NFL: Rodgers lifts Packers to 24-20 win over Lions
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| Green Bay Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb (18) celebrates with tight end Jermichael Finley (88) after scoring the game-winning touchdown with 1:55 left to play Sunday in Detroit. The Packers beat the Lions 24-20. (AP) |
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DETROIT – The Green Bay Packers are winning again, and they aren’t too concerned about how they look doing it.
Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes, including a 22-yarder to Randall Cobb with 1:55 left, and the Packers pulled out a 24-20 win over Detroit Lions on Sunday for their fifth straight victory.
“When our best was needed,” Rodgers said, “we were able to come through.”
The Packers (7-3) moved within a half-game of first-place Chicago in the NFC North after losing three of their first five games.
Matthew Stafford couldn’t put the Lions (4-6) ahead on either of their last two drives in a game he’d like to forget.
He threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. One of the interceptions was returned 72 yards by Green Bay safety M.D. Jennings for a go-ahead score in the third quarter.
Rodgers was 19-for-27 passing for 236 yards. His first TD pass was a 20-yard connection with wide open Jermichael Finley early in the second quarter that gave Green Bay its first lead.
Cobb had nine catches for 74 yards and the game-winning TD, a twisting grab in the end zone on a lofted pass across the field.
“We just buckled,” Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy said.
On Green Bay’s next possession, Mason Crosby made a 39-yard field goal with 19 seconds to go after missing two field goals earlier in the game.
Stafford completed just 17 of 39 passes – missing many receivers badly – for 266 yards with a 25-yard TD pass to Calvin Johnson that put Detroit ahead 17-14 late in the third quarter.
