Lions Do It All When It Comes to Losing a Game

Rookie Coach Darryl Rogers had his Detroit Lions doing everything necessary to win in the early weeks of the season.

Sunday, it turned around and the Lions made six turnovers to pave the way for an embarrassing 43-10 defeat to the Green Bay Packers.

“We did everything to lose a football game,” Rogers said. “I think the Packers were upset about last week’s game and their first couple games.”

Lynn Dickey got the Packers (2-3) going with a pair of touchdown passes before leaving with a thumb injury in the third quarter. Backup quarterback Randy Wright continued the onslaught with another pair of scoring passes.

Two second-quarter Detroit fumbles--one by quarterback Eric Hipple when he was sacked and another by Pete Mandley when receiving a punt--helped the Packers to a 20-3 halftime lead.

Green Bay had a 43-3 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“It was the best game we played all year,” Green Bay Coach Forrest Gregg said. “I think the game here was pivotal for us. But I don’t know what the future holds for this football team. We can play football when we set our minds to it.”

James Lofton grabbed 10 passes for 151 yards, to become the Packers’ all-time leader for receiving yardage.

Lofton finished the day with 8,050 yards, surpassing Don Hutson’s 7,991 yards. Carroll Dale, who also played for the Los Angeles Rams, totaled 8,079 career yards, but had only 5,416 with Green Bay.

“James knows what his ability is,” Gregg said. “I think he just felt like he had the opportunity today to show the world and he certainly did.

“He had a great game,” Gregg said. “He was a big, big part of our success.”

Dickey threw touchdown passes of two yards to Eddie Lee Ivery and nine yards to Phillip Epps. Wright threw scoring passes of seven yards to Ed West and 28 yards to Epps.

Jim Zorn, acquired by the Packers two weeks ago, was the quarterback in the fourth quarter.

Jesse Clark scored from six yards out, and Al Del Greco kicked field goals of 33 and 21 yards in the second quarter for the Packers.

Defensive end Robert Brown added a safety when he sacked Lion quarterback Joe Ferguson in the end zone in the third quarter.

The Green Bay defense yielded the short pass but bottled up Wilbert Montgomery and pressured Hipple, sacking him three times.

The Lions (3-2) scored their only touchdown midway through the fourth quarter when Ferguson hit Alvin Moore with a 13-yard touchdown pass.

Ferguson replaced Hipple with 5:56 left in the third quarter and the Packers leading, 34-3. Hipple was 17 of 29 for 218 yards and 1 interception.

Rogers said Hipple still is the starter.