jones Jr. are the seventh pair of receivers in Lions history to reach the benchmark.
Tate also reached 90 catches for the season, which makes him just the seventh player in NFL history (first Lion) to record four-consecutive 90-yard catch seasons.
Injury report: The Lions lost three players to injury in the contest.
Veteran special teams ace Don Carey injured his right knee covering a kickoff early in the game. He went right to the locker room from the field and didn't return.
Rookie cornerback Teez Tabor hurt his right arm when he took a helmet to the forearm from teammate Quandre Diggs after giving up a first-half pass. Like Carey, he went right to the locker room and didn't return.
Running back Theo Riddick left the game in the second half with a rib injury, and he too never returned to action.
