DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Lions are having trouble celebrating their win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Sunday's 19-15 decision was a key division victory against the league's last undefeated team, but the Lions played an enormous price.
The biggest loss was linebacker Jack Campbell, who remains hospitalized after a neck injury that left him face-down and motionless for about 10 minutes as players from both teams and 60,000 fans watched in silence at Ford
Field.
The Lions have been careful in releasing updates on his condition, saying only that he is still resting and recovering in the hospital, but coach Dan Campbell on Monday said the news was “positive.”
“The prayers are working, so we ask people to keep doing that,” said Dan Campbell, who was one of many coaches and players to visit Jack Campbell after Sunday's game. “I got to see his parents and talk to his wife, and everyone is in good spirits.”
While Campbell's injury received most of the attention on Monday, it wasn't the only one sustained by the Detroit defense.
Linebacker Jimmy Rolder will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, while cornerback D.J. Reed is expected to miss practice on Wednesday with a hip injury. In another scary moment, safety Brian Branch and defensive lineman D.J. Wonnum had a high-speed collision that put both players into the concussion protocol.
That's five key defenders battling injuries on a unit that has struggled badly at times this season.
“This is difficult, because we are all thinking about Jack,” Dan Campbell said. “It puts a lot of things in perspective for you, but with the world we live in, we still have to snap right back in and get ready for our next opponent. That's not an easy thing to do.”
Four games into the season, the Lions were 2-2 and allowing 31.8 points per game. They were lucky to even be at .500, since the New Orleans Saints missed a field goal that would have won the game at the end of regulation and a 2-point conversion that would have won it in overtime.
Over the last three games, though, Detroit has gone 3-0 while allowing 17.7 points per game. The Lions trailed in the last two weeks against the Green Bay Packers and Vikings, but ended up with low-scoring wins.
It probably isn't a significant concern, especially given Minnesota's top-tier defense, but Jared Goff had a rare tough day. He finished with season lows in completions (18) and yards (176), was intercepted for the first time this season, and took four sacks. Fortunately for Goff, the Lions eventually wore down Minnesota's run defense, finishing with 232 yards, and the QB threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Jameson Williams in the fourth quarter.
Sione Vaki came into 2026 as a career special-teams ace who had only carried the ball seven times in his first two seasons, including just one in 2025. However, the offseason trade of David Montgomery and the training-camp injury of Isiah Pacheco have left Vaki as Detroit's No. 2 running back behind Jahmyr Gibbs.
He didn't do much in the first six games of the season, but he picked up 65 yards on 11 carries against the Vikings, including some key gains as Detroit drove for the decisive touchdown.
The Lions only totaled 39 points against the Packers and Vikings, and one problem has been a lack of production from tight end Sam LaPorta. He had just four catches for 51 yards in those two games, although he made a huge fourth-quarter catch against Green Bay and picked up a late first down with a 2-yard run against Minnesota.
He got 13 targets on Oct. 4 against the Carolina Panthers, but only two against Green Bay and five against Minnesota.
Detroit's defense got the worst of the injuries on Sunday, but the offense didn't escape. Starting center Cade Mays left with a sprained ankle and running back/kick returner Jacob Saylors sustained a neck injury. It isn't clear if either will be available Sunday against Miami.
1 — The number of games the Dolphins have won this season, which is also the number of games in which they've scored 25 or more points. They rank 31st in the league in scoring, meaning Sunday's matchup is a good break for a banged-up Lions defense.
Lions players and coaches need to split their focus between Jack Campbell's recovery and preparing for the Dolphins. They know more about Campbell's condition than the public, and have had opportunities to see him, which could make the process easier or harder, depending on how he's doing.
___
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
