The 1972 Dolphins can celebrate once again. The NFL\u2019s last undefeated team went down with the Vikings going down in Detroit in what was mostly a low-scoring slog until the fourth quarter. The 19-15 win was somewhat overshadowed by a scary injury to linebacker Jack Campbell, who was carted off the field after colliding with a teammate. He was one of several defensive starters who left the game for the Lions. It didn\u2019t seem to matter, though. The Vikings offense, and Kyler Murray in particular, continued to struggle, and the defense, which has been carrying the team all season, finally buckled in the second half, allowing Jahmyr Gibbs to run wild. Here are my takeaways: It\u2019s hard to overstate how important a game this was for Detroit, which was in danger of falling three games back of the Vikings. Instead, the Lions are a game back and hold the tie-breaker over Minnesota. But the Lions can\u2019t feel good after seeing four defensive starters leave the game with injuries, including a terrifying collision that resulted in Jack Campbell getting carted off the field. The Campbell injury silenced what had been a raucous Detroit crowd, but the offense got it roaring again, thanks to a handful of explosive runs by Jahmyr Gibbs and Sione Vaki. Those two forced five missed tackles in the fourth quarter alone. Overall, Minnesota\u2019s run defense whiffed on a season-high 16 tackles and allowed the Lions to rush for 164 yards in the second half. Without much of a passing game and the defense running out of healthy players, the run game salvaged what could have been a completely miserable day in Detroit. Still, the defensive injuries were the story. The Lions lost their defensive signal caller, Campbell, their best defensive back, Brian Branch, and the only consistent source of sacks outside of Aidan Hutchinson, D.J. Wonnum. Cornerback D.J. Reed also left the game late. The defense, which came into the game ranked 26th in points allowed and dead last in expected points added, was already in a vulnerable state. Even with one of the league\u2019s best offenses, it was hard to view Detroit as serious contenders because of those defensive struggles. If the unit has to move forward without three of its best players, it\u2019s an even bigger stretch. As long as the offense keeps up its end \u2014 and there\u2019s no reason to think it won\u2019t \u2014 Detroit can play with anyone. It may have to score over 30 points a game to do it now. Kyler Murray may have done\u00a0just\u00a0enough in the fourth quarter to stave off questions about his job security, but the Vikings still have some potentially awkward questions to ask about their quarterback ahead of the NFL\u2019s trade deadline on Nov. 10. Obviously, finding a competent quarterback midseason may end up saving Murray\u2019s job. A reunion with Kirk Cousins might\u2019ve been on the table if the Raiders had lost to the Jets, but Las Vegas is only a game back from the final playoff spot in the AFC. Given how much losing that organization has done over the past three decades, it will want to fight for that postseason berth. Trading Cousins wouldn\u2019t make much sense. But if Murray\u2019s struggles continue, head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell will have to consider benching him. He just hasn\u2019t been accurate enough to sustain Minnesota\u2019s deep passing game and hasn’t developed any chemistry with Justin Jefferson. Those two did connect for a touchdown, but it required a jaw-dropping effort from the receiver. Murray cost Jefferson another touchdown with an overthrow. Jefferson\u2019s starting to show signs of frustration with the quarterback situation. Cameras caught him complaining to coaches and teammates after Murray targeted Jordan Addison on a key third down late in the game. It\u2019s hard to fault the star receiver. He\u2019s getting open, but isn\u2019t getting proper service from his quarterback. It\u2019s probably too early for O\u2019Connell to make the switch \u2014 and Carson Wentz isn\u2019t the most attractive option \u2014 but if Murray starts throwing interceptions, that could change. He\u2019s mostly avoided those costly mistakes but did throw a bad pick at the end of the first half, which led to Detroit points. That blunder, along with a rare miss by kicker Will Reichard, made the difference on the scoreboard. Brian Flores\u2019 defense put in another valiant shift, but it couldn\u2019t hold down a powerful Detroit offense for 60 minutes. That\u2019s understandable, and despite the poor fourth-quarter effort, holding the Lions to just 19 points is still impressive. But this game showed that an elite defense can\u2019t win games against good competition on its own. The offense has to do its part, even if it\u2019s just staying on the field to provide the defense some time to catch its breath. Detroit won the time-of-possession battle by over 11 minutes on Sunday, and it showed in the fourth quarter with all of those broken tackles. Before that final frame, it appeared we were headed for another defensive masterclass by Flores. Jared Goff never really got comfortable thanks to another comically high blitz rate from the Minnesota defensive coordinator. Flores sent an extra pass rusher on nearly 90% of Goff\u2019s dropbacks. At one point, the Lions gave up on pushing the ball downfield and opted for quick screen passes. It didn\u2019t lead to much production, but Goff didn\u2019t take a single sack in the first half after going down four times in the first two quarters. Had the Vikings’ offense put up more of a fight, that wouldn\u2019t have been a viable strategy. Detroit had no need to put the ball in the air, which negated what this Minnesota defense does best. As long as that continues, we may see more game plans like the one the Lions used in the second half. The Lions are officially back in the NFC North race, sitting just a game back with the Dolphins next up on the schedule. If they take care of business in Miami, they could be in first place by next Sunday night. Outside of the remaining divisional games and a Week 10 matchup with the Patriots, Detroit\u2019s schedule is awfully forgiving. That may help the defense navigate the next few weeks if it has to play short-handed. The opposite is true for the Vikings. This was just the first game of a four-week gauntlet. The Bills come to Minnesota next week, followed by games against the Packers and 49ers. It\u2019ll be difficult to get through that stretch without a more competent offense. The defense will have its hands full against three quarterbacks in the MVP discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 1972 Dolphins can celebrate once again. The NFL\u2019s last undefeated team went down with the Vikings going down in Detroit in what was mostly a low-scoring slog until the fourth quarter. The 19-15 win was somewhat overshadowed by a scary injury to linebacker Jack Campbell, who was carted off the field after colliding with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}