At the middle point in the NFL season, a massive set of games took place. One of them occurred in the Motor City, where the Minnesota Vikings were facing the Detroit Lions in an NFC North battle. One of the closest divisions in the sport had tightened between all four teams as the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers played in the same window in the afternoon hours of the first day of Daylight Savings Time. The game in Detroit was huge for the Vikings in that they needed to get a division win to make up ground against the Lions, who have won the NFC North in the past two seasons, and also hoped to make up ground on Chicago and/or Green Bay. This matchup also featured the return of a QB who played his college football career in the state of Michigan back onto the field after being inactive for five straight games due to an ankle sprain. Jonathan James McCarthy was set to make his first start since Week 2 and looked to remind the entire football world how dangerous he could be with a more complete performance over a four-quarter stretch of action.

McCarthy was also going to have a more healthy offensive line and available offensive weaponry to use at his disposal. Christian Darrisaw was questionable heading into the game with a knee injury, but he was good to go. Darrisaw wasn’t available to block on the left side of the line of scrimmage for J.J in any of his first two starts. Also, having Jordan Addison available to use after serving a three-game suspension and returning while Carson Wentz held down the fort at QB was a good thing for McCarthy as well. Most of the defense was healthy as well, with Andrew Van Ginkel returning onto the field after being out for a few games due to a neck injury. The Vikings were seeking their first win in Detroit since the end of the 2020 season and their first victory over the Lions since Sep 2022. A tough two losses against them in the 2024 season, including in a regular season finale at Ford Field, forced Minnesota to be a 14-win Wild Card and they were doomed to an unjust fate in being beaten by the Los Angeles Rams in a Monday night game that McCarthy had to watch from the sidelines due to his meniscus tear that cut off his rookie season. So, this was a high-stakes game without a doubt.

Detroit was coming out of its bye week at a record of 5-2, being right behind the Packers for first place in the division. The Lions defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a Monday night game in Week 7, but they had a depleted secondary. Their defense overall is more healthy than last season, when they lost Aidan Hutchinson to a devastating fibula injury in Week 6 of 2024. The Vikings didn’t have to deal with the daunting defensive end who just got paid with a load of money in having a contract extension making him the highest-paid non-QB of all-time(for how long he holds that title, we don’t know). Besides Hutchinson, other key defenders healthy for the Lions are nose tackle Alim McNeil, linebacker Alex Anzalone, cornerback Amik Robertson and safety Brian Branch. Kerby Joseph was the only major defensive inactive for Detroit, whose offensive assets include the running-back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, star wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown, and tight end Sam LaPorta. The Brian Flores defense needed to do their best to contain as many of the dangerous players on the Lions’ offense as possible, along with placing pressure on Jared Goff, who has been playing efficiently with a new offensive coordinator in John Morton. Goff had seven career victories against the Vikings entering this game, including five in a row, so the defense needed to do everything in their power to defend well enough against him. Let’s see how this game played out.

The Lions started the game out with possession and after the opening kickoff return, Goff found his tight end in Sam LaPorta for a couple of big catches that went for first downs into Vikings’ territory. Following a six-yard run by Gibbs, Goff threw two straight incomplete passes. But on fourth down and four yards to go, Gamblin’ Dan Campbell had his offense go for it. And Goff threw the ball up the middle and found LaPorta again. This time, the strong tight end showed off his strength as he pulled Vikings defenders into the end zone and scored a huge opening drive touchdown. A blown coverage by the passing defense, which was without former Detroit draft pick Jeff Okudah in this game and had to elevate Fabian Moreau from the practice squad. The extra point by Jake Bates was good and the Lions had an early 7-0 lead over Minnesota in establishing a good start. It was an early hole for J.J McCarthy to respond to in making his return to the field.

The ensuing kickoff was fielded by Myles Price, who would run past the defenders and had a clean return of 61 yards to the Detroit 36-yard line. There were no flags on the return(unlike for the opening kickoff return by Price in Week 8) and the Vikings offense was set up with great field position. McCarthy came on and he handed the ball off to Aaron Jones, who ran strong for a gain of 11 yards and a first down. After another run by Jones, McCarthy attempted his first pass and threw a deep pass towards Addison that was incomplete. On third down, McCarthy would find Jones in a safety valve and Jones gained 14 yards for a good first down. On first & goal, McCarthy stepped back to pass and he aimed the ball to the right, where Justin Jefferson was running a route into the end zone. Jefferson caught the ball with one hand for his second touchdown catch of the season, both of them from his fellow “JJ” in McCarthy. It was the first TD pass since Week 1 for young J.J and the Vikings had immediately responded with a big score on their opening drive. The PAT by Will Reichard was good and Minnesota had tied the game at 7 apiece within the first five minutes of this game. The redshirt rookie QB had made a good opening statement in this big-time setting.

The next drive for Detroit started around the same spot as their first drive, but it would be shorter as the Vikings defense had a couple of good tackles for negative yardage and the drive was a three-and-out. The punt by Jack Fox traveled 43 yards and was downed at the Minnesota 36-yard line. Having a longer distance to go this time, the McCarthy-led offense looked to cash in again. A good 14-yard run by Jones started the drive out well, with McCarthy throwing a short pass to Jones on the next play and then after that Jones had a five yard run for a first down. After an incomplete pass by McCarthy deep to Jalen Nailor and a run of one yard by Jones, on third down McCarthy was in shotgun formation and dropped back to pass. He aired the ball out to the left and Addison slid down to catch it at the Lions’ 7-yard line. A big play there as McCarthy had his first official connection to the speedy wide receiver. On 1st & goal, McCarthy faked a handoff to Jefferson and threw the ball to the back of the end zone, where T.J Hockenson was standing to make the catch wide open. A big touchdown reception for the former Detroit tight end. McCarthy had thrown two TD passes in his first two drives that went into the red zone. The PAT by Reichard was good and the Vikings had a 14-7 lead over the Lions early on in this game.

On the next Detroit drive, Goff would feel the pressure from the Brian Flores defense. He got sacked on the first play of the drive by Levi Drake Rodriguez, who had himself a big day on the turf. But the Lions overcame that sack with a solid 7-yard run by Gibbs and a third down pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown for a first down at midfield. Following a four-yard run by Gibbs, Goff threw an incomplete pass up the middle towards LaPorta. On third down, Goff dropped back to pass but got brought down for another sack, this one by Eric Wilson for ten yards. The punting unit came onto the field for Detroit and the Vikings got pinned deep in their own territory near the end of the first quarter. The next drive for Minnesota went nowhere as McCarthy got sacked by Derrick Barnes on second down and threw a pass to Hockenson, who dropped the ball on third down but might have been stopped short of the line to gain had he caught it. So, Ryan Wright booted the ball back to the Lions, but it was a short punt of 44 yards and Kalif Raymond returned the ball for a good gain to the Minnesota 35-yard line. The Detroit offense was now set up with good field position similar to the Vikings on their first drive of the day.

On the first play of the next drive, Goff found LaPorta for a five-yard gain, then a couple of tough runs by David Montgomery gave the Lions a first down. Goff used Montgomery in the passing game, as the tough veteran RB made a catch after Goff avoided a potential sack by Jonathan Greenard and Montgomery broke a tackle attempt by Byron Murphy and ran all the way towards the ten-yard line before being brought down by Blake Cashman for the first down. It was a missed opportunity for the Vikings’ defense. On first down, Goff passed the ball to St. Brown, who gained nine yards in being tackled short of the goal line. On second down, Montgomery was stonewalled for no gain and on third and short Goff threw a pass towards the left corner of the end zone that was unable to be caught by St. Brown. Before the fourth and short gamble by Detroit, Kevin O’Connell called a timeout on the defensive side. The play then occurred and Montgomery got the handoff, where he powered himself into the end zone for a huge rushing TD. The Lions had gotten a huge score and the PAT by Bates tied the game at 14. This game was looking like an offensive gong show at this point with around nine and a half minutes left in the first half.

After a kickoff return by Price to the 27-yard line, the J.J McCarthy offense looked to respond to the tying score by the home team. McCarthy got sacked at the line of scrimmage on first down, then a false start penalty on Nailor backed the team up on second down. But on the next snap, Jones had a massive run of 31 yards to the left and into Detroit territory. McCarthy then threw a short pass to Jefferson for two yards but there was another flag on the field and it was for unnecessary roughness on Aidan Hutchinson, who tried to trip up his former Michigan Wolverines teammate with a leg whip after the ball had been released. The odd personal foul advanced the ball 15 yards and gave the Vikings an automatic first down in field goal range. On the next play, McCarthy found Jefferson again on a short pass and Jefferson ran for 11 yards out of bounds for a first down in the red zone. On the next play, Jordan Mason ran for no gain and then caught a one-yard pass from McCarthy. On third down, McCarthy faced some pressure as linebacker Jack Campbell caught him in the pocket and forced him to somersault down to the field. Being ruled down by contact for a 14-yard sack, McCarthy didn’t end this drive the way he wanted to. But thankfully Will Reichard made a 50-yard field goal that gave the Vikings the lead back at 17-14.

With under five minutes left in the half, the Lions’ offense came back onto the field but had another short drive as a negative run by Gibbs was countered with a completed pass by Goff to St. Brown on second down and then an incompletion on third down that had the ball batted down at the line of scrimmage by Harrison Smith. The Vikings received the ball back at their 25 and a chance to get a big score before halftime. A false start by Darrisaw backed the offense up, but a six-yard run by Jones was followed by a McCarthy pass to Hockenson for four yards that had a roughing the passer flag on Jack Campbell award the Vikings a first down. Right before the two-minute warning, McCarthy had a weird design run for a loss of three yards. But at the 42-yard line and with two timeouts left, the offense had a chance to score a touchdown before the end of the first half.

On second down, McCarthy threw an incomplete pass while scrambling to Jefferson. On third and long, McCarthy chucked a deep pass towards Addison that was “intercepted” by a Lions defender, but there was a flag on the play for illegal contact on cornerback Amik Robertson. The five-yard penalty gave the Vikings another automatic first down. A couple of inefficient passes by McCarthy followed, and then on third down J.J found Nailor on a short pass that he seemed to catch. But Detroit cornerback Terrion Arnold ripped the ball out of Nailor’s grasp as the two players came down onto the field and the referees ruled that the play was an interception. Even though Nailor had one hand on the ball, Arnold had gained possession in his favor and after a replay review, the ruling of the ball being in Detroit’s possession stood as called. So, it was a tough luck interception by McCarthy that wasn’t entirely his fault. The ball placement was an issue, but Nailor should have held onto that ball tighter or forced it incomplete so that Arnold couldn’t catch it. Now the Lions offense had a chance to potentially tie the game before halftime.

From their 39-yard line, the Detroit offense was once again contained as Goff threw an incomplete pass towards Raymond and then Andrew Van Ginkel made a big tackle for a loss of a yard on Gibbs that forced a timeout by Campbell. On third down, Goff threw another incomplete pass towards LaPorta and on fourth down, the Lions punted it and Price caught the ball and only went forward with it for four yards. Being pinned deep and receiving possession to start out the second half, the Vikings offense just sat on the ball and McCarthy kneeled once as the first half ended with a three-point lead for Minnesota. The first half was well-played for a Vikings team that has averaged such low points in it to start out the season, save for the amazing first half against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3. McCarthy looked efficient in his first two drives, but was more shaky in his other drives in the half. Either way, the Vikings defense was doing its job well in containing Goff and only giving up two touchdowns on fourth down gamble plays. Sacking Goff a couple of times and having quite a few tackles for loss was a good sign. Heading into the second half, the Vikings were looking to build this lead to a higher level and keep the Lions behind on the scoreboard. Having good play from all three position groups was the key to victory in this crucial game. The second half needed to be a better version of the first half, or at least good enough to reel in a much-needed victory.

The third quarter started with a couple of runs by Jones and an offsides penalty by Alim McNeil on third down that gave the Vikings a first down. McCarthy threw an incomplete pass towards Addison but then scrambled for a seven-yard gain to midfield. On third down, McCarthy aimed the ball towards Nailor, but the ball sailed over his head for an incomplete pass. On fourth and short, O’Connell decided to play it safe and brought out the punting unit. A solid punt by Wright had the Lions pinned deep in their own territory, at the eight-yard line. Once again, the defense for Minnesota held its ground as a short Gibbs run, a Goff incomplete pass and a good multi-tackle on a third down short pass to Gibbs made up the plays for Detroit on another three-and-out drive. The Vikings received the ball back at their 30-yard line, with a McCarthy pass to Jefferson gaining 21 yards on the first play. Jordan Mason then had a five-yard carry and Mason was going to be the main running back for the rest of the game because Jones suffered a shoulder injury on the previous drive and was unable to continue. The next snap was a sloppy one by Blake Brandel and McCarthy lost control of the ball, having to jump on it in order to prevent a fumble from happening. On third down, McCarthy threw the ball once again to Jefferson, who caught the ball at the Lions’ 36-yard line for a first down. But Dan Campbell threw the challenge flag on the field to have the replay center review the catch by Jefferson. This was the third straight game that a catch ruling was being reviewed by the replay center for the Vikings. Two weeks ago, T.J Hockenson had a touchdown reception in the fourth quarter taken away due to the ball being budged out by the ground in the end zone. That was a huge reversal that potentially cost the Vikings a chance at victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. On Thursday night football in Week 8, Isaiah Rodgers had a pick-6 early in the game taken away due to him not fully controlling the ball and that reversal led to an opening-drive touchdown by the Los Angeles Chargers offense that set the tone for the rest of that game. Now, this third down catch in the third quarter was being challenged by an opposing head coach, making it a bit different than the previous two instances.

Unfortunately, the outcome was the same, as the replay center ruled that the ball was not fully controlled by Jefferson when it hit the ground and it was ruled an incomplete pass. Clearly, the replay angles shown by the FOX Sports TV broadcast were contradictory to that reversal. Jefferson looked like he had the ball all the way throughout. Yet again, the referees ruled this a catch and it would have stayed that way had it not been for Campbell challenging the play. Heck, replay assist didn’t even jump in to reverse the call themselves, making this yet another blunder by the replay office in New York City. Apparently, they have hyper-focused cameras to enforce the dumbest part of the catch rule, the one where a receiver has to “survive the ground” with possession along with getting the equivalent of two feet in bounds. It’s unbelievable. Either the rule has to be changed, the NFL needs to stick to its “Tuck Rule doctrine” of inconclusive evidence to overturn a call for all replay reviews, or leadership in that replay center needs to be changed. I don’t want to get into the whole “Mafia” conspiracy in this rant, but it’s definitely something worth mentioning. The Vikings entered this game as nine and a half point underdogs and definitely had a good chance to at least cover. For those with money on Detroit covering the spread, they needed to catch as many breaks as possible. A replay review could serve as one of them. Just unbelievable and unfair to the entire team. Catching balls when going down to the ground now seems to be a bugaboo that can be exposed by replay cameras. It’s been that way for years in the NFL.

After that unfortunate reversal, it was fourth down and the Vikings had to punt again. Wright had a solid punt that pinned Detroit deep in their own range again. Goff threw an incomplete pass towards Montgomery to start out the second half, then a completed pass to Montgomery went for negative yards as Cashman and Murphy brought him down. On third and long, Goff pitched the ball back towards Montgomery, who nearly lost his grip on the ball upon receiving it. Montgomery was running near the first down marker, but from behind Cashman caught him and poked the ball out of the running back’s grasp. It was a fumble and the ball bounced forward on the field, but Harrison Smith was right over it and he recovered the ball right around the 35-yard line. An incredibly clutch turnover forced by the defense and an amazing moment of redemption right after the incomplete pass ruling that ended the previous drive. Now, the offense had good field position again and a chance to do the same thing that they did on their first drive, which is score a touchdown. The first play of this new possession was a seven-yard run by Mason and that was followed by a McCarthy pass to Addison for 17 yards into the red zone. The first two plays in the red zone were inefficient, with a Mason run for two yards and a McCarthy incompletion occurring. Also, Jefferson was down on the field with a cramp in his leg and was able to walk off under his own power thankfully. That led to a timeout and a chance for the offense to reset itself. On third down, McCarthy dropped back to pass but instead saw an opening to scramble. J.J ran and bolted his way past a couple of defenders into the end zone for a rushing touchdown. An amazing feat by McCarthy as he repeated what he did in his first career game with two passing TDs and one rushing TD. The Vikings had scored off the fumble forced by Cashman and the extra point by Reichard made this a ten-point lead for the Vikings, who were holding their first leads in Ford Field since a game in 2021 that ended in heartbreaking fashion. This game looked like it was going to have a different ending, one more favorable to the team in purple.

The next drive for the Lions started with a sack on Goff by Javon Hargrave for eight yards. Offensive tackle Taylor Decker got hurt during the play and a timeout occurred to assist him off the field. On second down, Goff found St. Brown for a big gain of 15 yards and on third down Goff dumped the ball off to tight end Brock Wright for an 11-yard gain into Vikings’ territory. On the next play, Goff found Jameson Williams for a gain of 13 and a first down in field goal range. After a false start, Gibbs ran for two yards and on second down Detroit got called for two fouls. An illegal shift flag was declined while a holding penalty was enforced ten yards from the previous spot. On second and super long, Goff passed the ball to LaPorta, who caught the pass and gained nine yards. On third and long, Goff threw it to Williams, who scampered out of bounds for a gain of 18 and a big first down in the red zone. The Vikings’ defense had to hold their ground and hold the Lions out of the end zone. On first down, Goff threw an incomplete pass and on the next play Gibbs had a four-yard run. On third down, Goff dropped back to pass but got sacked again by Eric Wilson, who had an 11-yard tackle on Goff. On fourth down, the field goal unit for Detroit came onto the field and Jake Bates made a 41-yard kick to put the Lions down by seven points. The Brian Flores defense did their job in holding one of the more lethal offenses in the game to three points in this drive near the end of the third quarter.

The third quarter ended in nearly dramatic fashion as Myles Price ran the ball back from the one yard line and surged through the entire smudge of blockers and ran all the way to the end zone for a dynamic kickoff return touchdown. But sadly, the play was called back due to a holding penalty on Tavierre Thomas, who was caught grabbing onto a Detroit kick return defender at the 36-yard line. So, heading into the fourth quarter the Vikings looked to really put the game into their favor. Th quarter started with McCarthy throwing the ball to Jefferson for a gain of four yards, with a good sight of number 18 back on the field after his cramping issue. On second down, Mason ran for three yards and on third down, McCarthy got sacked by Hutchinson for a loss of nine yards. A tough three and out forced the punting unit onto the field and during the punt by Wright, Thomas got called for another foul as he was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct in going out of bounds during the punt and not coming back in bounds right away. A rough sequence there as the Lions would now have better field position for a potential game-tying drive.

This crucial drive began with a run by Montgomery for 11 yards, and then three straight handoffs by Goff to Montgomery ended up placing Detroit two yards short of the line to gain. Obviously, the Lions went for it on fourth down and Goff found LaPorta for a 17-yard gain resulting in a big first down. On the next play, an illegal block above the waist foul was called on Williams and that set Detroit back ten yards. An incomplete pass by Goff to St. Brown occurred on 1st & 20 and there was also a holding flag on Taylor Decker, who was back in the game. O’Connell decided to decline that penalty in not wanting to give the opposing offense an extra down. Goff found St. Brown on second down for a gain of six and on third down, both of them hooked up again for a nine-yard gain where St. Brown got hurt. It was fourth and five yards to go, with the Detroit offense going for it again. But being five yards back, they ended up having Goff do a fake snap count and Jonathan Greenard was drawn offsides by it. A huge mistake there as the five-yard penalty gave the Lions a fresh set of downs. Now back in the red zone, the Lions looked to tie the game up again. A couple of low-yardage plays occurred and on third down, a false start backed Detroit up even further. On third and longer, Goff got sacked again, this time by Jalen Redmond, who got Goff down for a loss of nine yards. On fourth down, the field goal unit came onto the field again for the Lions and Bates would attempt a 45-yard field goal. The ball was snapped, the hold was pure, the kick went up but the ball was blocked by Levi Drake Rodriguez and also ricocheted off the hand of Elijah Williams as well. The ball would be recovered by Isaiah Rodgers, who ran fast down the sidelines and nearly went all the way for a run-back touchdown. Rodgers was forced out of bounds by the punter/holder Jack Fox and the ball was all the way back at Detroit’s 26-yard line. An amazing blocked field goal by the Vikings defense and it was the second time a kick had been blocked by them so far this season(Week 4 against the Steelers in Dublin). Now the McCarthy-led offense had a chance to seal off the game with a touchdown.

The first play of the new drive was a five-yard run by Mason and then on second down, McCarthy scrambled to the left for five yards but the play was negated due to an offensive holding foul on Donovan Jackson. On the replay of second down, McCarthy handed the ball off to Addison, who ran for a gain of 15 yards that was good enough for a first down. Back in the red zone, a massive run by Mason to the two-yard line was aided by a tack-on defensive holding foul at the line of scrimmage that placed the ball at the one-yard line. Unfortunately, the offense sputtered into undisciplined style as a Mason run for a loss of a yard was followed by a pass by McCarthy towards Jefferson that was batted incomplete by Terrion Arnold. The clock was stopped and on third and goal, McCarthy scrambled to the left in trying to get into the end zone. But he was well short and pushed out of bounds, stopping the clock inside five minutes. Some bad decisions by the redshirt rookie QB led to more time being left on the clock and on fourth and goal in order to get the lead to two possessions, O’Connell sent the field goal unit onto the field to have Reichard attempt a chip-shot 20-yard kick, which he easily made. The lead was now 10 points again but there was still time for the Lions to get a score before the two-minute warning and with all three timeouts they could stop the clock on the next offensive drive for the Vikings. It was crunch time now in this game and the defense had to do everything in their power to prevent Detroit from scoring swiftly.

The Lions had their kick returner return the ball to their 31-yard line, where Goff threw a pass to St. Brown(who was back in the game) that went for 4 yards to start the drive. On the next play, Goff found St. Brown again for a massive gain of 19 into Vikings territory for a big first down. After Goff passed it to St. Brown again for eight yards, on second down Gibbs ran the ball but was unable to pick up the first down as Jonathan Allen stuffed him. Instead of hurrying to the line of scrimmage to snap the ball on third and short, the Detroit offense let the clock run to the two-minute warning and the fans in attendance at Ford Field didn’t like that. Being on the edge of field goal range for Bates, a long field goal would not be a comfortable proposition after the Vikings blocked his latest attempt and ran it back for a lot of yards. Unless a big play occurred on third and short, a field goal would have to be the option that the Lions inevitably took to get down by one possession. On third down, Goff threw a deep pass to the left and Jameson Williams caught it, then lunged into the end zone for the score. But Williams was initially marked out of bounds at the two-yard line, however after replay assist jumped in, the ruling on the field was changed to a touchdown. A clutch play there as Williams might have pushed off Isaiah Rodgers, but there was no flag on the field for offensive pass interference. The PAT by Bates was good and Detroit was now down by three points with all three of their timeouts still. It was now up to J.J McCarthy and the Vikings’ offense to end this game on their own terms in preventing the Lions from getting the ball back with a chance to tie the game and force a potential overtime period. If the offense just got one or two first downs while forcing Detroit to call all of their timeouts, then it would be game over.

The kick return by Price went out to the 23-yard line and the offense came onto the field with around 1:50 left on the clock in regulation. The first play from scrimmage was a McCarthy run up the middle for a four-yard gain. Dan Campbell called the first timeout for his team and then on second down, Mason ran up the middle but only gained one yard. Campbell called his team’s second timeout, with 1:41 left on the clock. This was a huge play coming up. With five yards to pick up, a decision had to be made. A pass could be risky due to it landing incomplete but a run was likely to be short of the line to gain. It was a huge play, without a doubt. On third down, McCarthy was in shotgun formation with no running back behind him to hand the ball off to and he stepped back to pass, with him throwing the ball towards Jalen Nailor, who made the catch and held onto the ball for a big gain of 16 yards. It was a first down and the game was essentially over. An incredible pass by McCarthy to seal off the contest and the Vikings were going to defeat Detroit in a similar close-out fashion that the Lions offense has used in the past few seasons to close out opponents. In gamesmanship fashion, Campbell called his team’s final timeout after McCarthy’s first kneel down and that forced J.J to kneel two more times in victory formation. After those two clean kneels, it was all over. The Minnesota Vikings had achieved a redemption win at Ford Field in defeating the tough and lethal team in the Motor City by a score of 27-24. Their first win in Detroit since Jan 3, 2021, but the actual first win with fans in attendance in the Den for the Vikings since Oct 20, 2019. An amazing victory indeed as this group of Vikings broke a five-game losing streak against the Lions.

It was undoubtedly an incredible performance by J.J McCarthy in his return to the field. Even though the statline for him on this day didn’t fully reflect that truth. McCarthy was 14 of 25 on his passing attempts for 143 air yards and threw two TD passes, but also had one interception(that wasn’t fully his fault) and was sacked five times(most of them at or near the line of scrimmage). Nine rushing attempts for 12 yards and one rushing TD also occurred for McCarthy, who had a similar statline to the one he had in Week 1 over the Chicago Bears in a fourth-quarter comeback. J.J was aided by good offensive performances by Justin Jefferson, who had six catches for 47 yards and a TD(could have been more if not for the controversial incomplete pass ruling in the third quarter), Aaron Jones(did well before suffering that shoulder injury) and Jordan Addison. The defense did its job as Blake Cashman had 14 tackles and a forced fumble, Eric Wilson had two of the five sacks on Jared Goff, and Levi Drake Rodriguez also had a sack along with a blocked field goal. Overall, it was a healthy team performance in spite of the lead getting too close near the end. An almost thirty-point performance by the offense, but 27 isn’t that bad. In this game, it was just enough to defeat the Lions and get within one game of them in the NFC North standings.

Speaking of which, the division has gotten even closer with the Packers losing a Sunday home game against the Carolina Panthers, who had a fantastic defensive outing against Jordan Love on his 27th birthday. The Packers not only lost on a game-winning field goal by Carolina, but they also lost their star tight end Tucker Kraft to an ACL injury. Losing one of their biggest offensive assets will be a gut punch to Green Bay, whom the Vikings have yet to play this season but have a Week 12 matchup at Lambeau Field lined up against them. The Vikings still remain in last place in the division because the Chicago Bears got a thrilling victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sun Nov 2. After choking a 14-point lead to the Bengals due to an onside kick gaffe, Caleb Williams had a couple of clutch plays to save the day for the visiting Bears, including a game-winning TD pass to rookie tight end Colston Loveland. A 47-42 victory has Chicago tied with Detroit for second place in the division at 5-3. The Packers are in front with their unorthodox record of 5-2-1, with the Vikings having a mediocre record of 4-4. Being 3-2 in one-possession games this season, Minnesota is continuing a main trend in the Kevin O’Connell era. The Vikings have a record of 29 wins and 12 losses in games that end with a one-possession margin(8 points or less) since 2022, making them one of the most gritty teams in the league during that stretch. Now they have a QB with a proven winning record in McCarthy, who has only suffered defeat a spoonful of times dating back to his time as a starter in high school. McCarthy led the team in a breakdown chant of “Like a dog in the street”, and it’s clear that this team has the street-fighting mentality to win big games in the second half of this season.

With J.J back in command, the expectation level in the Twin Cities for a potential second straight playoff berth for the Vikings has risen up again. In a tight NFC, there are still big games ahead for this team. Before that stretch begins, the final non-conference game on the schedule will happen as the Vikings return home to U.S Bank Stadium to host the Baltimore Ravens, who are in a very important stretch of their season. At 3-5, Baltimore has won back-to-back games, including a Thursday night game against the Miami Dolphins on Oct 30 that featured the return of Lamar Jackson back onto the field after missing a few games due to a hamstring injury. Jackson is one of the most dangerous QBs in the game and he also has one of the strongest running backs in football in Derrick Henry. The Ravens are looking to keep up with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North, being two games back of them, so the Week 10 matchup in Minneapolis will be a huge game for both purple teams. For now, the Vikings are 4-4 and in the thick of the NFC North race. With a 2-0 record in division games, the team with horns on their helmets(in the Great White North) will seek to commence a potential winning streak that can fuel them back into serious contention in a wide open NFC playoff picture. This might be the start of something special in the middle of the season in Minnesota.