During Mike Zimmer's first four years as the Vikings head coach, his teams had lost five of eight meetings against the Detroit Lions, falling by way of self-inflicted wounds, late-game lapses and, at times, just plain weirdness.
On the three occasions the Vikings were able to break through the malaise and get the better of the Lions, they did it largely through the force of the pass-rushing crew they've carefully assembled under Zimmer. They battered Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford so thoroughly in Week 2 of the 2015 season that he needed X-rays on his chest and ribs after the game. They sacked him seven times at Ford Field later that season, and applied consistent pressure against him on Thanksgiving Day last year, as they hung on to break a three-game losing streak against the Lions.
The Vikings' group of pass rushers dominated again Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, the first in which the home team left victorious against the Lions. In a 24-9 win against Detroit, the Vikings sailed into their bye week comfortably, despite the fact they played without a raft of injured starters, lost Xavier Rhodes for part of the game and committed a pair of dubious turnovers.
But when the Vikings were able to come after Stafford with such ferocity, not much else factored into the final outcome. They set a team record by sacking the quarterback 10 times, leaning on their defensive line for all but one of the takedowns and pressuring Stafford so consistently he rarely had time to look downfield.
"I didn't think we'd get 10," Zimmer said. "I thought we had an opportunity to do some things if we gave them some looks and with our guys. I felt pretty good about Everson [Griffen] coming back, getting better last week in practice. I guess it's a surprise, but again I think we did a good job in making him hold the football, too."
Though the quarterback spent much of the day holding the ball in an attempt to connect on downfield throws, he threw for only 199 yards, with his longest throw of the day going for just 18 yards. The Lions' approach, instead, played into the Vikings' hands.
"We don't get that a lot," said defensive tackle Tom Johnson, who had 2½ sacks on Sunday. "When you look at [Drew] Brees, how they [the Saints] attacked us, how LA attacked us, guys respect our secondary, they respect our D-line, so they try to catch a lot of checkdowns, be consistent, move the ball and not really try to go for the deep ball. With our offense scoring points and the defense being able to stop them, they had to go for chunk plays, which allowed us to be able to eat a little bit. Our DBs covered well, so we were able to benefit from it."
And when Stafford was flushed out of the pocket in the fourth quarter, flipping an errant option pitch in the direction of Kerryon Johnson, Danielle Hunter scooped it up for a 32-yard fumble return touchdown that effectively sealed the game.