Allen Park — To best the Minnesota Vikings, you must first find a way to breakthrough against their league-best scoring defense.
The Detroit Lions managed do enough on that front this past Sunday, particularly on the ground, churning out 230 rushing yards in the 19-15 victory.
But let’s face it, 19 points often isn’t enough to win in the NFL. That meant the Lions defense also had to find a way to keep a struggling, yet still potent Vikings offense from getting on track.
That box was undeniably checked by a defense that is put together a stretch of three straight quality outings after a disastrous opening month to the season.
The Vikings finished with 266 yards, 15 points and 15 first downs, all below their season averages. They possessed the ball a season-low 24:07 and converted on just 3-of-11 third and fourth down attempts.
It wouldn’t matter if the Lions had been playing a mid-tier Big Ten program, that’s a good day at the office.
Given some time constraints this week, I don’t have time for a full breakdown of the performance. However, I did go through my normal process of watching the film and taking notes, and wanted to at least offer up some broader observations on the outing before moving on to next week’s matchup against Miami.