The Detroit Lions turned in one of their worst performances of the year against the Minnesota Vikings, falling 27-24 to their divisional foes. While the score suggests a close battle, the Lions were playing
from behind nearly the entire game, and they required a 3-for-3 conversion rate on fourth downs just to keep it close.
So, naturally, the report card this week is going to look a little ugly. Here are my grades for the Detroit Lions’ Week 9 game against the Vikings.
Quarterback: D
The offensive problems were multifaceted against the Vikings, but Jared Goff didn’t do the team any favors. He missed some relatively easy throws (crosser to Kalif Raymond), held onto the ball too long, and was uncomfortable in the pocket for the entire day.
At his best, Goff can make defenses pay when they blitz and pressure him, but on Sunday against the Vikings, he seemingly had zero answers. At the very least, he’s becoming good at avoiding negative plays, but with five sacks taken, Detroit was playing behind the sticks all day.
Running back: F
The longest play by Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery was a 13-yard catch and run from Montgomery. Jahmyr Gibbs, the team’s most explosive player, didn’t have a gain above 7 yards. At times, both running backs looked indecisive in their reads. And while the offensive line certainly didn’t help them a ton, outside of that one Montgomery catch, neither back did anything to produce any yardage on their own. Gibbs’ 25 rushing yards were his third-lowest output in a single game—and the second time this year he’s been held below 30 (Packers, Week 1).
Worst of all, Montgomery’s third-quarter fumble turned quickly into a Vikings touchdown, extending their lead to 10 at the time.
The running backs were leaned on heavily this game in pass protection, and it was mostly a rough go. Several times, they were fooled by simulated pressures, and even when they got the assignment right, they were overpowered more often than not.
Tight ends: A-
Sam LaPorta was the Lions’ biggest weapon in this game. He hauled in 66 yards and a touchdown on the first drive of the game alone. Unfortunately, the Lions seemed to go away from him for the rest of the game, as the Pro Bowl tight end only caught three passes for 31 yards the rest of the way. Brock Wright also had a big play, converting a third down with an 11-yard catch.
I hesitate to give the unit a full A because of how poor the run and pass protection were on the day. On live viewing, it’s hard to assign blame, but given that this position is so important to both phases, I’m sure they had their hand in it.
Wide receivers: B-
Overall, both Jameson Williams (four catches, 66 yards, 1 TD) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (9 for 97) had productive days receiving. However, both had drops at critical times in the game. Additionally, Williams got tagged with a block in the back penalty, and Detroit continues to get zero production out of their third receiver, be it Kalif Raymond or Isaac TeSlaa. Neither player has posted more than 30 receiving yards in a game this season. Raymond has been held catchless in three games this year, while this is the fifth game TeSlaa has not caught a ball (although he only played three snaps against the Vikings).
Offensive line: F
Detroit seemed wholly unprepared for the Vikings’ blitz packages. Goff took 11 quarterback hits in this game, the most the Lions have given up since Week 17 of 2023 (vs. Cowboys).
Perhaps more disappointing was their failure to push the line of scrimmage in the run game. Detroit managed just 65 yards of rushing on 3.3 yards per carry.
Per NFL Pro, the Lions had just a 25% success rate on the ground. That was:
- The third-lowest of any team in Week 9
- The worst rush success rate of the Lions’ 2025 season
- The second-worst rush success rate in the Dan Campbell era, only surpassed by the Week 16 game against the Panthers in 2022 (23.5%).
The unit was also responsible for three penalties on the day.
Defensive line: D
While the defense did a decent job pressuring J.J. McCarthy and mostly preventing him from getting out of the pocket or scrambling (nine rushes, 12 yards), they were abysmal in defending the run. This was a Vikings rushing attack that seemingly had no life through seven games, yet they managed 142 yards and 4.9 yards per carry. The only time the Vikings had a better performance this year was against an absolutely terrible Bengals defense (169 yards, 5.5 YPC. Despite facing a stacked box 48.3% of the time (highest of the season), the Vikings averaged 2.42 yards before contact, their second-highest production of the year.
The defensive line was also responsible for three penalties on the day.
Linebackers: C
This is a tough unit to grade, because there were about as many good plays and bad. Jack Campbell continues to play very well both in coverage and as a pass rusher. I am not dinging him for the roughing the passer call, because it was a terrible call.
But the rest of the unit struggled. They were plenty culpable in the run defense struggles, occasionally filling the wrong gaps or missing tackles. The worst play from the unit came from Alex Anzalone, who took a terrible angle on McCarthy’s one successful scramble, and it resulted in a back-breaking touchdown.
Secondary: B-
It’s hard to fault the secondary in a game they allowed just 143 yards to a unit that has one of the best set of receivers in football. The Lions got a really solid performance from Terrion Arnold in his game back, posting all three of the team’s pass breakups, including the first interception of his career.
However, any time the Lions seemingly needed a play from the secondary, they didn’t get it. They gave up two red zone passing touchdowns and allowed the Vikings to convert the following third-and-longs:
- Third-and-9
- Third-and-9
- Third-and-13 (illegal contact)
- Third-and-5 (to clinch the game)
The secondary was far from the biggest problem on Sunday, but Detroit really needed one more play from the unit, and didn’t get it.
Special teams: F
It’s a bad day on special teams if you allow one big play. It’s a disaster if you allow two and nearly a third.
The most costly was Detroit’s blocked field goal, which coach Dan Campbell said had too low of a kicking trajectory. Not only did that take away three points for the Lions, but it put the Vikings immediately in scoring position. That’s a six-point swing in a three-point game.
But Detroit’s kick coverage was also terrible in this game. They opened up the game by allowing a 61-yard return, which led to a quick game-tying score for Minnesota. Then were bailed out by a holding penalty that negated a kick return touchdown.
Even Jack Fox was not immune to some of the problems. This week, special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said the team needs better kicks when backed up in their own zone:
We’ve been exceptional, the best we’ve been probably since I’ve been here with the ball around midfield. But when we’ve been backed up, we can get more yards on our net punt, that would probably be one area that I’d say we can improve a little bit on.
It was more of the same on Sunday. Fox pinned the Vikings inside their own 20 twice when kicking from midfield. But here are some of the other punts:
- From own 21-yard line: 43-yard punt, downed at Vikings 36
- From own 35-yard line: 40-yard punt, downed at Vikings 25
- From own 16-yard line: 54-yard punt, downed at Vikings 30
Obviously, that last punt is solid, but Fox needs to be better with the other two.
Coaching: D
Let’s start with some in-game management, which I thought was overall very good. Campbell opted to go for it on fourth down three times, with two resulting in touchdowns and the third continuing a drive that should’ve ended in points (blocked FG). Additionally, Campbell’s third-down challenge of a Justin Jefferson catch resulted in a crucial overturn.
The most controversial moment of Campbell’s day was choosing not to onside kick it at the end. Personally, I think he should have because it gives you two chances at getting the ball: recovering the kick or holding them to a three-and-out. Whereas, if you kick it away, your only chance is a three-and-out. That said, the Vikings have a long-distance kicker, and a three-and-out after a failed onside kick could have resulted in a field goal and Minnesota extending their lead to six. In other words, I’m nitpicking here, and Campbell even admitted he considered onside kicking.
The much bigger problem here is that the Lions looked completely flat out of the bye week, and it’s hard to blame anyone but coaching there. The Lions outlined several problems they identified during their self scout, and none of them seemed fix. On offense, third down was still a massive problem (5-of-17), especially the third-and-manageables that Campbell specifically talked about. On defense, they continued to allow far too many third-and-long conversions, just as Kelvin Sheppard pointed out prior to the game.
Offensive coordinator John Morton will take the most heat this week, and it’s easy to see why. The offense looks as bad as it has since 2022. Blaming play-calling is low-hanging fruit and easy to do as an armchair coordinator, but execution can’t be the only problem when we’ve seen this group of players execute at a high level for over two years now. Morton needs to find some answers, and they better not involve third-and-long bubble screens.
