Unexpected Season-Saving Vikings Win in Detroit? Time Will Tell.
The course of an NFL team’s season can change dramatically from one week to the next. That truism is readily apparent after the Vikings pulled off a divisional road upset against the Lions who had won the last five games in the series.
The Vikings stunned Detroit with a gritty road win to keep their season alive — but was it a turning point or just a temporary spark?
The return of J.J. McCarthy, much better play from the Vikings defense, and big special teams plays sparked a potential season-saving victory.
The win has the Vikings back to .500 and healthier than they’ve been all season as they head into another pivotal stretch with home games against Baltimore (once again a force with QB Lamar Lackson back) and surprising Chicago (5-3) followed by a divisional road test at Green Bay and a challenging game at Seattle against former Vikings QB Sam Darnold who has the Seahawks tied for the NFC West lead.
Former Vikings GM Jeff Diamond Sizes Up Vikings Dub at DET
If the Vikings had lost as expected in Motown (as nine-point underdogs), they would’ve dropped to 3-5, three games behind Detroit, and the Lions would have a head-to-head win. Instead, the Vikings are back in the playoff mix and in the NFC North race, trailing the Packers (who were upset at home by Carolina) by 1.5 games and only 1 game back of the Lions and Bears, with wins over both teams to stand 2-0 in division games.
The Vikings rebounded from their dismal performance last week, a blowout loss to the Chargers. And the Vikings coaches were on their game—with a few exceptions—in this huge win that gives the team and the fan base hope for a second-half of the season run to the playoffs.
That is, if the team can play as well or better moving forward as they did on Sunday in the 27-24 win in Detroit, which shouldn’t have been that close, given the Vikings’ physical dominance, which doesn’t usually happen to Dan Campbell’s Lions.
The Vikings surprisingly outrushed the Lions 142-65 and sacked Jared Goff five times while pressuring him on almost half his dropbacks.
Here are my other reactions to the Vikings upset win in Detroit
1. It was perhaps the biggest win for the Vikings in the three-plus seasons under Kevin O’Connell (the 2022 win in Buffalo is a contender). With the season on the brink and heading into a hostile environment against a Lions team that had dominated the recent series, it could be a season-changer if the Vikings use it as a springboard to success.
2. McCarthy wasn’t perfect but he was plenty good in a tough place to win and what a clutch final throw to Jalen Nailor: he completed only 56% of his passes and threw high or behind receivers several times including on the interception that was slightly behind Jalen Nailor (and Terrion Arnold made a good play to steal the ball which may have hit the ground and it could’ve been called simultaneous possession which would’ve given the ball to Nailor).
McCarthy did make a lot of great throws to Justin Jefferson (including on the TD pass that Jefferson made a terrific one-handed catch), Jordan Addison, Aaron Jones out of the backfield (hitting him in stride unlike Carson Wentz who missed easy throws like this too often) and then the clutch 3rd- and-5 to Nailor as the game clincher on a perfect throw and nice catch.
It was good that O’Connell often had McCarthy rolling out to escape pressure in the pocket, but he was still sacked five times. He needs to be more accurate when throwing on the move. His 9-yard TD run showcased his athleticism and was a good decision given the Lions’ man coverage.
If the O-line stays relatively healthy, McCarthy should continue to ascend as he gains more experience since we have to remember this was only his third NFL start. According to Next Gen Stats, he joined Dan Marino and Patrick Mahomes as the only first round QBs at least since 1970 to win two divisional road games in their first three starts.
3. Aaron Jones is a difference maker but he needs to stay on the field: Jones got off to a great start in the game with 89 combined yards in the first half (seven carries for 69 yards, a 9.9 yard average plus two catches for 20 yards). He missed four games this season with a hamstring injury and hurt his shoulder early in the third quarter. He didn’t return but said postgame that he felt ok and O’Connell said his tests did not show a significant problem.
4. Offense won the physical battle: it was reinforced how essential Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill are to the offense and LG Will Fries also appeared to have a solid game. Tight ends T.J. Hockenson and Nick Vannett contributed some fine blocking as Vikings outrushed the Lions 142-65.
5. Andrew Van Ginkel’s return was critical to the defense: he’s a force and playmaker on defense. He did his usual excellent job of pressuring Jared Goff, running stunts that helped others get five sacks and playing the run well. Van Ginkel had three tackles, one tackle-for-loss and one QB hit. He played 61% of defensive snaps in is return from a neck injury.
6. Blake Cashman and Eric Wilson had great games: Cashman led the defense with 14 tackles, one tackle-for-loss and the key forced fumble by David Montgomery that was recovered by Harrison Smith in the third quarter which led to McCarthy’s TD run for a 24-14 lead.
7. Levi Drake Rodriguez had an impactful game with the blocked kick plus a sack, a tackle-for-loss and two QB hits. It was an excellent day for the defensive line as Javon Hargrave had his best game as a Viking (eight tackles, one sack, two tackles-for-loss, and two QB hits. Jonathan Allen had two tackles and three QB hits. And Jalen Redmond contributed a sack, three tackles and one tackle-for-loss.
With outside pressure from Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard and effective blitzes from the linebackers along with the D-line’s great play, Brian Flores’ aggressive defense had a great game. The run game was contained and Goff was pressured on 47.6% of his dropbacks.
I think the Lions’ loss on the offensive line, with Chanhassen-native and Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow retiring, along with guard Kevin Zeitler to Tennessee in free agency, showed up in this game, as the Vikings defense dominated up front.
And the poor blitz pickups by Jahmyr Gibbs on Wilson and Cashman forced the Lions to take him out of the game. He was held to only 25 yards rushing and three receiving yards after gaining 332 combined yards and six TDs in the two games against the Vikings last season.
8. Myles Price terrific on kickoff returns: he had the 61-yard return on the Vikings first possession that set up the offense at the Detroit 36 and led to the TD pass to Jefferson which was an important answer to Detroit’s first possession TD drive. Price had five returns for 164 yards (32.8 yard average) and broke the 99-yard return that was nullified due to Tavierre Thomas’ holding penalty (that was an accurate call as Thomas did tug on the jersey).
Price is proving to be a much bigger weapon in the return game than the Vikings have had the past few years.
9. Big plays led to scores: the 61 yard return by Price and the forced fumble by Cashman led to two TDs and the blocked field goal by Levi Drake Rodriguez (returned 41 yards by Isaiah Rodgers who was surprisingly knocked out of bounds by holder/punter Jack Fox) led to Will Reichard’s last field goal and a 10-point lead with 3:33 left.
10. Jordan Addison a somewhat under the radar contributor: he had two big catches for 48 yards, a nice jet sweep for 16 yards to help set up final field goal by Will Reichard and did some excellent blocking on perimeter runs by Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason.
The Vikings took advantage of a lot of single coverage from the Lions’ corners on Jefferson and Addison, as the Lions blitzed McCarthy often.
11. Have to score a TD when first-and-goal at the 1-yard line late in the game: the Vikings needed to run it in and not throw on second down (incomplete to a well-covered Jefferson), and McCarthy needed to stay inbounds on third down to force the Lions to use timeouts.
Other miscues included Greenard jumping offside on 4th & 5 in the mid-fourth quarter, but he was let off the hook with the blocked field goal. Thomas had two bad special teams penalties. There were missed tackles on the edge by Byron Murphy and Isaiah Rodgers for big Lion gains.
Murphy had a tough time, as most corners do, against Amon-Ra St. Brown (nine catches for 97 yards), but kept him out of the end zone. Jameson Williams beat Rodgers for the 37 yd TD pass with 1:55 left. He can’t let Williams get behind him in that situation as the defense must make the opposing team use more time on the clock.
There also was poor coverage on Sam LaPorta’s TD catch and run on the Lions’ opening drive (Josh Metellus and Theo Jackson didn’t make that play).
On offense, there were a couple of broken plays when either McCarthy or Jones went the wrong way on one play and Mason went the wrong way on another.
So, despite the great win, the coaches have plenty to talk to the players about regarding cleaning up the bad plays.
12. Still too many penalties—seven for 56 yards but the Lions had a season high of 10 penalties for 76 yards. There were two roughing the passer calls against the Lions — one legit on a leg whip by Aidan Hutchinson, but the other a bad call on Jack Campbell for landing with his full body weight on McCarthy, which really wasn’t the case.
Around the NFL Observations from Week 9
1. The Packers lead the NFC North at 5-2-1 but they had another sub-par performance against a lesser foe in losing at home 16-13 to Carolina. The Panthers are a surprising team at 5-4, and they dominated the run game with a 130-yard, two-TD game from Rico Dowdle. Jordan Love threw a bad third-quarter interception that led to a Panthers TD. The Packers leading receiver—tight end Tucker Kraft—suffered a torn ACL that will put him on IR for the rest of the season.
The Bears had a wild 47-42 win at Cincinnati in a no defense game that was won on a last-minute 58-yard TD pass from Caleb Williams to first round tight end Colston Loveland. The Bears host the Giants this Sunday and will come to U.S. Bank Stadium the following week at 6-3 if they beat the G-Men as expected but this Bears team is hard to predict.
2. In other key games, Buffalo and Josh Allen continued their regular season dominance over Kansas City with a fifth straight win in the series. Allen ran for two TDs and threw one TD pass while James Cook rushed for 114 yards, and the Bills’ defense held Patrick Mahomes to 44% completions and intercepted him once in the 28-21 home victory.
Unfortunately for the Bills, they’ve lost four straight playoff games to Mahomes and the Chiefs. They could be headed to another postseason meeting that likely will be in Buffalo if the 6-2 Bills can overtake 7-2 New England in the AFC East and the Chiefs at 5-4 have work to do with 7-2 Denver and the 6-3 Chargers ahead of them in the AFC West but they should at least earn a wild card berth.
The 5-3 Steelers stayed two games ahead of the 3-5 Ravens by knocking off Indianapolis 27-20. Colts QB Daniel Jones had his first really bad game this season with three interceptions and two lost fumbles and the Steelers D also held NFL rushing leader Jonathan Taylor to 45 yards on the ground. Aaron Rodgers passed for 203 yards and one TD with no turnovers.
Pittsburgh and Baltimore will meet twice in the final five weeks, including the regular-season finale in Steeltown.
While Jones struggled on Sunday, the other former Vikings QB from 2024—Sam Darnold—had an outstanding game with four TD passes, 330 passing yards and an 88% completion rate with one interception. Darnold’s Seahawks rolled over disappointing Washington 38-14, with Commanders QB Jayden Daniels suffering a significant elbow injury in the loss.
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