Why Packers have fallen behind Lions in NFC North -- for now - ESPN - Green Bay Packers Blog- ESPN

GREEN BAY, Wis. — One team showed the kind of football it might take to win the NFC North this season, and that team was not called the Green Bay Packers.

Fiery coach Dan Campbell and his Detroit Lions showed everyone at Lambeau Field on Thursday night what the home team could not — especially in the first half when they hung a 27-3 lead on the Packers en route to a 34-17 victory.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur called that start “humiliating.”

And if that wasn’t enough to get his team's attention, he also said:

“We got our ass kicked.”

“They whipped us.”

“They manhandled us.”

Essentially, toughness, toughness and more toughness.

The Packers fielded an offensive line that couldn’t pass protect or create consistent running lanes — on the infrequent run plays LaFleur called, that is.

Their defensive front once again showed why they continue to be at the bottom of the run-stopping statistics, and this dates back to before current defensive coordinator Joe Barry.

However, under Barry’s watch so far this season, the Packers allowed Atlanta’s rookie Bijan Robinson to run over the Packers for 124 yards in Week 2. And on Thursday, the familiar David Montgomery, cast off by the NFC North's Chicago Bears, punished the Packers with 32 rushes for 121 yards and three touchdowns.

“Man, we’ve got to stop the run,” Packers linebacker Quay Walker said. “We didn’t really do a fair job of that. Once a team really comes in with a mindset that they can run the ball, we haven’t [stopped] that yet. So it’s a challenge to us, do you know what I’m sayin’? So we’ve got to do that, buckle down, and we’ve got to stop the run.”

Montgomery gained 113 of his yards after contact, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. He became just the fourth player to record