Saturday Night Threw Salt in the Wound for Vikings
Last weekend, the Minnesota Vikings fell to the Detroit Lions, thus ending their hopes of a second consecutive NFC North title.
Had the Vikings won their final three games, and the Lions lost their final three, Minnesota would have snuck into the top of the division by the end of the year considering they had two games against Detroit to finish the year.
Instead, Minnesota’s division hopes ended after Nick Mullens threw four interceptions in Week 16, and Detroit’s offense proved to be too much for a hampered Vikings defense. Then, the results of Saturday night’s game between the Lions and Dallas Cowboys threw extra salt in the fresh wound.
Saturday Night Threw Salt in the Wound for Vikings
The reason why a division title seemed possible for Minnesota despite their three-game deficit behind Detroit was due to the Lions’ road matchup against a tough Dallas team. If the Vikings had won last weekend and went on to defeat the Packers in Week 17, it would set up a Week 18 game for the division title.
The caveat to ensure that happened was a Lions loss to those Cowboys, and that is exactly what happened on Saturday. However, it isn’t even the fact that Detroit lost in Dallas that truly hurts. It’s how they lost.
Trailing by seven points late in the fourth quarter, the Lions had one more chance to get back in the game. Jared Goff promptly led a nine-play, 75-yard drive in under two minutes and hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for an 11-yard TD, cutting the score to 20-19.
Trailing by one, Dan Campbell had a decision to make. He could either kick an extra point and send the game into overtime, or he could go for the dagger and run the offense back out there to end the game with a two-point conversion.
Seeing as the Lions were on the road, Campbell opted to run a two-point try, and at first, it seemed successful. A funky play call resulted in LT Taylor Decker catching a pass from Goff in the end zone, but at the end of the play, a flag was thrown for being an ineligible receiver.
Detroit moved back to the seven-yard-line, but Campbell was intent on ending this football game. He again trotted the Lions offense out on the field for a two-point try, and Goff’s pass to St. Brown fell incomplete.
However, yet another penalty by Dallas moved the Lions closer to the goal line for a third try. Unfortunately for Detroit, Goff threw a bad pass to James Mitchell, and the Lions were unable to convert, thus ending the game in a 20-19 loss.
Had Detroit been able to win this game on the road, Vikings fans simply would have had to tip their caps to the new division winners. After all, these Vikings lost to Dallas by an embarrassing score of 40-3 at home last season.
Instead, the Lions were unable to secure the victory despite coming tantalizingly close, and for the Vikings, it doesn’t even matter. They were unable to take care of business against Detroit on their home field, and the loss won’t come back to bite any Lions knee caps.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.