Lions 20, Packers 17: Bates at Zero, Branch's First Game Back

October 25, 2026 - Detroit - Dan Campbell went for it. Fourth-and-1 from his own 22, tied in the fourth, NFC North game at Ford Field. The Detroit Lions did not get it. Trey Smack lined up from 35 to take the lead, and D.J. Wonnum got a piece of it.

Ten plays later Jake Bates made 22 as the clock hit zero. Detroit 20, Green Bay Packers 17. The AP called it a bailout. The Lions called it a walk-off. Both are true.

Detroit is 4-2 after back-to-back wins for the first time this season. Green Bay is 4-3. Bates is 10 for 10 on field goals and 22 for 22 on extras this year, the Lions wrote. He is 7 of 7 on go-ahead or tying kicks in the final two minutes or overtime in his career, the club's four-down piece said.

153 yards, two scores, and a fumble at the 6

Jared Goff went 22 of 32 for 303 yards and two touchdowns, both to Jameson Williams, from 16 and 10. No picks. A 119.7 rating, the Lions said. It was his 29th straight game with a scoring throw. He has 14 touchdowns and zero interceptions through six games. He did lose a fumble on a snap from Cade Mays, who started his first game off injured reserve. Goff said he pulled his hands out too early.

Amon-Ra St. Brown caught nine for 153. Williams had five for 91 and those two scores, back-to-back two-touchdown games for the first time in his career. Penei Sewell ran a drag on the 10-yarder. Goff told Tim Twentyman the linebacker went with Sewell and Williams ran to the spot.

Jahmyr Gibbs ran 29 times for 116 and caught five for 27. He also fumbled at the Green Bay 6 with 30 seconds left in the first half with Detroit up 10-7, the observations piece said. Bates had already made 40. The half stayed 10-7.

Jordan Love went 27 of 45 for 274, two scores, and one interception. Josh Jacobs caught a touchdown and ran 11 times for 36 plus five catches for 55. Tucker Kraft caught the other Green Bay score, four for 48. Christian Watson had five for 57. Matthew Golden had six for 39 on 12 targets. Green Bay came in first in 40- and 50-yard completions, the Lions wrote, and left without one.

Branch over Watson, then the block

Brian Branch had not played since tearing his Achilles last December. Detroit kept him on a pitch count. He still went up over Watson and intercepted Love in the fourth, his first game of 2026. Ennis Rakestraw Jr. left with an ankle and did not return. Khalil Dorsey took some of those snaps.

Smack missed 26 on Green Bay's first possession, nflverse lists. He made 43 to tie it at 17 in the fourth. He had the 35-yarder blocked. Bates made 40 and 22. The winner was a 71-yard drive in 10 plays after the block, 3:21 off the clock. Sam LaPorta caught a dart on second-and-8 to the Detroit 45, and Karl Brooks was flagged for roughing. Green Bay jumped offside on third-and-5 at the 20. Gibbs then ran twice and turned down the end zone, the Lions wrote, to kill the rest of the clock.

Aidan Hutchinson sacked Love early in the second for his fifth of the year and 48th of his career, tying Ezekiel Ansah for fourth in Lions history. Jack Campbell had eight solos. Anthony Campbell, Green Bay's tackle, had a sack, a forced fumble, and two TFL on the nflverse line. Isaiah McDuffie forced a fumble and recovered one.

Detroit had 415 yards, the Lions said. nflverse has 303 passing and 119 rushing. Green Bay ran for 60. Detroit has now held consecutive opponents to 60 or fewer rushing yards for the first time since 2024, the club wrote.

The flags went Detroit's way on the last drive. Campbell's fourth-down try did not. Bates still hit the 22. That is the game they will take.

Goff has now opened six games without an interception. Love's 83.0 rating, the Lions listed, sat next to 274 yards that did not include a 40-yarder. Detroit's offensive line ran out together in pregame introductions, Twentyman wrote, after a month of top PFF grades. They allowed one sack. Gibbs's two kneel-style runs inside the 20 were the unselfish part. The blocked 35-yarder was the lucky part. Wonnum's hand on the football is why Bates got to kick at all.

AthX Engine on a 22-yard walk-off

AthX Engine NFL scoring already has the Week 7 line in. Anthony Campbell is 47.00, the top total in this game. Hutchinson is 43.00. St. Brown is 42.50. Branch is 42.00. McDuffie is 39.50. Williams is 37.25. Gibbs is 36.25. Detroit's team line is 56.75. Green Bay's is 8.50.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is what traders will pay for a Lions kicker who has not missed, and for a Packers offense that threw for 274 and still left Ford Field 4-3. They move together. They are not the same number.

Track Goff, Gibbs, St. Brown, Love, Jacobs, and both clubs on the marketplace. Green Bay hosts Carolina on Thursday.

*Sources: AP recap (ESPN), Lions recap, Lions observations, Four downs. ESPN, the Lions, AP, and nflverse agree on 20-17. AthX Engine Week 7 lines scored from nflverse weekly stats (CC-BY 4.0). Information only; not financial advice.*