The Detroit Lions took down the undefeated Minnesota Vikings in a game that came down to the wire, as Jake Bates came through with a game winning 44-yard field goal with 19 seconds left on the clock.
While the Lions came out stumbling, falling behind 10-0, they righted the ship quickly. Going 0-3 on their first three drives, Jared Goff and the offense came out firing in the second quarter, putting up 21 unanswered points. Brian Branch, the ball-hawk, came down with an interception to help the Lions offense get a touchdown and almost had a TD of himself if he got his feet in bounds on another interception.
The second half was a bit worrying as the Vikings defense was ready to pounce. The Vikings offense was ready to match the Lions offense's potency as well, putting up another touchdown to cut the lead to 28-17. They followed those touchdowns with a pair of field goals to make it a 28-23 game. After those field goals, the Lions held on to give themselves a chance at furthering the lead only to have a fumble from David Montgomery, which is very uncharacteristic of him. The Vikings took that punched out a ball to the house to go up 29-28 with an unrealized 2-point conversion. This is where Lions teams of old would have faltered and withered away. However, these are not the Same Old Lions.
Jared Goff lead the offense down the field to the 25 yard line, and the Vikings, without their timeouts, had to watch as Goff took a few kneels to drain the clock to 25 seconds. Jake Bates came on the field and knocked through a 44-yard field goal to give the Lions the lead with 19 seconds left. This is where things get a tad controversial.
The Lions came out in prevent defense. Alim McNeill was a spy. Sam Darnold throws an intermediate pass and they gain about 20 yards. The clock dwindles down, 3..2..1.., Darnold spikes the ball with 1 second left as a flag is thrown. Illegal formation. Now, as Lions fans, we expected a ten second runoff--right? No. The Vikings get one more play. I am sure as every Lions fan read the head referee's lips saying "one more play," they all had flashbacks. To Aaron Rodgers' hail mary to win the game in 2015, to the game against the Falcons with the ten second runoff--why isn't that in play here? While we as fans awaited the inevitable, a Vikings hail mary to win the game on a penalty, the Lions came out in prevent agian, but this time, crept up to the line of scrimmage as the ball was snapped. Darnold drops back, has some time, looks, and just as quickly as the game should have ended, Darnold is sacked! The Lions come out on top, and not only on top of the NFC North, but the entire NFC. This Lions regime, is not the Same Old Lions.
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