GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers will have the entire postseason to ponder his future.
The four-time MVP and the Green Bay Packers will not make the playoffs.
Rodgers was intercepted by Kirby Joseph on what would have been the final pass for the future Hall of Famer’s career, and Green Bay lost 20-16 to the Detroit Lions Sunday night in a game the Packers needed to win to reach the playoffs.
Although he is signed next season, Rodgers, 39, said he does not know if he will continue to play.
“It’s a bit raw now. It’s just after the game, so I want to get the emotion out of it and have a conversation and see where the organization is and see how I feel after some time,” Rodgers said.
After winning four straight games and getting plenty of help from other teams, the Packers were in control of their postseason destiny heading into the final game of the NFL regular season. But they fell short against the Lions, who were knocked out of the playoffs earlier Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams 19-16 in overtime.
“We basically found out during our pre-game warm-up or walk-out, and I’m telling you we weren’t upset,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We knew what we came here for, and that was to earn some respect and show that we could do it no matter what happened. We knew the only way to do it was to win. So our guys were locked up, and they weren’t affected by that, because we knew what the point was.” .
Instead, Seattle (9-8) earned the last NFC playoff spot and will play San Francisco (13-4) on Saturday. The Packers (8-9) missed the playoffs for the first time in Matt LaFleur’s four seasons as coach.
Rodgers went 17 of 27 for 205 yards with one touchdown and became the eighth NFL player to have at least 5,000 career catches.
With the final seconds off the clock, Rodgers walked off the field, staring into the stands alongside Randall Cobb, perhaps absorbing the sights and sounds.
“At some point, the carousel stops and it’s time to get off, and I think you kind of know when that happens,” Rodgers said. This is what needs to be thought about. Is it time? Also, what does the organization do? This is part of it too. But the competitive fire will always be there. I don’t think that ever goes away.”
Jamaal Williams’ second one-yard touchdown of the night against his former team put the Lions (9-8) ahead with 5:55 remaining. Williams had 17 touchdown runs to break the single-season record set by Barry Sanders in 1991.
Green Bay only got 33 points on their next series before Joseph edged Rodgers’ deep throw on third and 10 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.
Detroit held the ball for the rest of the game. Facing a fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 15, the Lions skipped a field goal attempt and got their first on a 9-yard Jared Goff pass to DJ Chark. Goff also connected with Chark for a first down on fourth down and two during the Lions’ brightening drive.
The Lions rebounded from 1-6 by winning eight of their last 10 games.
“The hard part about it is that it’s over this season, because it’s a private group,” Campbell said. “But, hey, if you have to go through with it, if it’s the last one for this season, man, what better way to get out of that in 2022.”
While playing to extend their season, the Packers often lost their cool.
Linebacker Quay Walker was fired during the Lions’ blistering campaign after shoving Lions team physician Sean Lynch, who was tending to an injured player in Detroit. It was the second ejection of the season for a first-round rookie pick, who also took a beating in Buffalo due to Zack Davidson pushing the Bills’ coaching staff.
Detroit’s Michael Badgley made a field goal to close the first half after a personal foul on Green Bay’s Messenger Douglas turned what would have been a 48-yard attempt into a 33-yard drive.
“I have a much higher standard for our players than doing silly things like that,” said Lafleur. “I mean, we’ve knocked a guy out twice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in my career. And we have to be tougher mentally.”
Green Bay led 9-6 after a first half that saw five field goals and many missed opportunities. Then, on the Packers’ first possession of the second half, Mason Crosby’s 53-yard field goal attempt hit the crossbar and bounced back. Crosby went 3 of 3 on goaltending attempts in the first half.
The Lions took over and moved forward for the first time in the game. Goff threw a 43-yard pass to Calif Raymond to set up Williams’s 1-yard touchdown run.
The Packers answered on their next series. Rodgers connected with Christian Watson for a 45-yard finish that set up his 13-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard.
On the Packers’ final possession, Rodgers threw two incomplete points before being intercepted by Joseph for the third time of the season. Joseph had two of the Lions’ three draft picks in a 15-9 victory on November 6 and had another potential interception on Sunday that was overturned by a penalty.
This marked the third consecutive season that the Packers ended their season with a loss at Lambeau Field. They had the highest regular season record in the NFC each of the past two years, but fell to San Francisco in the divisional playoffs last season and to Tampa Bay in the conference championship game the previous year.
This season there won’t be any playoff games involving the Packers, at Lambeau Field or anywhere else.
injuries
The Lions team played without fullback Jeff Okuda (elbow) and Michael Brookers (ankle) defense intervention. Packers left CB/KR Keisean Nixon in the fourth quarter for a concussion assessment.
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