Dramatic: Lions end winless skid
Score decisive points on last play of game
DETROIT — Jared Goff dropped back, looked left and let the football loose that Amon-Ra St. Brown squeezed tight as he sat in the end zone.
That set off a roar in Ford Field loud enough it might’ve been heard on Motor City streets.
Detroit finally found a way when Goff threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to St. Brown as time expired, lifting the previously winless Lions to a 29-27 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
“It feels good to stand in front of you now,” Goff said to reporters before answering a question.
Not only was the finish dramatic, it was stunning.
Goff led the Lions on a 75yard decisive possession without a timeout after Kirk Cousins threw a go-ahead 3yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson with 1:50 left. The Vikings failed on a 2point conversion for the third time, and those missed opportunities proved costly.
Goff threw two touchdown passes in the first half to put Detroit ahead by 14 points, its biggest lead this season. Then he turned over the ball twice in the second half to help Minnesota rally.
He came through in the end, leading the long drive and delivering a sharp pass without pressure against a three-man rush to a rookie receiver, who took advantage of the Vikings secondary playing too deep in the end zone.
“It was actually crazy,” St. Brown said. “They were 3 or 4 yards in the end zone.”
The Lions (1-10-1) ended a 15-game winless streak that lasted 364 days since winning at Chicago last season, giving first-year coach Dan Campbell his first victory.
“You want this so bad for the players because they’re the ones who put in all the hard work, the sweat, the tears,” Campbell said.
“When you lose, it hurts, but it’s also why winning is so great, because it isn’t easy to do.”
The Vikings (5-7) hurt their chances of earning a wild-card in the playoffs by losing a game they were favored to win by a touchdown.
Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer defended the decision to drop eight defenders on the final snap, but lamented that the secondary didn’t follow the plan.
“We weren’t covering very well, so we felt we needed to get more guys into coverage,” he said.
Minnesota has the dubious distinction of being the first team Detroit beat this year because it missed chances to score more often, and allowed an offensively challenged team to score more than 17 points for the first time since Week 1.
Goff finished 25 of 41 for 296 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. He fumbled when Campbell chose to go on fourth-and-1 from the Detroit 28 with 4:08 left and the play-action pass didn’t fool the defense.