A NEW HOPE

VIKINGS 27

LIONS 24

Sports fandom is built on hope. Hope your team wins a game. Hope your team has a good season. Hope for a championship.

I entered week 9 with no hope for the Vikings. Their lousy play most of the season, culminating in that horrendous performance against the Chargers, and the way the entire master plan seemed to be crumbling around them, not only had me feeling hopeless about their chances at making something of the 2025 season, but even wondering if the next couple years were in jeopardy.

And to make it that much worse, the next game up was in Detroit, against a Lions team that is among the NFL's best, and a team that had beaten the Vikings 6 of the last 8 times (the only 2 Vikings wins being last second escapes), 5 in a row, and hadn't lost at home to us since the last game.of the 2020 season.

I expected a blowout. Instead, a season drained of hope got a giant injection of it, by virtue of the Vikings biggest upset win in 25 years.

It started like I dreaded it would, as the Lions took the ball and crushed righ down the field for a 7-0 lead, courtesy of a long 4th down TD catch and run by Sam LaPorta, who the Vikings seemed uninterested in covering OR tackling. 

So that brought us to the long anticipated return of JJ McCarthy. Out since the Falcons game, now even more so with the fate of the franchise resting on his performance. 

And you know what? JJ was good.

The Vikings offense responded with a quick start, sparked by a good Myles Price return. Aaron Jones broke off a couple of good runs. Then JJ finished things off with a terrific throw to Jefferson, who made a great grab for the touchdown.

Now, the Vikings beleaguered defense entered the competition. They started bringing the pressure on Jared Goff. They wrapped up the Lions playmakers in the open field. The Lions offense has massacred teams at times, especially at home, but not today.

The Vikjngs offense stayed hot early. McCarthy hit Jordan Addison on a deep shot that set up a TJ Hoockenson TD catch.

The Lions tied it on a TD drive off a short field, but the Vikings answered right back with a nice swing pass (weirdly ruled a run) to Jones that set up a field goal.

The Vikings could have extended the lead late in the half, but McCarthy got tagged with an interception that should not have been ruled an interception. 

The offense got stagnant for a while as KOC once again started to abandon the run, and the Lions pass rush turned up the heat (McCarthy eventually was sacked 5 times).

The defense kept up their strong play, in a game where just about everyone made an impact. One of the biggest was Blake Cashman punching the ball out on a Lions run, setting up the Vikings with a short field of their own. McCarthy scrambled in for the TD, and the lead was up to 10. 

Detroit put together their best drive since early in the game, but Eric Wilson crashed through to sack Goff and hold them to a field goal.

Probably the biggest play of the whole game came on the next Lions drive, also on a field goal. Levi Drake Rodriguez blocked the kick, Isaiah Rodgers picked the ball up and raced down the sideline, nearly scoring. 

A couple of big runs, one by Addison and one by Mason, had the Vikings on the doorstep of a game clinching touchdown. But KOC had to get cute and try throwing the ball twice down there. It stopped the clock, and the Vikings had to settle for 3. 

Still, a 2 score game with under 4 minutes left should be pretty safe. But nothing is ever easy. The Lions zipped down the field quite quickly, hitting a long TD pass (aided by a pretty obvious pushoff) just under the 2 minute warning.

So the Vikings needed one more 1st down, or risk giving the Lions the ball back with time left and likely losing the game.

A pair of runs burned timeouts, and on 3rd down, McCarthy was given the ball and told to make the play to win the game. And he did, throwing a pinpoint accurate pass to Jalen Nailor for a victory-sealing 1st down. 

I remain kind of a JJ McCarthy doubter, but this performance did a lot to ease my concern about his future. His statline was not huge (weirdly it was basically exactly the same as his one from week 1), but he made clutch plays in a tough road venue and when the game literally rested on his ability to make 1 play, he made that play. It doesn't mean I have him in Canton, or even the Pro Bowl, but when a guy making his 3rd NFL start even has the capability to make those plays, it is extremely encouraging.

And the overall team performance changes the entire outlook for the season. What looked like a lost season with an intimidating schedule now looks manageable. I mean, at Detroit is probably the hardest game on the schedule. And they won the game, without even playing the best they can. No game left looks impossible. Not anymore. 

It's incredible how one game can change so much. The 2025 season isn't a lost cause in which they only thing to observe is JJ McCarthy's development. Now, we still have that, but playoffs and even the NFC North are back in play.

We have hope again!