Week 9: Rested Lions Face Vikings to Keep Pace in NFC North

DB Keener
Oct 30
2 min read

The Lions last game was a dominating performance over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers despite playing with only a single regular DB in the secondary. With two full weeks to get healed up, the Lions will now face the Minnesota Vikings to complete the first round of divisional games, looking to keep pace with the streaking Green Bay Packers. The 3-4 Vikings are coming off a humiliating road loss at the Chargers in LA and are continuing to nurse a beat-up roster, especially on the O-Line. Carson Wentz imploded (along with his shoulder) after having a few good weeks and is headed to IR, so the Vikes will be turning the keys over to the inexperienced JJ McCarthy as he makes his return to Michigan.

The Vikings offense is basically mired in the bottom third of the NFL in every major statistical category. They don’t really do anything well. Much of that is due to a lack of a run game and OL that has been down three starters, but even if those players get back, there is no quick fix for the Vikes. The Lions offense continues to be Top 12 across the board, including top 5 in Pts per game, Yard per paly, Pass Compl % and Rushing TDs.

Switching to defense, the Bucs fair a bit better here, with their passing defense especially effective in terms of yardage allowed, but that may be a bit of a misnomer. Their rush defense is sitting at 25^th in most yards allowed, their pass rush is great at getting pressures and hurries but not sacks and they have only picked of 3 passes all year. The Lions meanwhile are, on-paper, significantly better, being in the Top 10 in all major categories except for Pass Yards and Passing TDs allowed. This culminates in bad timing for the Vikes, coming in with a rookie QB, a beat-up offense and now facing a player in Aiden Hutchison who just got paid to be the best Edge in the NFL and a guy in Brain Branch that is…dare I say…is one pissed off hombre coming off his suspension.

This is a mismatch on paper, but I think the Lions will need to get their mojo back on offense and push the 30-pts barrier in order to feel at ease for this one.

Time: 1:00pm

Location: Ford Field - Detroit, MI

Field Surface: Field Turf – Installed 2023

TV: FOX Single Game Regional

Broadcast Crew: Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady

Radio: Lions Radio Network Detroit Lions Schedule - Radio Affiliates | Detroit Lions - DetroitLions.com Radio Crew: Dan Miller, Lomas Brown, TJ Lang