Dan Campbell isn’t afraid to go for it on fourth down. The Detroit Lions’ hyper-caffeinated, knee-biting head coach directly snapped it to linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin on a fake punt during their first drive.
Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work, and Campbell didn’t have the gumption to go for it on fourth-and-five after guard Kayode Awosika jumped offside on their third possession. The Minnesota Vikings led 10-0 and forced Detroit to punt. However, the Lions scored four touchdowns on their next four drives to take a 28-10 lead in a game they ultimately won, 31-29.
Football is a game of inches, and perhaps the outcome is different if the Vikings score on their two-point conversion, or Sam Darnold doesn’t overthrow Justin Jefferson on third-and-four with 2:46 left in the game. Still, Minnesota got a stop on fourth-and-five with 4:12 in the first half and didn’t get another until 10:19 in the fourth quarter. By then, Detroit led 28-20.
In between, Detroit scored four touchdowns using max protect and Dagger. It was the same concept Zac Taylor and the Cincinnati Bengals beat them with last year. The Lions countered Minnesota’s cover-0 Bengal Hawk blitzes by using running backs and receivers to provide extra protection for Jared Goff, who finished 22 of 25 for 280 yards and two touchdowns. They also had plays to beat the Vikings’ zone coverage when they didn’t blitz, allowing Amon-Ra St. Brown to finish with eight catches for 112 yards.
“Really just them attacking the middle of the field,” said Camryn Bynum when a reporter asked about Detroit’s chunk plays. “We know what they’re going to do. We know the type of guys [they have] and who’s going to be able to attack the middle of the field.
“We just have to know that if that’s your job, that you have to execute it.”
The Lions also exposed Minnesota’s run defense. None of the Vikings’ opponents had tested their run defense this season because Minnesota had led for all but three minutes and 26 seconds of the season. However, Detroit took a 14-10 lead on a five-play, 83-yard drive with 8:39 left in the second quarter. That was the first time one of the Vikings’ opponents had taken a lead since the New York Giants in Week 1.
Minnesota’s opponents couldn’t run the ball because they were down. However, Jahmyr Gibbs had 15 carries for 116 yards and two touchdowns, and the Lions finished with 144 rushing yards. Detroit’s winning formula? Protect the quarterback, attack the middle of the field, and run the ball once you’re up.
After Detroit took a 28-20 lead, Darnold led a seven-play, 61-yard drive. However, Minnesota had to settle for a field goal to make it 28-23. Two plays later, Josh Metellus pried the ball loose from Lions running back David Montgomery, and Ivan Pace Jr. scored a touchdown on the fumble.
According to ESPN’s metrics, the Lions had a 75.5% chance to win the game before Pace’s touchdown. ESPN gave the Vikings a 57.1% chance after the fumble and their failed two-point conversion. They had a 71.8% chance after Andrew Van Ginkel sacked Jared Goff on third-and-6 on the next possession. However, Minnesota led Goff led the Lions on an eight-play, 44-yard drive, and Jake Bates sailed his game-winning kick through the uprights with 15 seconds left to play.
“When you play a good football team like that, you’ve got to find a way to limit some of the things that set you back, whether it’s penalties or communication, whatever it is,” Kevin O’Connell concluded after the game. “A lot of areas we can improve on, but I’m proud of the way our guys battled.
“These are the moments where we truly find out what we’re all about,” he added, “and I look forward to leading this group through it.”
O’Connell focused on the things he could control. He had to call two timeouts in the first quarter because of pre-snap issues and lost a third trying to challenge Harrison Phillips’ potential fumble recovery. That meant Minnesota had no timeouts in the second quarter and couldn’t control the clock when the Lions went on their third scoring drive. Detroit took a 21-10 lead with 26 seconds left in the first half.
The Vikings took eight penalties for 59 yards, while Detroit had eight for 49. Almost every other metric indicated that these were two evenly matched teams. Minnesota had 383 yards on 52 plays, while the Lions had 391 on 56. Detroit had 247 passing yards; the Vikings had 244. Both teams were four of 10 on third down.
“Sometimes you play other great football teams, it comes down to two points, maybe one play here, one play there,” said Aaron Jones.
“We’ve got a lot of vets in here who’ve played a lot of ball, been on different teams, different situations. To go out there and have the game that we have, we’ve responded, we’ve seen some adversity. I feel like the true test is how we respond from here.”
The Vikings got through their early-season gauntlet with a 5-1 record, but the Lions also showed the rest of the league how to beat them. However, many of Minnesota’s upcoming opponents may be unable to execute Detroit’s blueprint.
Still, they will play teams late in the season that saw how the Lions protected Goff and held their lead by running the ball. Minnesota’s opponent forced them to respond for the first time this season. Detroit didn’t have to go for it on fourth down once they got rolling because they only had one third down on their first three touchdown drives. The Vikings nearly came back and won but couldn’t recover from giving up four-straight touchdown drives. Few teams do.
