WEEK 12: Minnesota Vikings @ Detroit Lions Discussion

[808vikingsfan]

OMG, what happened to the Vibe in here?

The Lions are 6-4. Who have they beaten?

ARI, CLE, CHI, GB, MIN, and NYG. 5 of those teams are bottom feeders in the NFL. CHI is improved, but not great. There is one team on that list with a winning record: Us. They caught us with Keenum just three weeks in. Since then Keenum has won 7 straight games.

They've lost to every team they've played with a good record: CAR, ATL, NO, and PIT.

DET is a classic middle of the road NFL team. Last yea they over achieved with something like 6 late 4Q wins. This year they haven't been as lucky and are reverting to their mean. Two of those 4Q games were against us during the Blair Walsh meltdown.

We SHOULD win on Thursday.

The Vikings should beat them. They should've beaten DET twice last year too. It's a division game against a team that has had the Vikings number. The Vikings should be able to win this game by a good margin but my guess is it goes down to the wire again.

[John_Viveiros]

No less the turning point in the game was when Cook blows his knee out and obviously doesnt focus on ball security. They couldnt get anymore lucky than that. And they scored off that drive I believe

You are correct. The Vikes were leading 7-6, and the fumble allowed the Lions to get an easy TD and 2-pt conversion to go up, and eventually win, by the 14-7 score.

[S197]

Like I said, I do think we’ll beat Detroit. Just saying it’s a huge game for reasons most folks might not be aware of. Sorry for the bad vibes!

I thought it was a good post of a very real scenario. Welcome to the Board BTW.

The Lions seem to have some voodoo magic against opposing kickers and it has hurt us in the past. The Vikings are the better team but any given Sunday (or Thursday I guess) and all of that. The key will be getting pressure on Stafford and having him make mistakes.

[J. Kapp 11]

OK, let's all put down the Russian Roulette pistol. A loss will not relegate us to the sidelines in January. We'll still be leading the division.

And don't tell me Atlanta is better than us. Did you see the game last night at Seattle? The Seahawks did everything they could to bungle that game away. They had like a million yards in penalties and still had a chance to win late. Seattle has no offensive line and no running game, yet still put up 31. And if Blair Walsh hadn't have come up SHORT on a 52-yard field goal at the end, it would have gone to overtime. Atlanta's defense is TERRIBLE.

Carolina has one thing on offense, and that's Cam Newton. No balance. They traded away their No. 1 receiver. They have no running game except for Cam, who has never had a good game against a Zimmer-led defense.

And we are just flat-out better than Detroit. There's not an argument to be made. I seriously doubt we lose, but if we do, we're still 8-3 and in first place. Even if we lose, I could see 12-4 in this team's future. I will admit that Detroit's schedule is pretty pansy down the stretch after us. But they would have to win out to reach 12 wins.

We need to start believing in this team, guys. Our Vikings are very, very good. They're better than the '09 team. They're Super Bowl good. Obviously a lot has to happen before then, but they're good enough to get there. I have absolutely no doubt about that.

[J. Kapp 11]

Oh, and one more fact about the Lions game.

Matthew Stafford is 7-49 against teams with a winning record in his career.

Good luck, Kitties.

[jackal]

I got a good feeling about this game the team is
playing great and everyone practiced today and the lions
can’t stop the run. I am hoping our defense knocks the
daylights out of the Kitties

[John_Viveiros]

Oh, and one more fact about the Lions game.

Matthew Stafford is 7-49 against teams with a winning record in his career.

Good luck, Kitties.

You are the stat master today, Kapp!

Someone called him "Stat Padford" a few years back because of his tendency to put up big numbers in games where they were getting blown out.

[808vikingsfan]

Yuck.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

NATIONAL TELEVISION: FOX

Play-by-Play: Joe Buck Analyst: Troy Aikman
Sideline: Erin Andrews

[TSonn]

You are correct. The Vikes were leading 7-6, and the fumble allowed the Lions to get an easy TD and 2-pt conversion to go up, and eventually win, by the 14-7 score.

Not that it really matters, but I think Cook was already losing the ball before he knee went out.

Edit: nevermind - he definitely lost it after the knee went out. What I remember was the Lions defender with the big hit on the ball that made me question if he would have lost it regardless of the knee.

[Hunter Morrow]

I understand that the Lions already did beat us, but they seem like they could be a paper tiger.

Their 5 wins apart from us are...

Arizona Cardinals
New York Giants in a tailspin season (one of football's worst teams, easily)
The Packers without Aaron Rodgers
Browns by fewer points than we beat them by
Chicago Bears

I think beating the Redskins on the road after they beat the Seahawks and beating the Rams by 17 is easily more impressive than what they did in their last 2 games. We are not the team that played the Lions in that first game anymore. We are not going to score only 7 points against them. We have scored 20 points or more in every game following the Lions game. We were two routine field goals away from having 3 consecutive 30+ point games. I think the offense has figured it out.

I figure us to win by between 7 and 10 point. 24-17 seems like a reasonable score for us to win by.

[CbusVikesFan]

The Vikings are a good team. Good teams win on the road.The Vikings control their own destiny. Win tomorrow and it's tbe division for them. Games after that will be for seeding. The two most important games they need to win is this one tomorrow and their last one. It will be insane if there are 3 home games at the end.

[PurplePeopleEater]

I'm hoping for a MOSNTER game from Keenum so they can't pull him. The idea that many fans are still calling for Bridgwater is insane to me. Dude was a bad QB, then his knee exploded and he didn't play for 15 months. We are supposed to believe that he can be the savior? Vikes need this game bad.

[808vikingsfan]

I'm hoping for a MOSNTER game from Keenum so they can't pull him. The idea that many fans are still calling for Bridgwater is insane to me. Dude was a bad QB, then his knee exploded and he didn't play for 15 months. We are supposed to believe that he can be the savior? Vikes need this game bad.

So is it insane that Zimmer wants Bridgewater? Zimmer: "Teddy's doing some unbelievable things in practice." (bring on the Iverson comment).

[Dmizzle0]

Im hoping for a monster game as well mainly because its a division rival and we need to extend our lead in the division. I dont think Bridgewater was a bad qb at all but I do agree that knowing how he would play on a surgically repaired knee is an unknown.

[PurplePeopleEater]

So is it insane that Zimmer wants Bridgewater? Zimmer: "Teddy's doing some unbelievable things in practice." (bring on the Iverson comment).

Actions speak louder than words. That's just media talk. It's Zimmer's decision and the decision is to stick with Keenum. Pretty easy when Keenum is playing better than Bridgewater ever has.