LIONS ARE LIKELY GOING TO PLAYOFFS
What does this win mean for the Lions?
It means two things: they’re likely going to the playoffs, and they exposed the Vikings as frauds. Next week’s road game against the New York Jets is the only thing standing in the
Lions’ way of winning out and finishing 10-7, which should earn them the NFC’s final wild-card spot. The Lions have taken care of business in impressive fashion while winning five of their past six games, so there’s no reason to think the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears or Green Bay Packers, even at Lambeau Field, will be able to stop their brand of complementary football. As for the Vikings, they got exposed and proved who they are: an opportunistic team that was riding fortuitous play to a 10-2 record coming into Ford Field. Unlike other years, when the
Vikings were rolling with Adrian Peterson, you could tell Minnesota’s fans weren’t exactly all in on this team, judging by the few purple jerseys in the stands.
Is there any downside to this victory?
Sorry, Lions fans, but break out your umbrellas because I have to rain on your parade a bit. There’s one down side to this convincing victory: the team is definitely going to lose offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who will be hired as head coach this offseason. Johnson has been nothing short of a marvel and has electrified the offense to make it one of the NFL’s best in a season when scoring across the league is down and at a premium. Johnson has earned his promotion. When you call a pass to right tackle on a motion route to seal the victory, you’ve got the guts and the goods to be a head coach. The good news is that Dan Campbell has also earned enough trust that fans should believe in whoever he picks as Johnson’s successor. But please, coach, no more silly mind games about who’s calling plays during training camp.
How impressive was Jameson Williams’ touchdown catch?
It’s the loudest cheer I’ve heard at Ford Field in a very long time, and it was well deserved. It would have been enough for the rookie to catch a touchdown pass, any touchdown pass, but to do so on the first ball thrown to him in his career means something else altogether. Part of what made the 41-yard catch so dramatic was that the Vikings clearly had a communication mistake in the secondary and Williams had no one around him for 10 yards and got behind the coverage so fast that Jared Goff’s deep pass was actually underthrown and Williams had to come back for it. It was a touching celebration, too, after Williams ran the length of the end zone to celebrate with fans before he handed the ball to his father in the stands 11 months after he tore his ACL.