DETROIT — Twenty years ago, the 5-7 Vikings lost to the winless Lions at the Pontiac Silverdome, spelling the end of Dennis Green's coaching tenure.
The 2021 Vikings became the first team the Lions beat on Sunday afternoon. They are now 5-7, and it's anyone's guess what their future will hold.
After the Vikings trailed 20-6 at halftime and scored three touchdowns to put themselves in position to win, they allowed Detroit to drive 75 yards on 14 plays with no timeouts, giving up the game-winning score on a 11-yard Jared Goff pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown on fourth down with no time left.
The Vikings will play Thursday night at home against the Steelers, who tied the Lions earlier this season. They are a game behind the 6-7 Eagles for the NFC's final wild-card spot, and they will have little time to shake off a stunning loss.
Though they lost Adam Thielen to an ankle injury on the game's first series, the Vikings eventually rediscovered the play-action bootleg game they've used so much in previous years. Kirk Cousins hit Justin Jefferson six times for 91 yards in the second half alone, connecting with the receiver on a 50-yard downfield shot off play action that set up the Vikings' first touchdown in the second half. They then connected on the go-ahead score, a 3-yard touchdown pass with just under two minutes left.
Jefferson finished with 11 catches and 182 yards.
It appeared for much of the second half the winless Lions would stay that way.
Detroit's receivers dropped passes. Goff was intercepted by Cameron Dantzler, throwing into traffic for Hockenson. Lions cornerback Amani Oruwariye dropped an interception on a drive that led to a Vikings field goal. And Detroit coach Dan Campbell got conservative in the second half, calling runs on second and long, playing for a field goal with a third-and-10 run in the third quarter and running Jamaal Williams up the middle on a third-and-2 in the fourth quarter before Goff was stripped of the ball on a fourth-down bootleg from the Lions' own 28.
But down 27-23 with 1:50 remaining, the Lions drove 75 yards for the game-winner, when Goff hit St. Brown on a fourth-and-2 hook route underneath Dantzler, who was playing 10 yards off the receiver. The Lions mobbed St. Brown in the end zone, as the Vikings stood stunned on the field.
With Christian Darrisaw out because of an ankle injury, the Vikings decided to move Oli Udoh (who'd committed 10 holding penalties at right guard) to left tackle instead of starting veteran Rashod Hill. They put Garrett Bradbury back at center and moved Mason Cole to right guard.
At his new spot in the first half, Udoh didn't fare much better than he did at his old one. Charles Harris beat him around the edge of the line, stripping Cousins after the quarterback ran out of room to escape up the middle of the field. The Lions recovered, setting up Goff's first touchdown pass, to Brock Wright, who'd begun the day with two career catches for 14 yards.
The Lions, who hadn't scored 20 points in a game since Week 1, had that many by halftime. Goff, who posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating against the Vikings in 2018 (the year he took the Rams to the Super Bowl), matched that at one point in the first half, and finished the first two quarters 13-for-17 for 185 yards and two touchdowns.
The quarterback found plenty of room to throw over the middle of a Vikings defense that was without linebackers Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr. He hit Josh Reynolds for 28 yards on a play where Bashaud Breeland missed a tackle, and found Reynolds for another 27 on a deep over route where he beat Breeland across the field and caught the ball behind linebacker Troy Dye, who'd gotten sucked in by a play fake.
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Vikings allow late touchdown to lose 29-27 at Detroit, the Lions' first victory - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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