Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell sits in a trailer on 8 Mile. A tape of the Minnesota Vikings is on the old-school TV/VCR combo in front of him, but Metallica’s “Seek & Destroy” is played loud enough to be heard in the Upper Peninsula.
Campbell takes a swig from his fully loaded Starbucks double-ventis, filled to the brim with espresso. Just as the clock hits zero on a 31-29 win over the Vikings from last October, Campbell raises both fists to the sky and screams, “JAMES HETFIELD IS THE GREATEST FRONTMAN EVER!!!”
Suddenly, there’s a pounding at the door.
“Open the door!” the man screams.
Campbell looks around frantically like a man ready to go for it on fourth-and-27.
“OPEN THE DOOR, NOW!!!” the man screams again.
Campbell freezes as the door gets kicked wide open. He looks in astonishment as Kevin O’Connell, Justin Jefferson, and T.J. Hockenson calmly walk in. Stoic as ever, O’Connell stares at Campbell, who looks like he saw a ghost. But in Week 18, a debt needs to be paid. And the Vikings are here to collect.
Will Sunday’s game be as dramatic as the fever dream I just described? Probably not. But I’d be lying if I said the Minnesota Vikings weren’t going to walk into Sunday’s game with the same energy that the repo man walks into his job on Monday morning. Home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs will be on the line when the Vikings and Lions meet again.
But it’s more than that, considering the recent history of both NFC North rivals.
The Vikings and Lions long had a dormant rivalry. Before Campbell arrived in 2021, Minnesota had won eight-straight meetings before Jared Goff’s last-second touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown led the Lions to a 29-27 victory on Dec. 5, 2021.
Looking back, the Wilf family should send a thank you card to Campbell every year. The loss put an unofficial end to the Mike Zimmer era and helped the Vikings usher in the O’Connell era, which has seen them post a 34-16 record over the past three seasons. For reference, O’Connell’s current winning percentage of .680 is higher than Bud Grant’s .621 clip, posted mainly when the Vikings went to four Super Bowls in the 1970s.
While O’Connell has seen plenty of success, the Lions have been the thorn in his side. O’Connell won his first meeting with Campbell’s Lions on Sept. 25, 2022. However, Detroit had a pair of 14-point leads before Kirk Cousins hit K.J. Osborn in the final minute of a 28-24 victory.
Detroit gained the upper hand with a 34-23 win on Dec. 11, 2022, featuring Campbell gawking at The Wave and a pass to Penei Sewell that iced the game. The Vikings were fighting for their playoff lives the following year when they hosted Detroit on Christmas Eve. However, Detroit’s 30-24 victory was more damaging than just their playoff hopes.
The game was the official start of the Vikings/Lions rivalry when Kerby Joseph delivered a low hit on T.J. Hockenson. The tackle gave Hockenson a multi-ligament knee injury. He missed over 10 months of action, including Minnesota’s season-ending 30-20 loss to Detroit on Jan. 7, 2024.
The season finale was also notable because it kicked off one of the most turbulent offseasons in franchise history. Cousins left for the Atlanta Falcons, and they replaced him with Sam Darnold. Jefferson was the subject of non-stop trade rumors as he headed into the final year of his rookie contract. Vegas pegged the Vikings to win 6.5 games this year, and it appeared they were headed for the same purgatory the Lions have lived in for most of their existence.
Then the 2024 season began. The Lions met their expectations after a trip to the NFC Championship game, where they blew a 24-7 lead against the San Francisco 49ers. Even with a slew of injuries on the defensive side of the ball, Detroit was expected to be here, and they remain a legitimate contender for the Super Bowl.
The Vikings? They made national analysts scream like Jesse Pinkman throughout each game of a 5-0 start.
It led to one of the most anticipated regular-season games in recent memory as the Vikings raced out to a 10-0 lead. The Lions counterpunched by winning the second quarter 21-0, but the Vikings regained the lead on a scoop-and-score by Ivan Pace with 5:50 to play in the fourth quarter. Jake Bates‘s 44-yard field goal helped Detroit win a 31-29 win, but it felt like they tossed it on a credit card with the intent of paying it off later.
This is where the bill comes due. The Vikings are a different team than they were in October. So are the Lions. While the Lions have suffered through their gauntlet of injuries, the Vikings have recovered from theirs. Hockenson and linebacker Blake Cashman didn’t play in the most recent Vikings/Lions tilt at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Vikings have a quarterback who is playing at a franchise-caliber level. Jefferson is still one of the league’s most dangerous receivers. O’Connell remains as stoic as ever going into one of the biggest games of his career.
Even then, this goes deeper than avenging a loss in October. It’s for the loss in 2022 that sent a team on its way to the playoffs in disarray. It’s for Hockenson, who probably can’t wait to get on the field against his former team. And it’s for Jefferson, who sat through an entire offseason having to listen to trade rumors.
It’s also for O’Connell, who knows the path to the Super Bowl runs through this team.
It’s a hefty debt that must be collected, and the Vikings hope to cash in on Sunday night.