3 things that stood out from Packers' reality-check loss to NFC North rival Lions

And yet, it was hard to tell what had been sloppier in the first half — the weather, or the Green Bay Packers coach’s football team in its NFC North showdown with the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field.

Committing a whopping eight penalties for 57 yards, dropping three passes, squandering the 218 total yards of offense they’d generated and — as the first-half coup de grâce — watching quarterback Jordan Love throw his 10th interception of the season and have it be returned for a touchdown, the Packers were more miserable than the deluge of rain that fell throughout the afternoon.

And it never got much better in what wound up being a 24-14 reality-check loss to the Lions.

What was supposed to be a showdown for first place in the NFC North turned instead into a runaway. The Lions are now 7-1 on the year and can sweep the regular-season series with the Packers with a win at Ford Field on Dec. 5.

The Packers head into their bye week at 6-3 and wondering why they did not measure up in such a pivotal game in their season, falling behind 17-3 at halftime and never recovering.

Here are three things that stood out from the defeat:

Jordan Love has thrown an interception in all 8 games he’s started

While nothing will be more knuckleheaded than the pick-6 Love threw to the Los Angeles Rams back on Oct. 6 — you remember that one, right, where he was stumbling in his own end zone and underhanded the ball to Rams cornerback Jaylen McCollough for the easy TD? — at least the Packers were able to overcome that gaffe and win.

This time, Love’s decision was similarly ill-advised, but it turned out to be more disastrous. At the time, the Packers were only trailing, 10-3, with under a minute left in the half. Knowing the Lions were getting the second-half kickoff, the Packers were looking for points before halftime.

But on second-and-2 from their own 38-yard line, Love was under duress as he tried to dump the ball off to running back Josh Jacobs. Kerby Joseph was there to snare the underthrow and returned it 27 yards to the end zone to make it 17-3.

Love, playing despite a left groin injury that kept him out of practice on Wednesday and limited him on Thursday and Friday, has now thrown 10 interceptions in his eight starts this year.

Last year, he finished the season by throwing just one interception over the final eight regular-season games.

Lions safety Brian Branch gave the Packers a golden opportunity to gain momentum, and the offense wasted it

Brian Branch, one of the Lions’ rising stars on defense, delivered an obvious helmet-to-helmet hit on Packers wide receiver Bo Melton, blasting Melton in the facemask with the crown of his helmet as the ball fell incomplete.

The hit not only drew a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty but led referee Clete Blakeman’s crew to eject Branch from the game. Branch reacted angrily, arguing the call before flashing an obscene finger gesture at the officials that resulted in a second 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The 30 penalty yards put the ball at the Detroit 32-yard line, and the Packers immediately committed a penalty — a false start by wide receiver Romeo Doubs. After a 9-yard completion to Jayden Reed on first-and-15, Love was pressured into an incompletion on a screen pass, then had tight end Tucker Kraft drop his on-the-mark pass.

The Packers were forced to settle for a 46-yard Brandon McManus field goal attempt, which he promptly missed wide left — his first miss as a Packer after kicking walk-off game-winning field goals the past two weeks.

The Packers’ season-long penalty and dropped-pass problems, thought to be under control, reared their ugly heads again

For the third consecutive week, the Packers won the coin toss and took the ball. And unlike the past two games, in which they managed just one first down on those initial possessions combined, they actually got things moving with Jacobs starting the game with 9-, 13- and 6-yard runs before Kraft motioned under center and picked up a fourth-and-1 with a quarterback/tight end sneak.

But the drive stalled out shortly thereafter, and the Packers settled for a 30-yard McManus field goal — which would have been a decent start had their ensuing possessions not been derailed by penalties.

After the Lions scored on their opening possession with a 3-yard Jared Goff-to-Amon-Ra St. Brown touchdown, a third-down Sean Ryan false start flag derailed the Packers’ next series.

On the next possession, left guard Jordan Morgan had a holding penalty on the play before Branch’s meltdown and Doubs false start came immediately after it.

The Packers finished the game having committed 10 penalties for 67 yards.

Meanwhile, wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (two), running back Chris Brooks, Doubs and Kraft all dropped passes during the game, running the Packers’ NFL-high total to 20. And that doesn’t even include the three snaps Love dropped from fill-in center Elgton Jenkins during the second half.