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Breaking down the Detroit Lions PFF grades from Week 18 win over the Vikings
The regular-season finale against the Minnesota Vikings wasn’t the best showing by the Detroit Lions. The Lions’ 30-20 win was effective without being superlative.
The team’s grades from Pro Football Focus reflect that, by and large. Here are the best and worst individual grades from PFF, as well as a few notable standout metrics.
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Detroit’s 12th win ties a team record set back in 1991, the last year the Lions won a postseason game.
The Detroit Lions successfully defended the den in the regular season finale against the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions held off the Vikings, 30-20, in the Week 18 matchup in Ford Field.
Jared Goff threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns in a mistake-free offensive performance. David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs each rushed for a touchdown as well in an uneven game that saw Detroit convert just one of its nine third-down attempts.
Big plays and special teams ruled the day for Detroit, which improved to 12-5 with the win. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught a 70-yard touchdown pass, and Kalif Raymond ignited a drive with a 42-yard punt return and also chipped in with a 41-yard catch-and-run. Punter Jack Fox had a fantastic game and his coverage units were sharp, too.
The defense also made some big plays. Detroit sacked Nick Mullens four times and forced him into two fourth-quarter interceptions under heavy pressure. Aidan Hutchinson bagged two sacks and had another 12-yard tackle-for-loss, while rookie LB Jack Campbell notched a sack amongst his team-high 11 tackles.
The victory could be a costly one for Detroit. Pro Bowl tight end Sam LaPorta and Raymond both left the game with knee injuries that could impact their availability in the wild card round next weekend.
Detroit’s 12th win ties a team record set back in 1991, the last year the Lions won a postseason game. The Vikings finish 7-10 a year after winning the NFC North.
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Vikings rule out 6 players for Week 18 vs. Lions including a key OL and three DBs
The Minnesota Vikings are trying to keep their unlikely playoff hopes alive in Ford Field in Week 18. The Vikings will have to try and pull it off in Detroit without several injured players. Detroit’s finale foe ruled out six players due to injury.
One of the most notable is right tackle Brian O’Neill, who has been hobbled with an ankle injury. O’Neill also missed the Week 16 matchup between the two NFC North rivals. He’s not the only offensive lineman who isn’t 100 percent.
Left tackle Christian Darrisaw is questionable with an illness, while starting right guard Ed Ingram is questionable with a shoulder. Ingram played well in the Week 16 meeting.
The Vikings final injury report:
CB Mekhi Blackmon (Shoulder)
S Theo Jackson (Toe)
CB Byron Murphy (Knee)
WR Jalen Nailor (Concussion)
RT Brian O’Neill (Ankle)
DT Jaquelin Roy (Ankle)
LT Christian Darrisaw (Illness)
RG Ed Ingram (Shoulder)
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A lot of things need to happen for Minnesota and it seems more likely that none of those things happen, but the Vikings can still dream…
Believe it or not, the Minnesota Vikings still have something to play for in the Week 18 finale in Detroit. While it’s a contrived longshot, the Vikings can still make the postseason if they beat the Lions.
Even after getting blown out by the Packers in Week 17, Detroit’s Week 18 foe isn’t mathematically eliminated from the final NFC wild card spot. Sunday’s game kicks off before any of these other outcomes will be known, too.
Foremost, the Vikings have to beat the Lions. Detroit wins at home and the door is slammed shut. Minnesota also needs all of the following to happen in Week 18:
It seems more likely that none of those things happen, but the Vikings can still dream…
If the Lions beat the Vikings and the Bears beat the Packers, Minnesota will finish in last place in the NFC North a year after winning the division.
Dan Campbell plans to play Lions starters against Vikings in Week 18
The Lions have moved on from Saturday’s reporting issue that cost them a potential win against the Dallas Cowboys. Despite having the division locked up there is still seeding that remains worth playing for. Because of that, Dan Campbell didn’t hesitate when asked about whether he was playing his starters.
“Yeah no, that is the plan right now, is play our guys.”
The Lions are looking at a matchup of potentially either the Los Angeles Rams or the Green Bay Packers potentially. The Packers would provide a divisional matchup with the Lions with whom they split their season series. Playing the Rams, however, could be proverbial nightmare fuel as it would have Matthew Stafford make his return to Ford Field.
Campbell didn’t expand much on his feelings about the starters playing but his next question may have answered that uin adverently. The Lions head coach was asked about the team moving on from the Dallas game. Campbell answered “…I’m done. I’m good. I just want to go, and I want to get ready for Minnesota with our players will be ready to roll. I know they will.”
It all makes sense when you put the pieces together. No coach wants to send his players into the playoffs with the taste of a bad loss still reminiscing. If Campbell can send his guys into a playoff game coming off a season sweep of the defending division champs it will have a chance of restoring all confidence they have.
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A blocked extra point kept Lions coordinator Dave Fipp up on Christmas eve night after Detroit’s win over the Vikings
Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp highlighted why it’s so hard to be a coach in the NFL. Instead of celebrating a Lions division title and enjoying Christmas after Detroit won in Minnesota, Fipp couldn’t stop thinking about a mistake his extra point unit made in the game.
The Vikings blocked an extra point by new Lions kicker Michael Badgley in the third quarter of Sunday’s game. Badgley’s kick never had a chance. Fipp agonized over the error.
“Well, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it,” Fipp told reporters in his weekly press conference. “I woke up – yeah, I mean, a million times you think about those plays. The negative plays stick with you much more so than any of the positive plays. In my time, we’ve made a lot of plays too, but the ones that really stick with you the longest are all the negative plays.”
Fipp didn’t want to reveal which player made the costly mistake, but he clearly wasn’t happy about the poor execution. The block came in the gap between Benito Jones and James Mitchell.
“Yeah, I’m not going to get into it in detail, but we had one player who didn’t execute exactly how he should’ve,” Fipp said. “The first rep of the game was perfect and then didn’t do his job the way he was supposed to do on the next one and so that happened.”
Detroit Lions Podcast: Kings of the North episode celebrating the rise to a division title and what comes next
The latest episode of the Detroit Lions Podcast is one a long time coming. This week’s show celebrates the Lions’ first division title since 1993 and the vanquishing of the Vikings in Week 16.
Recorded live on YouTube on Tuesday night, it’s a fun recap of the sweet win in Minnesota. Key plays and clutch performances helped seize the NFC North title, and they all get reviewed here — from Ifeatu Melifonwu’s improbable emergence to Jared Goff’s steady hands in control of the offense.
Now that the Lions are in the postseason, the focus turns to potential matchups and seeding. This week’s game at Dallas will be a huge determinant for the postseason, and that gets previewed.
The question of who is the Lions’ MVP also gets discussed, and it’s not an easy decision.
The audio-only version of Episode 512 of the Detroit Lions Podcast is also available via your favorite podcast provider.
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The Lions beat the Vikings with an unusual offensive strategy that was a stark contrast to Minnesota’s attack
Going into the Week 16 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, one of the big questions for the Detroit Lions was how the team would attack coordinator Brian Flores’ exotic defense. The Vikings blitzed more often, but also dropped extra players in coverage more often, than any other defensive scheme.
The Lions and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson had a plan. All the window dressing about wondering where a blitz might come from, or if the defensive end will drop back in coverage, doesn’t really matter if the ball comes out quickly and stays short. Johnson designed a game plan that exploited the inherent weaknesses in the Vikings’ unusual defense.
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Minnesota was terrible at covering running backs and short passes to wideouts entering the game. The Vikings counter those issues by tackling well in space and limiting yards after the catch (YAC). Johnson and the Lions correctly divined that Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown and the Detroit skill position players were good enough at YAC to exploit that potential. And exploit it they did.
The Lions finished with 152 yards of YAC in the game out of 257 passing yards total from Jared Goff. They averaged over 5.0 YAC per reception.
Goff’s passing chart (via Next Gen Stats) shows just how focused on the short passing game and YAC the Lions’ game script was against Minnesota. He attempted 40 passes and not one of them went more than 20 yards down the field. Instead, Goff sprayed the shallow flats and short middle — and did so quite effectively.
It’s an unusual strategy for the Lions. Goff entered the game 8th in average air yards per attempt at 6.5. In this game, Goff’s average air yards were a paltry 3.8 — the lowest of his career in any game where he’s thrown at least 10 passes. But it worked well at taking advantage of the inherent weaknesses in the Vikings’ complex scheme. Having elusive players like St. Brown (60 YAC) and Gibbs (33 YAC in a game where he had 20 total receiving yards) made it work.
It was a stark contrast to his Minnesota counterpart, Nick Mullens, who averaged a league-high 14.5 air yards per attempt. The Lions’ biggest defensive weakness is covering the deep throw, and that’s what Mullens and the Vikings tried to exploit. It worked fairly well for them, too; Mullens posted 411 passing yards and two touchdowns but also threw four INTs and could have thrown two more on the high-risk/reward style of play.
The Detroit Lions have clinched the NFC North with a win over the Minnesota Vikings and here this week’s Lions Studs and Duds.
Today marks a historic moment as the Detroit Lions secure their first division title in three decades, triumphing over the Minnesota Vikings with a hard-fought 30-24 victory. Despite the hurdles faced, this win epitomizes the resilient spirit of the Lions.
While the victory may not be characterized as flawless, with several self-inflicted mistakes threatening the outcome, the Lions demonstrated remarkable composure and determination to secure the division. The defense faced formidable challenges from key Vikings players, yet unexpected contributors stepped up when needed, while the offense relied on its stars to seize crucial moments and propel them to victory.
In light of this division-clinching triumph over the Vikings, let’s take a closer look at the Studs and Duds for the Lions this week.
Decker fought back tears talking about how happy he was to finally win the NFC North and how much he knows it means to Lions fans
As the longest-tenured member of the Detroit Lions, left tackle Taylor Decker has been through some things. A starter since he was the team’s first-round pick back in the 2016 NFL draft, Decker has earned a ton of respect for his spirited play and leadership, even in the face of some truly bad football.
Winning the division in Week 16 is something special to everyone, but especially for Decker. He was driven to tears right after the game, releasing years of frustration in tears of jubilant emotion.
Even a few minutes later, an emotional Decker teared up while giving an interview with ESPN’s Eric Woodyard. Decker was barely able to keep himself together while talking about how much the NFC North title meant to him and the Lions organization.
“It’s emotional, man,” Decker said after brushing aside a tear. “We’ve been through a lot of battles. It’s been a long time coming and it feels great.”
Decker continued,
“It feels great to just dig ourselves out of that hole that we were in and to become a team that people respect. It’s just cool to play meaningful games in December. All of our goals and everything, it’s right in front of us. I couldn’t be happier. I love this group. I love these coaches, the whole organization and the city of Detroit. They deserve it.”
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