Hear Them Roar: Lions Reclaim NFC North Lead And Establish Themselves As Team To Beat

The NFC North is the most competitive division in the NFL with the Vikings, Lions, Packers and Bears boasting winning records and all focused on getting to the postseason. But it's the Lions' division, folks.

Again.

MINNEAPOLIS - Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings is tackled by Kerby Joseph and Terrion Arnold of the Detroit Lions in the second quarter of a game  at U.S. Bank Stadium on October 20, 2024. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

Lions Win At Wire

It didn't exactly look that way before Sunday because the Minnesota Vikings were 5-0 and leading the pack and about to play the Lions at home where they hadn't lost in three tries.

But, well, the Lions had other plans.

Lions 31.

Vikings 29.

"That was a good win, that was a good win," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "I told the team to say that I was proud of them is a massive understatement. We knew that team was playing good football and they have been for five weeks now, coming off a bye we knew it was going to come down to the wire."

MINNEAPOLIS - Head coach Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions talks with referees before the start of the second quarter of a game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on October 20, 2024. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

Lions Notch A Must-Win Victory

It was Detroit's first division victory of the season. Had the Lions not won the game, they would have found themselves two full games behind the Vikings in the division.

Although both teams have identical 5-1 records, the Lions hold the tie-breaker based on their head-to-head victory.

"You don't want to say must-win, but we needed that in a bad way," Campbell said.

The difference this game was a 44-yard field goal by kicker Jake Bates with 15 seconds left to play. The connection erased a 29-28 deficit. And it spoke to the confidence Campbell has in a kicker signed out of the UFL.

Campbell said he is supremely confident in Bates based on the utter hell he puts the kicker through in preparation for such pressure moments.

MINNEAPOLIS - Jake Bates of the Detroit Lions kicks the game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter of a game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on October 20, 2024. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

Jake Bates Responds Under Pressure 

"When you see him every day in practice and give him the crowd noise and move the spot, and I'm yelling at him, and you're just applying pressure, and he continues to make these kicks, you feel pretty good when he gets thrust into it,"  Campbell said.

"It's not the same, but it is. We just felt his confidence has grown, and he would just go out there and make the next kick, and he did that."

While Bates responded in the final moments, the same cannot be said of Sam Darnold.

He's been good this year. Probably good enough to get himself a chance to start for someone next season.

But in the moments he needed to be great, he wasn't that. He was, well, Sam Darnold.

That's not to say Darnold played poorly. He completed 22 of 27 passes for 259 yards. 

But when it was time for heroics, he didn't have it.

Sam Darnold Not Up To Task

He needed to get chunk yards and do it quickly when he had only 15 seconds to drive his team for a winning field goal. 

But he scanned the field perhaps too long before completing a 20-yarder.

Then he took a game-ending sack when he needed to scramble out of trouble and at least get a desperation heave downfield.

On the other side, the Lions got amazing work out of Jared Goff. He's had his rough moments against defenses playing under defensive coordinator Brian Flores – most notably in the Super Bowl years ago when the quarterback played for the Rams and Flores was the Patriots defensive playcaller.

That game made the quarterback seem more like Jared Goof.

MINNEAPOLIS - Kalif Raymond #11 of the Detroit Lions celebrates with Jared Goff #16 and Amon-Ra St. Brown after scoring a touchdown in the third quarter of a game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on October 20, 2024. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Jared Goff ‘A Stud’

But this game was a different story.

"He's a stud, man," Campbell said.

Goff completed 22 of 25 passes. That's an 88 percent completion percentage. He averaged more than 11 yards per completion.

And he turned in a 140.0 quarterback rating for the third time this season.

"We're getting guys open," Goff said. "We're protecting well. I'm hitting them in stride and it's just one play after another and trying to focus one play at a time."

Goff got some revenge on Flores and his attacking defense. Goff answered a zero blitz with a 35-yard touchdown pass.

"We think we know who they are from what we've seen on film," Goff said.

The Vikings, by the way, don't have the look of a team that is going away. They are accustomed to one-score games and had a 3-0 record in such games before Sunday.

So much for that.