Failure to clinch: Lions the latest to carve up Vikings defense
Make it five consecutive games that the Minnesota Vikings haven't been able to stop an opposing offense, though this time their offense didn't save the day and the Detroit Lions cruised to a 34-23 win at Ford Field on Sunday.
The final nail in Minnesota's coffin came on 3rd-and-7 at the 2-minute warning when Jared Goff thew a pass to right tackle Penei Sewell for a first down. Detroit then burned the clock down and kicked a field goal to go up by 11 points with 17 seconds to play.
Big man. Big reception! @peneisewell58
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Had Minnesota won or tied they would've clinched the NFC North, but now they'll have to either beat the Colts next Saturday or hope the Lions lose or tie the Jets next Sunday.
It was a game of mistakes for the Vikings. Detroit scored two plays after Minnesota was stuffed on 4th-and-1 from their own 46-yard line on their opening offensive possession, and Dalvin Cook's clumsy fumble inside the 5-yard line late in the second quarter erased what could've led to a game-tying touchdown. Then after a 47-yard pass to Justin Jefferson put the Vikings deep in Detroit territory while trailing 28-13 in the fourth quarter, the offensive line was bull-rushed three straight plays and the Vikings had to settle for a field goal.
But it was an inability to get off the field on third down that really killed the Vikings. The defense allowed Jared Goff and the Lions to convert 6 of 13 third downs and 1 of 2 fourth downs, including a fake punt that went for 42 yards and set up a touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds for a 21-7 lead in the third quarter.
Five straight opponents have gashed the Vikings for at least 400 yards.
- Bills: 486 yards
- Cowboys: 458 yards
- Patriots: 409 yards
- Jets: 486 yards
- Lions: 464 yards
The lone bright spot for Minnesota was Jefferson, whose 11 receptions for 223 yards set the franchise record and put him up to 99 catches for 1,500 yards on the season. With four games to go he's on pace to finish with 1,961 yards. The NFL single-season record – 1,964 yards – was set in 2012 by Calvin Johnson, though he did that in a 16-game season.
The Vikings and Colts play in the opening game of a Saturday triple-headed on NFL Network on Saturday. Kickoff is at 12 p.m. Central Time.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.