Packers, With a Last-Second Field Goal, Hand Lions First Loss at Home

Al Del Greco’s fourth field goal, a 27-yarder as time ran out, gave the Green Bay Packers a 26-23 victory Sunday over the Detroit Lions.

The Lions had tied the game, 23-23, with 1:01 remaining on a 30-yard touchdown pass play from backup quarterback Joe Ferguson to Leonard Thompson. Eddie Murray’s extra point try was wide right.

“It was a real strange game,” Green Bay Coach Forrest Gregg said. “It was an extreme struggle, no doubt about that.”

Mike Douglass, a 6-foot, 214-pound Packer linebacker, intercepted Eric Hipple’s underthrown pass at the Packer 20 and lumbered the length of the field, weaving in and out of traffic and breaking tackles, to give Green Bay its first lead, 23-17, with 9:29 left to play.

“That was a great interception by Mike,” Gregg said. “He ran it back for a touchdown, which was just a super play.”

It was one of five turnovers for the Lions, who had jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

It was Detroit’s first defeat in the seven games at the Silverdome this season and only the Packers’ second road victory in seven tries. Both teams are 7-8 overall.

The Lions led, 17-6, at halftime, getting their points on two one-yard runs by Alvin Moore and a 19-yard field goal by Murray.

The Packers needed only two plays for their first touchdown in the third quarter. Gary Ellerson took a handoff from Jim Zorn and ran 37 yards for the score 3:08 into the period to put the Packers back into the game.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Del Greco, who had field goals of 38 and 29 yards in the second quarter, kicked a 25-yarder to pull the Packers within one, 17-16.

Zorn, making only his fourth start for Green Bay, completed 10 of 23 passes for 159 yards with 1 interception.

“The general feeling in the huddle was one of confidence on that last drive,” Zorn said. “I wasn’t looking at the clock. I was just concentrating on execution.”

Hipple, who twice was forced from the game with a strained left knee, was 19 of 30 for 221 yards with 3 interceptions. Ferguson hit 4 of 6 for 82 yards but also threw an interception.

A crowd of 49,379 watched the game. There were 8,107 no-shows.

Gregg said he read the Packers the riot act during halftime. “We’ve been struggling,” he said. “I was angry at the half. We were making mistakes. We were letting them do what they wanted.”

Darryl Rogers, the Lions’ first-year coach, said: “It’s very tough to win in this league. When you get yourself back in position to win a game and then can’t make a conversion and can’t defend for a minute, and they go down and make a field goal to win it, it’s obviously a hard loss for me and the football team.”