Last year, when the middling Green Bay Packers turned a corner, snuck into the playoffs, and made some noise in their first year with Jordan Love as the starter, it put them on the map in the NFC.

After dismantling the Dallas Cowboys on the road, the national media started to see what the fuss was about with the youngest team in the league.

The Packers went to the West Coast the following week to face the conference juggernaut San Francisco 49ers. In a tale that feels as old as time, they blew a comfortable lead, and the Niners dispatched them in heartbreaking fashion. Despite the result, Green Bay demonstrated they were a force to be reckoned with.

After entering that game as massive underdogs, the hope was that the only way to go was up for the young core.

Thursday night’s frustrating loss at Ford Field was a little bit like that. The Detroit Lions continue to find ways to win close football games and build their image as the hard-nosed media darlings. True to his and the team’s identity, Dan Campbell hit on 17 and was fortunate enough to wind up with 21.

The result didn’t make it the right decision, but I suppose it’s simpler to view the pivotal choice as the ultimate respect for Love rather than a mindless gamble.

The Packers now find themselves in a very weird position. They are 9-4 but 1-3 in the NFC North and 0-4 against NFC teams that have a better record than them. Green Bay is almost guaranteed a playoff bid yet eliminated from the race for the North. Every so often, there’s a team or two with a record that doesn’t encapsulate who they are.

The biggest clue is usually when a team takes care of business against bad teams but can never rise to the occasion against good ones. If there is any big-picture takeaway from last night, it’s that the Packers are not that team.

The game didn’t start well. Ford Field’s pulse felt high, and Detroit’s second unit was pummeling Green Bay’s offensive line.

One thing that holds the Packers back from a larger national spotlight is a comparative lack of star power. However, their most important players — including Love, Christian Watson, Tucker Kraft, and Josh Jacob — showed up in the second half.

The defense was far more tenacious than the score indicated but struggled to get off the field on third down.

The 9-4 (yet third-place) Packers are victims of a division that has been extremely successful this season. While the Lions feel like a more realistic threat than the Minnesota Vikings, both have consistently taken care of business and shrunk Green Bay’s odds one week at a time. The likely result is going on the road for Wild Card weekend, albeit as favorites.

But I would caution the national media against writing off the Packers for their seeding or the likely absence of any Lambeau mystique this postseason.

This team, which was a couple of minute details (or officiating mishaps) away from having road wins against Detroit and the Philadelphia Eagles, can compete against anyone in the league.

Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that the new objective for the regular season is to avoid going to Detroit or Philadelphia in the first round. As the final seconds ticked down at Ford Field, the feeling was that this could be a playoff preview.

Ideally, that would come in the NFC Championship and look more like Thanksgiving 2023 than last night.

Green Bay sits a game ahead of the seventh-seeded Washington Commanders. Jayden Daniels came out of the gate firing, putting on a show for that city for the first time since Kirk Cousins. Love must handle business to hand the rookie the more challenging Wild Card assignment.

That starts next Sunday night in Seattle. On a few days of extra rest, the Packers will head to a tough environment – one where they have plenty of demons – for a realistic playoff preview against the NFC West-leading Seahawks. The Packers and their quarterback have proven they can hang with any team in the league.

As the 2024 season heats up, the only thing left to prove is that they can come out on top.