Defense dominates as Vikings beat Lions 20-7, improve to 9-4
Everson Griffen #97 and Danielle Hunter #99 of the Minnesota Vikings celebrate a sack of David Blough #10 of the Detroit Lions in the fourth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium on December 8, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Minnesota Vikings defeated th ((Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS - Mike Zimmer wanted his defense to get back to playing with a chip on its shoulder after a rough Monday night in Seattle. Kirk Cousins spoke Sunday about the danger of overlooking a three-win team in the NFL, where the cliché holds true that any team can win on any given Sunday.
Cousins said earlier this week it would be “immature” and “clueless” to look past the 3-8-1 Lions as the Minnesota Vikings continue to chase a spot in the NFC Playoffs. The Vikings responded from Monday’s loss with one of their more complete games of the season in a 20-7 win over the Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium. They improved to 9-4 on the season, with two out of their last three at home against division opponents.
Cousins threw for 242 yards and a touchdown, Dalvin Cook ran for 62 yards and a key score late in the first half and Danielle Hunter led a dominant defensive effort with three sacks. Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo each intercepted rookie David Blough, and the Lions didn’t surpass 100 yards of total offense until their 40th play from scrimmage, early in the fourth quarter.
The only thing they didn’t accomplish, after giving up 444 yards and 37 points at Seattle, was completing the shutout. Blough hit Kenny Golladay for a 10-yard touchdown just before the two-minute warning, and its sole purpose was making the betting line relevant.
“I think it’s important we get a chip back on our shoulder and I thought we kind of did that today. So we need to keep going and keep doing that. That’s why I wish we wouldn’t have let them score,” Zimmer said.
Hunter made life miserable for Blough, with three sacks on the day. He became the third Vikings’ player in franchise history to record at least 50 sacks in his first five seasons. He’s the youngest to do it, having turned 25 in late October.
“It’s an honor, I definitely didn’t do it by myself. Teammates, coaches and all that. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been where I’m at today,” Hunter said. “If it was an individual effort, I would’ve been nowhere close to it.”
The Vikings set the tone early on defense, batting down Blough’s first two attempts from scrimmage. Hunter then got the first of his three sacks on Blough, and the Lions had to punt away their opening possession.
They got on the board with just less than six minutes to go in the first quarter. Cousins capped a 10-play, 82-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown to rookie Bisi Johnson. It was his second touchdown of the season, and Johnson has seen more snaps with Adam Thielen missing his fifth straight game due to a hamstring injury.
Johnson was one of 11 different Vikings’ receivers to make a catch Sunday.
The Vikings took a 10-0 lead on a 27-yard field goal from Dan Bailey with 4:42 left in the first half. Bailey had to come on after the Vikings were going for a first down on a 4th-and-1, but the entire offense was flagged for a false start.
Minnesota’s defense kept Detroit from moving the ball for a majority of the first half. They amassed just 70 total yards, and the Lions’ only sustained drive of the half ended in a Matt Prater 45-yard field goal that went wide right.
In a critical shift of momentum in the game, the Vikings turned it into seven points. Cousins hit Stefon Diggs for a 44-yard gain down the sideline, then Dalvin Cook finished a 65-yard drive that took just 45 seconds with a 3-yard touchdown run. The Vikings led 17-0 at the half, and got the ball to start the third quarter.
Diggs finished his day with six catches for 92 yards, maybe the most important one coming on that drive.
“It was huge, I was just talking about how football is a lot about momentum. In a game, momentum plays a huge role and it’s teams who can overcome stuff like that who are great,” Johnson said. “When momentum is on our side, it’s good. You saw in the Denver game when momentum wasn’t, we overcame it.”
Cousins finished the first half 17-of-20 for 182 yards and the score to Johnson. He spoke multiple times after the game about the importance of not overlooking the Lions, and that the win felt “weird.”
“This was a weird one because it felt like we couldn’t take a big step forward. It was either you don’t get it done and it’s going to be a problem or you win and you kind of shrug your shoulders and move on,” Cousins said. “We just wanted to make sure we didn’t lose that edge or that energy.”
It was a critical win for the Vikings, who needed to keep pace in the NFC North Division after the Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins 20-15 to improve to 10-3. The Vikings travel to L.A. to face the Chargers next Sunday before the Packers visit U.S. Bank Stadium in a few weeks.
The Chargers entered Sunday 4-8, and at the bottom of the AFC West standings.
“Every win is hard-earned. Every win is tough. You just kind of get nervous about ever letting your guard down in this league because when you do that, you get hit in the mouth,” Cousins said.
Sunday’s win was about the Vikings’ defense. They sacked Blough five times, with Everson Griffen and Jaleel Johnson joining Hunter’s party. The Vikings had seven tackles for a loss on the day.
Detroit’s first seven drives amounted to five punts, four three-and-outs and Prater’s missed field goal. The Lions also managed just 70 rushing yards, and averaged 3.2 yards per carry.
It was the response Zimmer and the defense were looking for after getting gashed for 444 yards, 218 on the ground and 37 points on Monday Night Football. The Vikings entered the game ranked No. 16 in total defense, not up to the standard they hold themselves to.
“We had to set the tone. At the end of the day, we know that this game was big and all the rest are big, but we had to come out here and play our defense,” defensive tackle Linval Joseph said.