This past Thursday, the Green Bay Packers hosted the Detroit Lions, with first place in the NFC North on the line. The game was all Lions, as they picked up the 34-20 to improve to 3-1 on the year. While the Lions were on the road, they saw a ton of their fans make the trip to Green Bay, as evidenced by the noise during the game and the amount of Honolulu Blue apparel in the stands at Lambeau Field.
With the amount of Lions fans in attendance, the Packers were not happy.
The Packers released a statement to season ticket holders on Saturday, telling them their preference on ticketing for games. As in, ticket holders are encouraged to sell them to Packers fans and not put them on the secondary market.
"The Packers have encouraged our ticket holders to sell to other Packers fans when possible," the statement read, h/t Kyle Malzahn of WFRV Local 5 in Green Bay. "The secondary market, however, allows fans from anywhere to purchase tickets and Lambeau Field remains a popular destination for all fans, including those from other teams. We have seen this particularly with divisional games."
Packers scold ticket holders after Lions fans take over Lambeau Field in Week 4
While the Packers did bring up the secondary market, they did bring up that that is a means for their fans to attend games on the road.
The Packers had a rough first half against the Lions. They entered halftime trailing 27-3 with just 20 yards of total offense to their credit. Meanwhile, the Lions put up 284 yards of offense through the first two quarters.
Lions running back David Montgomery proved to be an issue for the Packers' defense, as he ran for 121 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries.
The Packers were without the left side of their starting offensive line. Left tackle David Bakhtiari was placed on the injured reserve due to a knee injury, while left guard Elgton Jenkins is dealing with an MCL sprain. Quarterback Jordan Love was pressured by defenders 20 times, and was sacked five times, per Pro Football Focus.
The Lions are living up to the hype they've had since the end of last season, where they beat the Packers to prevent them from making the playoffs. They scored a huge Week 1 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and beat the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3. Now, they returned to Lambeau Field with plenty of their fans making the trip to see them beat the Packers again.
The Packers will look to go back to over .500 next week when they face the Las Vegas Raiders on the road. The next time the Packers return to Lambeau Field will be in Week 8 when they host the rival Minnesota Vikings. We'll see if there is a plethora of fans in purple apparel like Lions fans were in Week 4.