Detroit Lions 29, Minnesota Vikings 27: Fire everybody

In a game that it seemed that nobody wanted, the Detroit Lions apparently didn’t want it even less than the Minnesota Vikings didn’t.

Jared Goff found Amon-Ra St. Brown in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock, giving the Lions their first victory of the season over the Vikings, 29-27.

Minnesota struck first in this one, getting a 41-yard field goal from Greg Joseph a little over halfway through the first quarter to stake the Vikings to an early 3-0 lead. The score came after the Vikings stopped a quarterback sneak from Jared Goff on 4th-and-1 in Detroit territory, but they couldn’t do more with the field position.

The Vikings added another field goal after a goal-to-go situation late in the quarter, as Joseph connected from 31 yards out to make it 6-0. Detroit then got the first touchdown of the game early in the second quarter, as Goff found T.J. Hockenson for a 9-yard score and the extra point gave the Lions the lead at 7-6.

After a fumble by Cousins, Detroit charged into the end zone again, this time on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Goff to Brock Wright to extend the lead to 14-6. The Lions then got a pair of field goals from Riley Patterson, a 31-yarder and a 41-yarder, to make the score 20-6 going into the locker room at halftime after one of the more embarrassing quarters of play in recent Vikings history.

Minnesota clawed back a few points on their first drive of the second half, as Greg Joseph got another 31-yard field goal to make the score 20-9. Then, the Vikings finally got into the end zone, as Alexander Mattison went into the end zone from eight yards out for a score. That score was set up by a huge 49-yard completion from Cousins to Justin Jefferson to put the ball into the red zone. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful, but the Vikings had cut the lead to five at 20-15.

Detroit extended their lead back to eight late in the third quarter on Patterson’s third field goal of the day, this one a 49-yarder to make the score 23-15. On the next drive, the Vikings got the ball into the end zone, as Cousins found K.J. Osborn in the back of the end zone for a touchdown! The Vikings went for two again and were unsuccessful as Alexander Mattison was stuffed at the goal line, leaving the score at 23-21 with twelve minutes left in the contest.

Detroit appeared to be on the way to scoring more points, but Jared Goff threw a pass on a third down play that was intercepted by Cameron Dantzler at the Minnesota 31-yard line. That gave the Vikings the ball back with just under nine minutes left and an opportunity to take the lead.

The Vikings didn’t do anything with the interception, and on the next Lions’ drive they were facing a 4th-and-1 from their own 28-yard line, and Dan Campbell elected to roll the dice and go for it. They dialed up a pass play, and Jared Goff was sacked by Blake Lynch, fumbling the ball with Lynch getting the recovery at the Detroit 19-yard line.

The Vikings then took the lead back, courtesy of Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson, who connected on a 3-yard score just after the two-minute warning. Yet another two-point conversion was unsuccessful, leaving the Vikings with a 27-23 lead with 1:50 to go and the Lions out of timeouts.

But, Goff marched them down the field, all the way to a 4th-and-2 from the Minnesota 11-yard line, and then found St. Brown for the winning score with no time left.

There’s nothing left to say. The competitive portion of the season is over and this team deserves for it to be.

The Vikings fall to the Lions, 29-27, in Week 13 NFL action. Thanks to everyone that got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!