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What we learned about the Minnesota Vikings in their hard-fought loss to the Lions

What we learned about the Minnesota Vikings in their hard-fought loss to the Lions

Photo credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings hosted the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon in what can only be described as an NFC North slobberknocker for the ages. This battle went to the Lions, but they had to earn it, with a 31-29 matchup that lived up to all the pregame hype and then some.

There’s a lot to take away from tonight’s Week 7 match. But one thing is certain. Regardless of who ends up winning this game, that should make fans of the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions feel good. Both teams on the field today at US Bank Stadium are among the best in football. There is no longer any doubt about that.

When the Minnesota Vikings stay balanced, they are better

Let’s go back to the Minnesota Vikings’ offense for a moment. There were times on Sunday when O’Connell’s plan looked like it had been hatched by the football gods themselves. There is also no doubt about the weapons surrounding Sam Darnold.

Speaking of Darnold, he played really damn well against the Lions. Sure, he threw an interception, but if you expect Sam to be the best Aaron Rodgers, then you’re living in the wrong reality anyway. The former USC Trojan went 22 of 27 for 259 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT.

He stood by all day against a very good Detroit Lions defense and delivered almost every time. It hurt not being able to find a receiver on the game’s second-to-last drive, but it’s hard to say who was to blame.

Jalen Nailor seemed out of place. That may have forced Darnold to throw high over Justin Jefferson. He ran a drag route to the right sideline that ended 5-10 yards directly behind Nailor.

Kevin O’Connell improves his balance…Aaron Jones helps

But there were moments in this game, particularly in the 2nd quarter, where the Minnesota Vikings struggled to move the ball. One person who needs to be blamed for this is Kevin O’Connell, who tends to be happy with his game direction.

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When that happens, as it did today, the offense tends to stagnate. On the first drive of the second quarter, the Vikings ran five offensive plays. Four were passes, only one was a run. But mostly

Aaron Jones finished with 93 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s contest, which included an incredible 34-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He only had 14 carries on the day, averaging 6.6 yards per carry.

KOC was able to stay even for the most part today, and that allowed Darnold to stay clean during the Vikings’ 2nd half comeback. The Minnesota Vikings head coach needs to continue working on being more consistent in the run game so he can find the perfect balance for 60 minutes

The Vikings defense is great…but it needs to get better

There’s a lot of talk this week about how good the Minnesota Vikings defense is. What is her secret? Is it because of the window dressing and confusion they can cause, or is there more to it?

Because there were moments in the 2024 season when they looked absolutely dominant. And don’t confuse this with cheating. There are also a lot of defensive players who love this Vikings team. They were No. 1 in the NFL in defensive DVOA and No. 2 in points allowed in Week 7. We saw this defense throughout the game on Sunday.

But there were times when Brian Flores’ team seemed to win far too easily. It seems that the offenses are finding it easier and easier to make all the necessary adjustments in the game to perform well against the Vikings defense.

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At the start of the season we saw it happening very late in the games. For some opponents the deficit was simply too big for them to play another game. But that wasn’t the case every time. More recently, we’ve seen teams figure things out earlier and earlier.

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In Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions, it took them a quarter to understand the pressure Flores was putting on the division-rival Vikings. And once offensive coordinator Ben Johnson figured out how to attack, it took nearly two full quarters for the Minnesota Vikings defense to counter.

Jared Goff finished the game with 22 of 25 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Jahmyr Gibbs also averaged 7.7 yards per carry. These are numbers that a good defense simply cannot allow. Not if they want to be considered championship caliber.

Then, late, they allowed Jared Goff and his receivers to easily march down the field and score a game-winning field goal. These late game drives are starting to become a problem. Yes, it would have been great if Sam Darnold and the offense could have put the game on ice, but that won’t happen every time.

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Brian Flores needs to find a way to get his defense to play better in the 4th quarter, especially in the final minutes when the game is on the line. If he doesn’t do that, it will be very difficult for the Minnesota Vikings to win games in the playoffs. There will be at least one time when a win depends on a late game stoppage. The Vikings have struggled to deliver so far this season.

The Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions are both really good

The Dallas Cowboys were exposed last week against the Lions for possibly not being that good. Today it was the Vikings who hit the lions in the mouth first. They brought in Aaron Jones early, which we predicted in our Bold Predictions column this week.

On the other side of the ball, Detroit’s offense was unprepared for the heat that Brian Flores unleashed in the first quarter on Sunday. All of this led to an early purple tornado at US Bank Stadium that allowed Minnesota to take an early 10-0 lead. Even the special forces were involved in domination at the start of the game.

But because the Lions are really good, they stumbled back, found their balance and shot home deadly hayfires. They found holes in the Vikings’ defense that many teams have struggled to identify all season.

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As a result, QB Jared Goff picked the secondary for the entire 2nd quarter to give the Detroit Lions the lead by halftime. But even after Minnesota fell behind by 11 points, the Vikings were far from done. Sam Darnold made big throws and Justin Jefferson made some even bigger catches.

Both the Vikings and Lions showed plenty of fight today

Don’t forget the Vikings defense forcing a big fumble in the 4th quarter and Ivan Pace Jr. returning it half the field for a touchdown. This game was back and forth from start to finish. The Vikings’ fatal offensive mistake came on their final drive of the game, when they had the ball in their possession and had a chance to put the game on ice.

Instead, Darnold & Co made a three-pointer and gave the ball back to the Lions, who stormed down the field and won the game with a game-winning 45-yard field goal. A failure on the two-point conversion after Ivan Pace Jr.’s touchdown would have also made a big difference on the Detroit Lions’ final drive.

Yes, losing sucks, especially a home loss to a division opponent. If the Vikings want to win the division, they will have to beat the Lions in Detroit when the two teams meet again later this season.

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But fans shouldn’t lose sleep tonight over their football team, which lost a hellish 15-round heavyweight NFC North title fight today in an extremely close judges’ decision. The Vikings will get out of the way and look forward to a quick turnaround on Thursday against the Los Angeles Rams.

Mentioned in this article: Detroit Lions What We Learned

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