A quarter of the way through the season, there are still plenty of question marks throughout the NFC North, but the Detroit Lions are about as perplexing as any team so far this year.

The Lions can appear harmless on paper, with a 1-3 record and minus-20 point differential. But there’s still talent on the roster, and a few curious results have left the league—and perhaps Detroit itself—wondering what Lions are destined to be this year.

After an embarrassing 17-48 loss on Monday night in Week 1, the Lions have lost two heartbreaking road games by a combined five points and defeated the Patriots 26-10 in prime time in Week 3. Just as the Packers are only a few plays from 1-3 or 4-0, this Lions team could easily be 3-1 at this point. Such is the NFL.

The famed 100-yard rusher drought is finally gone, but this team still revolves around longtime quarterback Matthew Stafford, whose numbers are incredibly Stafford-esque so far this season. He’s on pace to flirt with another 5,000-yard campaign, but league-wide opinions vary wildly on the former No. 1 pick. Even at 30 years old it doesn’t feel like he’s ever had a good enough surrounding cast to blame him for a lack of postseason success, but Stafford hasn’t been able to elevate mediocre teams, either.

3.4%

That is the Lions’ percentage of drop-backs that resulted in a sack this year, the second best rate in the league. This is one skill that flashes with Stafford that doesn’t get enough credit. Behind an offensive line that’s only adequate, Stafford almost always finds a way to get rid of the ball quickly, limiting negative plays.

Despite notching seven sacks against Buffalo last week, the Packers’ defense shouldn’t be expected to generate a tremendous amount of immediate pressure anyway, so defensive coordinator Mike Pettine may be better served by limiting blitz calls to key opportunities, instead opting to play coverage. Third downs could be intriguing, however, as Stafford will often check down against a blitz, hoping his receiver can pick up a first down after the catch. If Pettine trusts the Packers to tackle, he may bring pressure to bait Stafford into benign completions that lead to punts.

33.3%

The Lions are dead-last in converting red zone trips into touchdowns, doing so only a third of the time. Despite rookie running back Kerryon Johnson, along with veteran LeGarrette Blount, Detroit can’t seem to finish drives. Stafford has a bit of a reputation for piling up “empty” statistics, and this may be a game in which his totals look impressive, but the Packers’ defense should be graded on its ability to keep the Lions out of the end zone.

57.8

That is the pass rush rating given to the Lions’ defense this year, according to Pro Football Focus. Ranking 31^st in NFL in getting to opposing passers has been a major problem for Detroit so far this season.

The team has a respectable 13 sacks in four games, but with talented defensive end Ezekiel Ansah only on the field for one game so far this year, there hasn’t been consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Under normal circumstances, this would be a recipe for a vintage Aaron Rodgers five-touchdown thumping. But with a gimpy Rodgers and the Packers’ receiving corps so banged up, it will be interesting to see how much confidence Mike McCarthy and the offensive staff have in the passing game.

631 yards

The Lions have surrendered monstrous rushing totals on defense, to the tune of over 600 yards in four games, including three games of at least 169 yards. The total yardage, worst in the league, can sometimes be misleading, especially when discussing a 1-3 team that hasn’t had the lead much. But Detroit is also allowing 5.3 yards per carry, which is third-worst in the NFL.

One element to watch in this game is how versatile the Packers’ running game can be with Aaron Rodgers still struggling with his knee injury. Green Bay has run almost exclusively inside zone and outside zone run concepts, very rarely featuring power runs, counters, sweeps, pulling linemen and trapped defenders. Some of these different run types require a little more agility from the quarterback before the handoff, and it’s likely that these types of plays have been minimized in the playbook until Rodgers is healthy again.

Can a struggling run defense key in on the Packers’ tendencies to right the ship, or will the Green Bay offensive line control the line of scrimmage against what looks to be an inferior foe?