Miscues Doom Vikings in Hard-Fought Loss to Lions
If you’re a Vikings fan and were told before the season that the team would be 5-1 after six games (having faced four 2023 playoff teams), you would’ve taken that in a heartbeat.
Yet on Sunday, there was a definite feeling that the Vikings let one get away in the 31-29 home loss to Detroit. The defeat was primarily due to Jared Goff outplaying Sam Darnold, but many other factors, including too many penalties and poor execution in key plays on both sides of the ball, contributed to it.
Miscues Doom Vikings in Hard-Fought Loss to Lions
The worst examples on offense were two poor plays by Darnold that could’ve led to a different final result. There was the missed two-point conversion attempt after the scoop-and-score by Ivan Pace gave the Vikings a 29-28 lead with six minutes remaining when Darnold threw low to a well-covered Jordan Addison instead of looking right where Aaron Jones was open for a swing pass and seemingly would’ve scored.
Then, with 2:46 left on 3rd-and-4 from the Minnesota 28, Darnold overthrew an open Justin Jefferson near the right sideline. A conversion there would have allowed the Vikings to run time off the clock, forced the Lions to use their two remaining timeouts, and perhaps the Vikings could’ve driven for more points.
On defense against a great offense and a hot QB in Goff, there was the defensive TD, four sacks, seven QB hits, five tackles-for-loss, and two more forced fumbles in the fourth quarter by Goff (that the Lions were fortunate to recover). But the secondary had a rough day with missed tackles and poor coverage at times, which allowed big plays by Goff and his receivers. Goff did not have an incompletion until Jonathan Bullard knocked down a pass halfway through the third quarter. Five plays later, Stephon Gilmore fell down in coverage, and Kalif Raymond got open for a 21-yard TD to put the Lions up 28-17.
The Vikings had eight penalties for 59 yards, most of which were pre-snap, which is inexcusable at home. The worst was a five-yard illegal formation call that cost Will Reichard a shot at an NFL-record 68-yard field goal with one second left (that Coach Kevin O’Connell said he was ready to send Reichard out for the attempt by a kicker who has not missed all season–30 for 30–and made a 57-yarder in the first quarter when things looked great for the Purple with a 10-0 lead.
Here are my other reactions to the Vikings first loss of the season at the hands of division-rival Detroit:
1. The Vikings really missed their leading tackler, Blake Cashman (turf toe), and Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson, who was held out against his former team despite having now recovered from his ACL injury (caused by a low hit from Lions safety Kerby Joseph in Week 16 last season).
Cashman has played great this season as a playmaker, especially in the middle of the field, where the Lions had a lot of success running and throwing with Pro Bowlers Jahmyr Gibbs (15 carries, 116 yards, a 45-yard TD run that got the Lions on the board early second quarter, a 7.7 yard rushing average plus four catches for 44 yards) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (eight receptions, 112 yards and a 35-yard second-quarter TD on a perfect throw from Goff as Detroit’s excellent offensive line picked up the Vikings blitz.
Cashman would’ve been much more effective than the three players DC Brian Flores used in his role—Kamu Grugier-Hill, Josh Metellus, and even rookie edge Dallas Turner, who took a few snaps inside.
It was not a great game for Johnny Mundt, who had two holding penalties, one dropped pass, and a missed block on a screen play. Hockenson needs to be activated and return to the TE 1 role. Perhaps the Vikings didn’t want him to come back on artificial turf or against his old team that caused his ACL tear in Week 16 last season (on a cheap, low hit by safety Kerby Joseph). He’ll give Darnold another reliable target and help open things up for Jefferson and Addison, and Hockenson says he’s ready to go, so he should be in the lineup on Thursday night against the Rams.
2. The secondary played too loose against Goff, allowing him to complete 22 of 25 passes (88%) for 280 yards and two TDs. The second quarter was especially bad when Goff directed three touchdown drives to take a 21-10 halftime lead.
It was Gilmore’s first less-than-stellar game. He was beaten a couple of times for big gainers, including Raymond’s TD.
3. Justin Jefferson has had huge games against the Lions in the past three meetings (all over 140 yards), but he was only targeted eight times and just once (on the late overthrow by Darnold) after his 25-yard TD reception on the second half’s opening drive. This was either overthinking by Darnold in terms of going away from the constantly doubled Jefferson (which should never matter as he can still beat any coverage) or O’Connell not calling Jefferson’s number enough times.
Even on the last drive, when Darnold completed the 20-yarder to Jalen Nailor to midfield, why not throw a deeper ball to Jefferson and hope he’ll either make a Buffalo-type great catch or draw a pass interference call to set up a shorter field goal? Jefferson is a superstar and the team’s best player who simply has not been targeted enough this season (the Jets game was the only one with more than eight targets).
The Vikings should have gone after rookie first-round corner Terrion Arnold a lot more after he came into the game with five pass interference penalties and eight overall penalties this season.
4. Aaron Jones is a huge offense addition and is obviously highly motivated to have a big season. O’Connell said Jones’ hamstring wasn’t 100%, but he played the whole game and had 116 combined yards rushing and receiving on 17 touches.
5. It was the first game the Vikings were outrushed (but it was close at 144-139), and the turnovers were even at one each. The Vikings effectively forced a second turnover by stopping Lions Coach Dan Campbell’s aggressive fake punt call (on an excellent play by Brian Asamoah and C.J. Ham) on Detroit’s opening drive.
6. Van Ginkel and Greenard outstanding again: Andrew Van Ginkel’s stat line was two sacks, two QB hits, three tackles-for-loss, one forced fumble, and seven tackles, plus he had a key block on Pace’s scoop and score. He should be in early consideration for Defensive Player of the Year with his five sacks, six tackles-for-loss, two Pick-6s, and 26 tackles through six games. Greenard had a sack with a forced fumble, a tackle-for-loss, and four tackles against the Lions. He also has five sacks and is among the league leaders in pressures.
7. It was a shame to lose before the loud home crowd (as loud as they’ve been all season). Goff had to call a timeout in the third quarter when the stadium was so loud it totally disrupted the Lions’ offense. But it’s a credit to him that he overcame the crowd noise to lead the Lions to a critical victory that now gives Detroit the top seed in the NFC.
8. The Vikings need to bounce back on Thursday night in L.A. and play a cleaner game with fewer penalties and better execution against the 2-4 Rams, who come off a less-than-impressive 20-15 home win over the lowly Raiders and are expected to have star receiver Cooper Kupp back this week. It will be O’Connell’s first matchup as a head coach against Sean McVay who he coached under as offensive coordinator when the Rams won the Super Bowl in the 2021 season.
Around the NFL in Week 7 & a look ahead to Week 8:
1. In the NFC North, the Bears had their bye, and the Packers beat the Texans at Lambeau on new kicker Brandon McManus’ 45-yard walk-off game-winner. Green Bay is 5-2, a half-game back of the 5-1 Lions and Vikings, with the Bears in last place but with a 4-2 record.
2. The Chiefs are now the only unbeaten team after their 28-18 road victory over the injury-riddled 49ers. There’s still no Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel was sick and left the game early, and his fellow star receiver Brandon Aiyuk suffered a torn ACL and MCL, so his season is over. The Chiefs defense is leading the way as star QB Patrick Mahomes threw two picks and now has eight interceptions and only six TD passes this season. But of course, he’ll get it going around playoff time as he did last year.
Saquon Barkley stuck it to his former Giants team with 176 rushing yards in the Eagles’ dominating 28-3 road win. Philly sacked Daniel Jones seven times.
Kirk Cousins had a rough game with a strip sack TD and two interceptions as the Falcons were upset at home by the Seahawks 34-14.
Russell Wilson somewhat surprisingly started over Justin Fields and won his first game as a Steeler over the Jets. Wilson passed for 264 yards and two TDs, and the Pittsburgh D intercepted Aaron Rodgers twice. The Steelers improved to 5-2, while the Jets are one of the league’s biggest disappointments at 2-5.
3. In recognition of the Vikings’ excellent start this season, the NFL announced that the Vikings-Colts Week 9 game in Minnesota has been flexed to the Sunday night national game on NBC. That will give Vikings fans plenty of time to get revved up for that game.
The last time the Vikings faced the Colts was the memorable 2022 game. In that game, the Vikings set an NFL record for the largest comeback, rallying from a 33-0 halftime deficit to win 39-36. Cousins threw for 460 yards and four touchdowns that day.
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Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter– @jeffdiamondnfl
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