DETROIT - The Packers started out Sunday strutting their stuff. They ended it showing what they were made of.
After watching a 21-point lead disappear in the second half in Detroit, the Packers responded with a big play on offense to regain the lead and then three interceptions that produced scores down the stretch to ultimately pull away from the Lions 48-25 at Ford Field.
With the win, the Packers improved to 2-0 on the young season and took sole possession of first place in the NFC North. But more important than the team's status on this day was the grit and resolve it showed in the face of what could have gone down as a crushing collapse.
"If you're going to be a good team, a team that's going to make a run, you're going to have to play games like this that are going to test you, as a defense, as a team," defensive tackle Colin Cole said. "It's really going to show the character of your team, how we ended up in the win column. We took care of business, shut them down when we needed to, and got the 'W'."
The Packers built a 21-0 lead on the strength of another stellar performance by first-time starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who threw touchdown passes to James Jones (9 yards), Donald Driver (2 yards) and rookie Jordy Nelson (29 yards) in the first half.
Detroit managed just a field goal at the end of the half, and then two more field goals in the third quarter, the last one set up by Dewayne White's strip-sack of Rodgers in Green Bay territory. With the defense holding the Lions to a three-and-out there, and the offense adding a field goal of its own, the Packers were comfortably in front 24-9 heading into the fourth quarter.
But then things got interesting.
Detroit's dynamite second-year receiver Calvin Johnson made a juggling grab of a slant pass from Jon Kitna and took it 38 yards for a touchdown. Moments later, Green Bay punter Derrick Frost had a punt snap go right through his hands and out the back of the end zone for a safety. And then after the teams traded punts, Kitna hit Johnson again on a similar slant play, this one for 47 yards and the go-ahead score, putting Detroit on top 25-24 with 7:41 left.
At that point, the 60,285 who had spent much of three quarters booing were in a frenzy, but the Packers didn't get rattled.
"Guys stayed up," Head Coach Mike McCarthy said. "No one blinked."
But Detroit did, as Rodgers hit Greg Jennings on a quick slant that the big-play receiver turned into a 60-yard gain to the Detroit 23-yard line. It was the second long gainer on the day for Jennings, who also had a 62-yard catch in the first quarter and finished with six grabs for a career-high 167 yards.
"They were kind of pressing to the outside, and the middle of the field was wide open," Jennings said of the key fourth-quarter catch-and-run. "He threw a good ball and I was able to make a play."
And at just the right time. Though the drive stalled, Mason Crosby hit a 39-yard field goal and the Packers were back on top, 27-25, with 5:17 left.
"We had a similar play previous drive where I tried to hit Greg real quick and threw it behind him, and I was pretty upset at myself," Rodgers said. "We had a different formation but came back to a similar play call, just a quick slant by Greg.
"I feel like, and I know our coaching staff does as well, if you can get Greg Jennings the ball with separation, good things are going to happen, and he was able to make a big play."
Rodgers made plenty himself, going 24-of-38 for 328 yards with the three TDs, no interceptions and a 117.0 rating, passing yet another early-season test with flying colors.
"We have a swagger about us," Rodgers said. "We're confident in our abilities, we believe in each other. Our backs were against the wall today. They came back and took the lead, and I'm proud of the way the guys responded."
From there it was turned over to the defense, which made the rest of Kitna's day a nightmare.
{sportsad300}Thanks to three interceptions in a span of six passes from Kitna (21-of-41, 276 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT, 58.6 rating), the Packers scored three touchdowns in roughly a minute-and-a-half to win the game going away.
Charles Woodson picked off the first two, setting up a Brandon Jackson TD run on the first one and scoring himself on the other with a 41-yard return. Then Nick Collins got into the act, snagging his own pick and running it back 42 yards to the end zone for the game's final points.
"You just have to be able to withstand the other team's runs," Woodson said of the defense's mindset with the game on the line. "It was just a matter of our defense going out there staying focused on what we had to do. We had done a great job up until that second half of holding them.
"Once you withstand those blows, take those blows, you get back to fundamentals, and we went out there and made some plays and came up with the win."
One the Packers can be proud of because they performed, and didn't panic, at the critical juncture.
"It would be easy to (panic), and that's kind of what people would think with a quote-unquote 'young team,'" defensive end Aaron Kampman said. "But we're young in age, not young in experience. I think that's going to bode well for us later in the season."
