**2\. 'Sonic' and 'Knuckles'**
Ben Johnson left his post as offensive coordinator for Chicago, becoming the Bears head coach.
It hasn't mattered, either.
Detroit's offense is revving under John Morton, who LaPorta dubbed in July as a "brilliant mind." The Lions are averaging 30.7 points a game this season, and 36.7 at home, so, yeah, that comment's verified.
"I think \[Morton\] plays to the strengths of the guys on the roster, like most good coaches do," said Flores, expressing that fundamentals will be extra pertinent against a loaded lineup. "They've got a good quarterback; it runs through him. They've got good receivers. They've got good backs. They've got a good o-line. And, you know, having that versatility or that variety allows them to have a balance offensively where it's, 'Hey, if you load up on a run, they're going to pass it. You load up on a pass, they're going to run it. You blitz, they've got screens. I mean, they've got an array of variety offensively."
Morton's energizer bunnies, or rather extremely fast blue hedgehog and brutally strong red echidna are running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, who are nicknamed after the video game characters.
Together, they're the only teammate duo in 2025 to date with 300-plus rush yards and 4-plus rush TDs each. They've scored a touchdown in the same game 14 times in their careers, which is tied with former Cowboys Emmitt Smith and Daryl Johnston for the most such games among RB duos in the Super Bowl era. And they helped Detroit produce an NFL-best seven runs of 20-plus yards from Weeks 1-7 this year.
There's not much else to be said, and yet there's not enough space to qualify their impacts.
Like clockwork, Detroit softens defenses with Montgomery and then slashes them with Gibbs.
Shifty and quick as a hummingbird, and a slippery tackle-breaker in his own right, Gibbs leads the Lions with 720 yards and seven touchdowns from scrimmage; he's one of five NFL players with at least 700 and seven in 2025. And like his quarterback, Gibbs relishes playing the Vikings. He toted the rock 38 times for 255 yards (6.7 avg.) and grabbed nine balls for 75, with six TDs, in two games against Minnesota last year.
Piggybacking off Flores' previous comments, the Vikings have to do all the non-sexy things correctly in the Lions den.
"For us, it's (about) fundamentals, technique, communication, everybody on the same page," he said, pointing out the buck stops with himself. "The premiums are setting edges, being physical, shedding violently – all those things that oftentimes are coach-speak or viewed as coach-speak. They're real things against really every team in the National Football League but certainly this one."