Lions beat Vikings 31-29 as field goal in final seconds hands Minnesota its first loss

The clock ticked inside of 10 seconds, at the end of a game in which the Vikings had matched the Lions yard for yard and blow for blow. They had led Detroit by 10, twice trailed the defending division champions by 11 and now were in a frantic effort to preserve one second for Will Reichard, their heretofore flawless rookie kicker, to try to win the game with an NFL-record 68-yard field goal.

Jalen Nailor bolted to his feet after catching Sam Darnold’s 20-yard pass at midfield, handing the ball to umpire James Carter II to set it in time for Garrett Bradbury’s snap and Darnold’s spike. But the Vikings lined up with just six players on the line of scrimmage and no one covering up left tackle Christian Darrisaw, prompting a 5-yard illegal-formation penalty that made a 73-yard field goal too bold even for coach Kevin O’Connell to try.

“I was thinking about sending him anyway [from 68] when the penalty marked it back,” O’Connell said.

The penalty killed that idea, and Trevor Nowaske’s sack sealed the Vikings’ first defeat of the season, a 31-29 loss to the Lions on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium that dropped them to 5-1. After giving up touchdowns on four straight drives and falling behind by 11, they steadied themselves for stops against Detroit’s offense and briefly regained a one-point lead when Ivan Pace Jr. returned David Montgomery’s fumble 36 yards for a touchdown.

The score came with six minutes remaining, time enough to mandate at least one more stop. Even when the Vikings got it, with Andrew Van Ginkel’s third-down sack of Jared Goff, it wasn’t enough; Darnold missed a third-down throw for Justin Jefferson, the Lions rode Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown to a go-ahead Jake Bates field goal with 15 seconds left and the Vikings’ eighth penalty of the day provided a fitting, frustrating coda for the loss.

“I think we averaged 7½ [yards] a play. Did a lot of good things,” O’Connell said. “But it’s just these little self-inflicted [errors], whether it’s a formation or hold or presnap infraction, I got to get that stuff fixed. When you’re trying to win at the level we’re trying to win, against anybody we play, we can’t do anything to help give teams an out.”

The Vikings now share the NFC’s best record with the Lions, technically trailing Detroit in the division because of a head-to-head tiebreaker. They will travel to Ford Field for a game in early January that could carry massive stakes; it’s possible they will see the Lions a third time in the playoffs. The fact they couldn’t get to 6-0 and build a two-game lead on the Lions, though, owed plenty to their own mistakes.

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The Vikings lost 59 yards on penalties. Three of them came after they’d taken a 10-0 lead and forced a Lions punt. Defensively, they gave up plays of a magnitude they hadn’t allowed this season, allowing the Lions to take the lead with two open-field scores as part of a 21-point second quarter. And after two fourth-quarter drives ended with field goals, the Vikings missed a chance to put the game away once Pace’s touchdown gave them the lead.

“We just cannot go multiple possessions without that energy or getting points on the board,” wide receiver Justin Jefferson said. “We’ve got to help our defense in some type of way. We understand their offense is a great offense. They have a great system going on over there, and they know how to move the ball and get the ball to their playmakers. That was a tough task for our defense, as well as their defense. We’ve just got to be dialed in, every single play.”

The Vikings scored their first touchdown when one of Lions coach Dan Campbell’s devil-may-care decisions turned sour and Minnesota snuffed out a fake punt on a fourth-and-7 from the Detroit 33. Aaron Jones, who rushed for 93 yards after being listed as questionable with a hamstring injury, raced around the left side for a 34-yard touchdown run, and the Vikings followed it with a field goal to build a double-digit first-half lead for the sixth straight game.

It was there that their offensive mistakes and defensive lapses gave the Lions an opening.

After three penalties forced the Vikings to punt, Gibbs ran right against a Vikings blitz look and juked Camryn Bynum on the open field for a 45-yard touchdown.

“That’s just not good enough by me,” Bynum said. “Coming down, a one-on-one tackle, I have to play inside-out, don’t let him cut back on me. I take full ownership on that play. Being a post safety, I take pride in being able to make those plays consistently. I’ve done it before, and I know the next time it happens, my feet will be good and I’m making that tackle.”

A similar sequence set up the Lions’ second touchdown. The Vikings punted after a Jordan Addison penalty stalled their drive, and Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s answer to a blitz look by Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores led to a big play.

Johnson countered the Vikings’ seven-man front with a seven-man protection that bought Goff time on a second-and-11. Detroit motioned Tim Patrick across the formation to block Van Ginkel, and Penei Sewell handled both Jonathan Bullard and Pace. Goff’s footwork baited Bynum, and he hit St. Brown on a seam route for a 35-yard touchdown that put the Vikings behind for the first time this season at home.

During their 21-point second quarter, the Lions gained 202 yards, with Goff completing all seven of his passes for 118 yards and a touchdown.

“We knew what they were going to do. We knew the type of guys that were going to be able to attack the middle of the field. We just have to know that, if that’s your job, you have to execute it,” Bynum said. “They ran exactly what we saw on tape, but on our side, we have to execute.”

Jefferson, who had caught just one pass in the second quarter, got the ball on three straight plays to start the third quarter. On a third-and-8 from the Lions 25, the Vikings used short motion from Addison to get Jefferson outside leverage in a one-on-one with Amik Robertson. He ran past the corner, hauled in a touchdown shot from Darnold and chirped at Robertson before doing the Griddy in the end zone and yelling, “I’m like that! I’m like that!” as the Fox TV camera zeroed in on him.

It pulled the Vikings within four, until Goff found Kalif Raymond for a 21-yard score after Stephon Gilmore fell down in coverage. The Vikings paired two Reichard field goals with Pace’s TD to go up by one; Darnold’s two-point conversion pass for Addison fell incomplete, and the Lions drove for the game-winning field goal.

With its sharp swings and its taut environment, the game felt at times like a postseason matchup. It’s possible these teams will play a real playoff game in three months.

For the Vikings to get there, and succeed when they do, they will have to buff out the blemishes they showed Sunday.

“That’s what kind of football games I believe are out in front of this team,” O’Connell said. “You’ve got to have the execution level be to the standard you need in those games. I thought there were some real moments of that. I thought there was some fight. Clearly, if they’re able to get a field goal and leave us 15 seconds, it’s not enough.”