On Christmas Day, the Minnesota Vikings played their fifth ever game on the holiday associated with gift-giving and Yuletide celebrations as they hosted the Detroit Lions at U.S Bank Stadium. After a hard season with ups and downs, the Vikings had a chance to win a game in front of their home fans and eliminate one of their division rivals from playoff contention. But they would have to do so without J.J McCarthy available, as a hairline fracture on his hand kept him out of this rematch game against Detroit that Minnesota won in Week 9. Max Brosmer was set to make his second start of his career after coming in for McCarthy in the second half of the win over the New York Giants and leading one scoring drive that was just enough. Brosmer would have to make the start without a couple of key offensive players as Jordan Mason(ankle) and T.J Hockenson(shoulder) were both out for this game for the Vikings, who were down two additional offensive linemen as Ryan Kelly was placed on injured reserve with his continuous concussion problems and Brian O’Neill being inactive with an ankle injury of his own. So, Brosmer would be up for a challenge against a Lions team desperate for a win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

Detroit has been decimated with injuries to their secondary as quite a few of their defensive backs were out or on injured reserve. Their offensive line was without a few key bodies as well and since a 5-2 start through eight weeks, the Lions have gone 3-5 ever since, with them losing consecutive games against the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers for their first stretch of losing two or more in a row in three years. Dan Campbell still had his analytical mentality of going for it on fourth down with a bonafide offense led by Jared Goff and with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery as available assets to use. Detroit needed to win its final two games and have the Green Bay Packers lose their final two contests in order to make it into the playoff field as the 7 seed. But they were facing a Vikings team hungry for a season series sweep against them to repay for the stretch of five straight losses suffered at the hands of the Michigan NFL team. This was only the second ever Christmas game in Lions history, with their only other one being a home game at the old Pontiac Silverdome against the Denver Broncos in 1999. Detroit lost that game 17-7 in a game that occurred the year after Barry Sanders retired from playing football. Meanwhile, the Vikings’ Christmas game record stood at 1-3, with their only win coming in a 1989 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals at the old MetroDome. Their three losses were against the New Orleans Saints in 2020, the Baltimore Ravens in 2005 and the Dallas Cowboys in an NFC Divisional game matchup back in 1971 at old Metropolitan Stadium(the actual first NFL game on Christmas ever). So, let’s see how this Winter Warrior game at U.S Bank Stadium played out.

The Vikings won the toss and elected to receive so that Brosmer could be comfortable early on. After an epic Gjallahorn blowing/Skol Chant by a big fan of the Vikings in actor Josh Duhamel, the opening kickoff was returned by Myles Price, who went down on the synthetic turf and was injured right away. Not the best way to open up a Christmas game with the kick returner getting injured. Brosmer would eventually get on the field and threw an incomplete pass to start the game. After a one-yard run by Aaron Jones, Brosmer got sacked on third down by Alex Anzalone. The punt unit came on for Minnesota and Ryan Wright booted the ball to the Detroit 33-yard line, where Kalif Raymond had a short return of four yards. The first drive for the Lions began with a Goff connection to Amon-Ra St. Brown for 11 yards and a first down. A four-yard run by Gibbs was followed by a sack on Goff by Harrison Smith, who was bound to have a big day on Christmas. On third down, Goff found Gibbs for a gain of 10 yards and was a little short of the line to gain. On fourth down, the Detroit offense stayed on the field to go for it, but before the ball was snapped a flag was thrown on the field for a false start on the center Kingsley Eguakun. The punting unit came on for the Lions instead and Jack Fox kicked the ball downfield, where it rolled into the end zone for a touchback.

The second drive of the day for the Vikings offense began with a three-yard run by Jones and then a penalty for defensive holding on Detroit. Brosmer completed his first pass of the day to Justin Jefferson, who picked up five yards before being pushed out of bounds. Jones then had a 10-yard run for a first down and Brosmer found Jefferson again for a gain of nine. Kevin O’Connell had to call the first timeout of the half before second down, which was a run by Jones for no gain. On third down, Brosmer scrambled with the ball himself for a gain of 11 yards and a first down. After a five-yard run by Jones, Brosmer threw a short pass to Jones, who was tackled right away for a loss of four yards. On third down, Brosmer would get swarmed by a couple of pass rushers and got sacked by Aidan Hutchinson for a massive loss of 15 yards. Due to bad playcalling, the Vikings missed out on an early chance to score and the ensuing punt by Wright was pinned inside the 10-yard line.

The next drive for the Lions began with a four-yard run by Gibbs and on second down David Montgomery got his first carry of the day and was ruled to have a first down. However, O’Connell threw the challenge flag on the field to review the spot of the ball. After a replay review, the ruling on the field was reversed and Montgomery was ruled a yard short. It would be third down and an easy pickup could be expected by the Detroit offense. Instead on the snap, Goff aborted the ball as he was under center and the loose ball would be recovered by Andrew Van Ginkel. An amazing turnover after a daring challenge won by the Vikings. Now in the red zone, the offense had a chance to punch the ball into the end zone. A couple of runs by Jones picked up a first down and Brosmer threw an incomplete pass over the head of Jefferson in the end zone. Jones came close to scoring on 2nd & goal and did so on the next play, as the Vikings had successfully scored a touchdown off the fumbled snap. The extra point by Reichard was good as Jones scored his first touchdown since Week 10. A good score to get ahead of the Lions early on.

The ensuing kickoff was returned by Tom Kennedy to the 30-yard line and the drive for Detroit garnered an early first down on a Goff pass to Jameson Williams to conclude the first quarter. The second quarter began with a run by Gibbs for four yards and then on second down Gibbs got another carry. However, Gibbs fumbled the ball as Eric Wilson forced it out and the ball was recovered by Byron Murphy. Back-to-back drives with fumbles forced by the Brian Flores defense. The Minnesota offense would be in plus-territory to start out the drive as well. This drive off a turnover was a little more sloppy as a run by Jones was followed by a Brosmer pass to tight end Ben Sims, who barely caught the ball after losing control of it initially. On third down, two consecutive false starts happened and on third and longer Brosmer got sacked again by Hutchinson. The following punt by Wright went into the end zone for a touchback.

The ensuing drive for the Lions took a very long time, as a sack on Goff by Van Ginkel was overcome with a long completion on third down to rookie wideout Isaac TesLaa for 28 yards. Then another third down completion occurred between Goff and St. Brown for 13 yards and a couple of good runs by Gibbs picked up a first down in field goal range. On the next set of downs, a pass for negative yardage on second down was followed by a Goff completion to St. Brown for 23 yards and a first down in the red zone. A run by Gibbs would have an injury timeout as Detroit right tackle Penei Sewell was hurt on the play. After another short pickup by Gibbs, a third down pass by Goff to St. Brown was short of the line to gain as Van Ginkel wrapped up the star receiver. On fourth down, Campbell kept his offense on the field and Goff handed the ball off to Montgomery, who powered forward for a first down in spite of being stonewalled by Wilson. O’Connell opted to use the Vikings’ second challenge of the game in thinking that Montgomery was short of the line to gain again. However, the ruling on the field was upheld and Minnesota would be unable to challenge a play for the rest of the game. A run by Montgomery for a loss of a yard occurred before the two-minute warning in this already long drive. On 2nd & goal, Goff threw an incomplete pass and on 3rd & goal Montgomery was tackled for a loss of a yard by Jalen Redmond. Before the crucial 4th & goal play, Campbell called a timeout and the Lions’ offense went back onto the field for another gamble. Goff threw a pass up high into the end zone, where TesLaa made the catch and came down with the ball for the touchdown. The extra point by Jake Bates was good as Detroit had completed a long 19-play drive that took up 10 minutes of game time.

The ensuing kickoff was a touchback as the Vikings looked to score before halftime. The first play of the drive was a Brosmer incomplete pass but a flag was on the field for an illegal contact foul by D.J Reed. On the next play, Brosmer completed a short pass to Jones for a gain of four yards, but on second down Brosmer got sacked by Al-Quadin Muhammad for a loss of ten yards. O’Connell called the final timeout of the half with around 30 seconds left. On third down, Brosmer passed the ball to Jones, who caught it for a gain of 10 yards but was tackled short of the line to gain. Jones got banged up on the tackle by Jack Campbell and the clock stopped without Detroit having to use a timeout. After the punt by Wright was a touchback, the Lions offense came on to start from the 20-yard line. But the drive didn’t last long as Goff was sacked by Blake Cashman and the clock ran to zeros to end the half.

It was a 7-7 tie and that was not bad all things considered for the Vikings. With two turnovers forced by the defense, the offensive momentum for Detroit was being contained. Brosmer had completed most of his passes in spite of working behind a patchwork offensive line that gave up a few sacks. Other than the long drive in the second quarter, the Lions couldn’t get any offensive rhythm in this game. The second half would be do-or-die for Detroit’s slight playoff chances. The halftime waiting period took longer than usual due to a halftime performance on the field of U.S Bank Stadium headlined by Snoop Dogg and with appearances from an assortment of other musical artists. The Christmas-themed halftime show was a fun way to celebrate the holiday for everyone in attendance and those watching on Netflix.

The second half began with a Lions kickoff return and a first down completion by Goff to St. Brown. A few runs by Montgomery could not pick up a first down and on fourth and short, the Detroit offense stayed on to go for it in being one yard away from the line to gain. But just like the opening drive of the first half, the Lions had a false start back them up and forced their punting unit onto the field. The punt by Fox was fair caught by Jalen Nailor, who was taking over punt return duties with Myles Price out for the game. The opening drive for the Vikings was short lived as a short run by Jones was followed by an incomplete pass by Brosmer, who completed a third down pass to Jefferson but he was tackled a few yards short of the first down marker. The ensuing punt by Wright was a good one and the Lions would start their next drive at their 36-yard line.

On the first play of the Detroit drive, Gibbs ran for only one yard and on second down Goff got sacked on a safety sack by Theo Jackson for a loss of nine yards. On third and long, Goff launched a deep pass downfield, but with the pass being uncontrollably thrown, it gave Byron Murphy a perfect angle to intercept the ball for his second turnover of the game. A three-turnover game for the Vikings’ defense for the third time this season, joining the Week 14 game against Washington and the Week 3 game against Cincinnati(where there were five turnovers forced).

The first play of the new drive was a five-yard scramble by Brosmer and a flag was on the field for defensive holding on Rock Ya-Sin for an automatic first down. Ty Chandler, who was activated off injured reserve for this game, got his first carries in more than three months as he ran for three yards before a completion by Brosmer to Oliver for eight yards and a first down. Chandler then had consecutive runs of five yards long for a first down into field goal range, with Anzalone getting injured on the play. After a short run by Chandler, Brosmer was sacked on back-to-back plays and the field goal unit came on to have Reichard attempt a 52-yard kick, which he made to give Minnesota a 10-7 lead.

After the kickoff return by Kennedy, the Lions looked to get under control, but Goff threw a pass towards St. Brown that was intercepted by Harrison Smith, who had his 39th career interception. Back-to-back picks thrown on back-to-back passes by Goff, who was definitely getting flustered by the Brian Flores defense. With the ball now in Detroit territory, the Vikings had a golden chance to cash in, but Brosmer threw a deep pass towards Jordan Addison that was incomplete and then a wildcat formation occurred where Chandler got the snap and ran forward for a gain of four yards. On third down, Brosmer threw another incomplete pass and with the ball inside the 40-yard line, the field goal unit came on for Reichard to kick a long 56-yard attempt. The kick went up and it glided through the uprights to give the Vikings a 13-7 lead. All 13 points had been scored off turnovers by the Lions, who were still down by one possession in spite of all their mistakes.

Another drive for Detroit had a start of consecutive runs by Gibbs and then a third down pass by Goff to St. Brown for a gain of seven yards and a first down. The third quarter ended as the Vikings looked to hold off the Lions for a Christmas win. On the first play of the critical quarter, Goff dropped back to pass but he was swarmed right away by Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkel, who strip-sacked him as they met at the quarterback. The ball was forced out on the hit by Turner and it was recovered by Redmond for the fifth turnover forced by the defense. The Vikings were playing like Winter Warriors on the defensive side on Christmas as they had matched their season-high for turnovers in a game with five. The offense needed to figure things out in order to put the lead out of reach for Detroit.

Unfortunately a six-yard completion by Brosmer to Jones was negated due to an offensive holding foul on Justin Skule. On a play from midfield, Brosmer lost the ball when he tried to do a run-option with Chandler and he had to pounce on it a few yards back from the line of scrimmage. On the next play, Brosmer threw another incomplete pass to Jones, who got a conservative handoff on third down to get back to midfield. Another wasted drive by this struggling Vikings offense, as the punt by Wright was caught by Raymond at the nine-yard line and Raymond returned it for nine yards. The Lions’ next drive began with a couple of runs by Gibbs and a sneak run by Goff on third and short to get a first down. A couple of good tackles on Gibbs were made and on third down Goff completed a short pass to St. Brown, who was tackled by Isaiah Rodgers for only a gain of five yards. The punt by Fox was a beauty, as it curved to the right and went out of bounds at the one-yard line in Minnesota territory.

With under nine minutes left, time was running out for the Lions, who desperately needed a quick stop and a touchdown drive that would give them the lead. Having their backs near the end zone, a couple of runs by Chandler gave the Vikings’ offense some breathing room. But on third down, Brosmer nearly got himself sacked in the end zone for a safety and nearly committed intentional grounding as he threw a wild pass while getting brought down. The pass was ruled incomplete and there was no grounding called for a potential safety in the end zone. The punt by Wright was returned for 14 yards by Raymond and Detroit had good field position for their next drive.

The first play of the next Lions drive was a pass by Goff to Montgomery for a gain of 13 yards and a first down into Vikings territory. Another short completion by Goff to Montgomery occurred and then Montgomery ran for a strong gain of eight yards, which was good enough for a first down. A two-yard run by Montgomery happened and then Goff threw an incomplete pass that was deflected by Redmond. On third down, Goff had another pass broken up and on fourth down Campbell decided to have his field goal unit come on. Bates attempted a 48-yard kick, which he made to put Detroit down by a score of 13-10 with under five minutes left in regulation.

The Vikings needed to desperately get an add-on score so that the Lions couldn’t have any chance and that meant scoring a touchdown. Having to score on their own power, Minnesota faced a task with an inefficient offense with Brosmer at the helm. A big play needed to happen in order to lift the team to victory. The ensuing kickoff by Bates was a touchback and the Vikings’ offense started from the 35-yard line. The drive started with a run for no gain by Jones and before the second down play, Minnesota called a timeout to draw up a good play. Out of the timeout, Brosmer took the snap but handed the ball off to Jordan Addison, who was running a cross route behind the line of scrimmage. Addison used his speed to not only get the first down, but also to dash past all of the Lions defenders downfield. Addison ran all the way for a huge, 65-yard touchdown. His first score since Week 11 against Chicago and the Vikings now had a two-possession lead. The extra point by Reichard was good and it was a 20-10 lead for Minnesota.

Detroit was running out of time to respond and the Lions needed to get a score before the two-minute warning to have a chance. The kickoff by Reichard was a touchback and with a little under four minutes left, Detroit got a big play right away as Goff found Jameson Williams for a big gain of 22 yards into Vikings’ territory. Being close to field goal range for Bates was huge as the next play was an incomplete pass by Goff to tight end Anthony Firkser and the following play was also an incomplete pass to St. Brown. On third down, Goff aborted the snap again like he did on his first drive and had to run to get the ball, which was rolling backwards this time. But trailing behind Goff was Andrew Van Ginkel, who had recovered the first aborted snap. And this time, Van Ginkel somehow recovered it after Goff landed on it and never got full control of the ball. It was the sixth turnover of the game forced by the Brian Flores defense and the second fumble recovered by Van Ginkel. A huge missed chance for the Lions as the Vikings were in position to seal off this game and put a ribbon on it.

From the Detroit 45-yard line, the first play of the new drive was a run by Jones for three yards. Campbell called his team’s first timeout with three minutes left on the clock and on second down, Jones had a two-yard run followed by another timeout called by the Lions. On third down, Brosmer stepped back to pass and threw the ball to Jefferson, who caught the ball for a big gain of 10 yards and went down in bounds for a humongous first down. The clock ticked down to the two-minute warning after Jones ran for no gain. After a one-yard run by Jones, Campbell called his team’s final timeout. On third down, Jones had a gain of five yards and O’Connell called the second timeout of the half for the Vikings after letting the clock tick down. The field goal unit came on and Reichard drilled a 42-yard kick to push the lead to the equivalent of two touchdowns.

The game ended after a few completions by Goff and the Vikings won 23-10 on Christmas Day at U.S Bank Stadium. The Lions had been eliminated from playoff contention and Minnesota was no longer in last place in the NFC North. Due to two wins over Detroit, the Vikings now boast a record of 8-8 and are in third place currently in the division. This result also solidifies the fact that no team in the NFC North will finish with double-digit losses, solidifying the division as arguably the best one in pro football this year. In spite of only three net passing yards and being sacked seven times, Max Brosmer did not cost the Vikings this game as he committed no turnovers and led scoring drives on four of the six takeaways that the Brian Flores defense forced. With two rushing touchdowns on a short run by Jones and a long one by Addison, the run game was swell for the winter warrior threaded Vikings. The defense getting a season-high six turnovers against the Lions was justice for the loss in Week 18 last season that denied Minnesota a division title and instead forced them into a 14-3 record as a Wild Card. Eliminating Detroit was the best gift that this Vikings team could give to themselves and their fans.

Now with a chance to not finish in last place, all that this team needs to do to cement that is either by beating the Green Bay Packers(who clinched a playoff berth thanks to the Lions’ loss) in their season finale at home next week or if the battered Detroit squad loses in their Week 18 game against the Chicago Bears. The Packers might still have a chance to win the division, but they need to win out and Chicago needs to lose their final two games in order for that to happen. Jordan Love suffered a concussion in the Week 16 game at Soldier Field and is out for Green Bay’s regular season home finale against the Baltimore Ravens. Whether Love plays or not in Week 18 is unknown, but the game could be flexed into a Saturday afternoon game that will be broadcasted on ESPN and ABC. The time window and date for this game along with all other Week 18 games is currently unknown, but if the Packers still have a division title or higher Wild Card seed to play for, then the game might occur on Sun, Jan 4, 2026. For now, the Vikings can celebrate the fact that they have a chance to finish above .500 after a hard season of bumps and bruises. From 4-8 to 8-8 takes a lot of work, dedication and commitment, especially for a team that was eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago. A five-game winning streak would be the perfect way to close out this season and Minnesota will have a chance to do just that. Whether J.J McCarthy returns for the Packers game is unknown, but if he does play, he won’t have to worry about Micah Parsons, who is out for the season with an ACL tear. A special Christmas win gives the Vikings a 2-3 record on the actual holiday and solidifies an undefeated month of December for the second straight season. That is something to be happy about for everybody who loves the most successful franchise to have never won a Lombardi Trophy.