Nowhere was that more evident than how the defense manhandled Jahmyr Gibbs, the elite back who in two games vs. the Vikings last year posted 47 touches for 330 yards (7.0 per carry) and six touchdowns. Sunday, he touched the ball 12 times for 28 yards (2.3), a long gain of 7, no TDs and not even a single first down. He also gave up a critical third-down sack with a lackadaisical attempt to block Eric Wilson in the red zone near the end of the third quarter.
Javon Hargrave, who had eight tackles in a standout game, started two Detroit three-and-outs by simply beating the man across for him to drop Gibbs for minus-2 and 2 yards. Wilson had another tackle for loss on Gibbs, Josh Metellus a stop for 1 yard and Blake Cashman an open-field tackle for 6 yards on a third-and-8 completion. The effort Sunday was every bit as beautiful as it was ugly against the Chargers. It makes little sense, but that’s why we like the NFL.
It’s no mystery why the Vikings offense had good rhythm throughout most of this game. O’Connell ran the ball! He knows he has to, but he doesn’t always listen to himself. At halftime, when the Vikings had their first lead at Ford Field since 2021, O’Connell had called 19 passes and 11 runs, as many runs as the entire Chargers game. McCarthy was sacked three times, but he appeared comfortable because he had a running game averaging 6.0 yards a carry.
Things got more difficult when [Aaron Jones left because of a shoulder injury](https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-vikings-aaron-jones-myles-price-injury-report-detroit-lions/601504852) early in the third quarter. And O’Connell nearly blew the game by reverting to his pass-happy passions after the Lions gifted the Vikings a short field with a blocked field goal. It was first-and-goal at the 1 when Jordan Mason was stuffed for a 1-yard loss on a run up the middle. Some of us — even Fox announcer/former KOC teammate/QB GOAT Tom Brady — were pleading for more runs, but O’Connell threw the ball (incomplete) and rolled McCarthy to his left (sack). Two clock stoppages left the Lions with all three timeouts and the Vikings with a 20-yard field goal and too much time left (3:31).
After a Lions touchdown, KOC’s hand-picked franchise QB bailed him out with a great touch pass to Jalen Nailor to seal the victory. Overall, O’Connell called 30 passes and 29 runs, but one or two of those passes should have been red-zone runs.
The Lions didn’t look like the Lions. The Vikings’ physicality had a lot to do with that. But the Lions also were just out of sorts coming out of a bye after dominating a Buccaneers team that’s better than the Vikings. Detroit had a season-high 10 penalties — and two more that were declined — for a season-high 76 yards. There were three false starts (at home!), including one on third-and-9 at the Vikings 13. There were four defensive penalties (two of them personal fouls) that produced four first downs and nullified an interception.
The leg whip that Aidan Hutchinson delivered to McCarthy was intentional and deserving of a 15-yard penalty. But linebacker Jack Campbell’s roughing-the-passer penalty was a classic example of an NFL that goes too far, and everyone knows it. After delivering a textbook clean hit on McCarthy, Campbell then used the ground to try to brace his full weight from landing on McCarthy. And yet it still wasn’t enough to avoid being flagged for landing too hard on McCarthy. The Vikings ended up punting, but still, it’s a rule that’s bad for the game.