In two games against the Minnesota Vikings last season, Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs had 330 yards from scrimmage (255 rushing) and six total touchdowns (five rushing). With that in mind, it's fair to assume Vikings' defensive coordinator Brian Flores spent the offseason finding ways to better contain Detroit's offense.
In Week 9, Flores found his solution. The Vikings held the Lions to 65 rushing yards, and turned Jared Goff into a pure drop back passer. As part of that, pressure coming right up the middle worked excellently against the immobile Goff.
According to Pro Football Focus, Gibbs allowed seven pressures on 15 pass blocking snaps against the Vikings. Rendering Gibbs ineffective on the ground was one thing (nine carries for 25 yards), but turning him into a pass blocker to that extent led to him having just three catches for three yards in the game. Two of those catches went for negative yards.
The obvious residual of Gibbs doing so little against Minnesota was him putting up a season-low in fantasy points (5.8 points in full PPR scoring). It was actually the second time in the last three games he has posted single-digit fantasy points, but it somehow felt way worse than Week 6 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
PFF analyst talks Jahmyr Gibbs' fantasy managers off the ledge after Week 9 dud
Beckett Mesko of Pro Football Focus takes a look at boom and bust fantasy performances after each week, looking toward the next week. Gibbs' showing against the Vikings led the bust category from Week 9 as we move toward Week 10.
"Gibbs fell victim to the game script in Week 9. It was shaping up to be a big outing for the star running back, but it turned into 5.8 PPR points and an RB33 weekly finish."
"Gibbs totaled only 12 touches against the Vikings, the fewest he has seen all season, due to the Vikings‘ early lead. Minnesota kept its foot on the gas throughout the game, phasing Gibbs out of the Lions' plans. On top of the lack of touches, quarterback Jared Goff dropped back to pass 42 times, his second most in a game this season."
"But while it was a disappointing week for Gibbs, it shouldn't become a trend."
READ MORE: Jameson Williams' 2025 fantasy outlook is unchanged despite Week 9 outcome
Gibbs' fantasy managers shouldn't be losing any faith in him, and Mesko's "temperature check" confirmed it.
"Temperature check: Top-three RB over rest of season"
Week 10 against the Washington Commanders is definitely a get-right opportunity for Gibbs, and three of his four opponents after that enter the week in the bottom-10 of the league (as in, most generous) in fantasy points allowed to running backs (Yahoo! scoring).
Fantasy studs like Gibbs are not immune to an occasional dud. His managers can take solace in the fact his biggest dud of the season happened in Week 9 and not in say, Week 15 during the fantasy playoffs.