GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Over and over again Sunday, Aaron Rodgers found exactly where the holes were in what the Lions were trying to do defensively.

And that has to be a big concern for Detroit. If you ignore the yardage (which wasn’t that impressive), Rodgers was able to move Green Bay up and down the field at ease during the first half Sunday, and it exposed some obvious truths about Detroit’s defense.

The one thing to really understand from the Lions’ 34-27 loss to Green Bay on Sunday is that Detroit is in real trouble defensively as long as defensive end Ezekiel Ansah and linebacker DeAndre Levy are out of the lineup, especially as the Lions travel to Chicago next week. The Bears' offense isn’t as explosive as Green Bay’s, but it has to remain a concern.

The defensive issues were something that could have been expected, except defensive coordinator Teryl Austin had done a good job duct-taping a reasonable defense together the past two seasons.

This season -- particularly Sunday -- it hasn’t worked as well. And it's a defense that is lacking big-play ability, something Ansah and Levy provided over and over again throughout their careers. The Lions refuse to use that as a crutch, but it's obvious on the field.

"It’s not a hurt. It’s just next man up," Lions cornerback Darius Slay said. "Of course the talent level is a little different but we expect them to go out there and do their job and play ball."

Green Bay scored on its first five drives. Four of them were touchdown passes from Rodgers, as the Packers exposed the middle of the field against the Lions with tight ends or slot receivers, as Indianapolis and Tennessee had done before. It put Detroit in almost an impossible situation before the first half ended, trailing 31-10.

Some of that can be attributed to those injuries -- the Lions were also without linebacker Antwione Williams and lost starting strong safety Tavon Wilson to a neck injury in the first half. But it went beyond that, and that’s concerning for Detroit.

The Lions made questionable decisions with the pieces they did have -- like having a linebacker covering Jordy Nelson for plays in the first half. These are things you can try when you have all of your defensive options available to you, not when you’re putting together a linebacker group with a guy who was promoted to the 53-man roster Saturday (Zaviar Gooden) and with no available linebackers with strong coverage skills.

"It kind of depends on the scheme, on what the call is made. Those things happen," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. "You can't always match up exactly just man-on-man in those situations. Just kind of depends on what was called. They happened to catch us in that situation."

Detroit’s defense didn’t force a punt until there was 9:34 remaining in the game. By then, the Lions trailed by two touchdowns. The Lions actually found some defensive life in the second half, holding the Packers to just three second-half points, but the damage inflicted by Rodgers in the first half was just too much for Detroit to overcome.