Green Bay Packers Get Outgained by 435 Yards as Detroit Lions Roll

Detroit won their first game on Thanksgiving in a decade. They did so in dominating fashion, beating Green Bay 40-10. That score does not even capture how lopsided it was, because Detroit had several early turnovers that kept the Packers in the game.

In the end, Detroit out gained Green Bay by 435 yards. Until Matt Flynn hit James Jones for a 56 yard gain in garbage time inside the two minute warning, it was going to be the largest yardage margin difference in a NFL game in over fifty years (Green Bay over Philadelphia in 1962, 574 yards difference).

That gain almost doubled the Packers’ total yards for the day (they ended with only seven first downs) and prevented a historically awful day. The largest margin in a NFL game ever was the Rams over the New York Yanks in 1951, when Norm Van Brocklin set a record for passing yards in a game.

Courtesy of Pro Football Reference, here are the ten most lopsided games by yards since the AFL-NFL merger:

1. Los Angeles Rams over Atlanta Falcons, 1976, +488 yards
2. Los Angeles Rams over Seattle Seahawks, 1979, +482
3. Minnesota Vikings over Detroit Lions, 1988, +464
4. New England Patriots over New York Jets, 1978, +463
5. Green Bay Packers over Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1985, +447
6. Philadelphia Eagles over San Francisco 49ers, 2005, +441
7. Detroit Lions over Green Bay Packers, 2013, +435
8. New England Patriots over Tennessee Titans, 2009, +433
9. New Orleans Saints over Dallas Cowboys, 2013, +432
10. San Francisco 49ers over Seattle Seahawks, 1988, +426