Detroit Lions Monday Morning Quarterback: Epic Comeback in Minnesota

The Game

The Lions came back to beat the Vikings 26-23 in an exciting game at Mall of America Field.

The Lions trailed by 20 points at halftime, but stormed back with 23 unanswered points.

The usual suspects once again led the Lions, as Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson continued their assault on any secondary they face.

The Good

Matthew Stafford

Week after week, this kid just gets it done. For anyone who was worried about whether Stafford can take a hit, he took 12 of them (five sacks, seven hits) against the Vikings. 

All Stafford has done this year is put up a QB rating north of 100 in every game. 

Stafford, without question, has now proven he is at least a top 10 NFL QB, if not top five.

Calvin Johnson

Megatron kept up his streak of two touchdown games, and now has a total of six on the year. 

Minnesota decided to single cover him for parts of this game, and he made them pay with seven catches for 108 yards.

Brandon Pettigrew

After hurting his shoulder against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2, Pettigrew came back with the best game of his career, 11 catches for 112 yards.  That kind of performance means only one thing, Pettigrew should hurt his shoulder every week. 

Jason Hanson

50 yard field goal, check

Game tying field goal, check

Winning kick in overtime, check

Not much I can add here. The results speak for themselves.

The Bad

The Offensive Tackles

The Vikings managed to expose what can turn out to be the Achilles heel for the Lions this year: Their offensive tackles got undressed.

A total of 10 hits, including five sacks, were put on Stafford by the Vikings’ starting defensive ends.

There is no excuse for how bad the tackles, Jeff Backus, Gosder Cherilus and Corey Hilliard, played. 

The Lions also had no run game what-so-ever.

Some house cleaning might be in order here this offseason.

Falling behind early

The Lions need to do a better job in the first quarter.  In their two close games this year, against the Buccaneers and the Vikings, the Lions have been outscored in the first quarter 16-6. 

They have been able to get away with their slow starts so far, but better teams lie ahead on the schedule and they need to get off to better starts to compete in those games.

The Ugly

Jeff Backus

I know I already mentioned the offensive tackles, but Jeff Backus deserves special mention here.

I have always been one to defend Backus, but I can no longer do so after this game. 

If this was high school, than Jared Allen beat up Backus, took his lunch money, stuffed him in a locker and stole his bike.

Backus was not the guilty party on all of Allen's sacks, but what Allen was able to do near the end of regulation was unbelievable.  He got Backus to false start on two consecutive plays, than he beat him for a sack, and to top it all off, he nearly tackled Jahvid Best in the end zone for a safety.

Misleading Stat of the Day

Adrian Peterson’s Rushing Total

Adrian Peterson's final stat line looks decent, 17 carried for 78 yards. However, when you factor in that he got 43 yards on one carry, that leaves him with only 35 yards on his other 16 carries. A 2.2 YPC average for the NFL’s best running back is just not good enough.

He was also a non-factor in the second half.

Play of the Day

The Calvin Johnson Catch in Overtime

Great players make great plays, and that is what Johnson did in overtime. His catch in overtime was a thing of beauty. If you look at it in slow motion, you will see two things. First, he was interfered with on the play and there should have been a flag. Second is that he was barely able to get his finger tips on the ball, but still managed to pull it in.

Not to be overlooked was Jahvid Best sacrificing his body to give Stafford the time he needed to make the throw

Quote of the Day

“It just goes to show that we are not going to lay down” -Calvin Johnson.  No, they are not, and it's time for the rest of the NFL to take notice.

Random Thoughts

When will the Lions lose their first game? Hey! That is the same thought I had last week.

What are the Lions going to do to fix the run game?

Wouldn’t Jeff Backus look great at right guard?

Ndamukong Suh is good. No, really, he is. 

I like to state the obvious.

I hate the NFL overtime rules.

The Vikings are the best tackling 0-3 team I have seen.  They didn’t miss many today.

Overall Impression

For the third week in a row, the Minnesota Vikings blew a double digit half time lead. Luckily for the Lions, they didn’t learn from their mistakes.

Matthew Stafford showed his toughness against the Vikings, and hopefully, we won’t be hearing “If Stafford stays healthy” from the so called experts on TV anymore.

Speaking of experts, I hope Chris Carter got a good look at what happens when teams single cover Calvin Johnson.

Next Week

The Lions go down to Dallas for the second year in a row. They will be hoping for better results this time than the 35-19 loss they suffered last year.