Pride of Detroit
Coming off a much-needed bye week, your Detroit Lions are back in action. They’re 5-2 and second in the NFC North, a half a game behind the leading Green Bay Packers. For the first time this year, they take on the Minnesota Vikings, who are in last place in the division at 3-4. The Vikings appear to be getting their starting quarterback back this week, though I’m not sure that can fix all of their woes.
Minnesota is coming off its impressive 14-3 2024 season, just one game short of winning the division after the Lions defeated them in the season finale. Changes were made, mostly at quarterback, and so far, they haven’t been able to recapture what they’ve been in years past.
Despite their early-season struggles and injuries, this is a divisional game, so all bets are off. Let me give you a breakdown of the Minnesota Vikings’ season so far in my Week 9 scouting report.
Week 1: Defeated the Chicago Bears 27-24
Week 2: Lost to the Atlanta Falcons 22-6
Week 3: Defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 48-10
Week 4: Lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-21
Week 5: Defeated the Cleveland Browns 21-17
Week 6: BYE
Week 7: Lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 28-22
Week 8: Lost to the Los Angeles Chargers 37-10
Stats:
Heading into the year, there were questions about whether the Vikings could still be a contender after losing quarterback Sam Darnold to free agency and sticking with second-year quarterback and former first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, who came off a knee injury last season. McCarthy struggled in his regular-season debut, but had an electric fourth quarter to put the Vikings on top of the Bears to start the year 1-0.
Next week against the Atlanta Falcons, though, McCarthy played poorly again, and afterwards moved to the bench after suffering an ankle injury. This had the team move to backup Carson Wentz, and Wentz showed signs that he was a serviceable backup, throwing for 1,216 yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions in his five starts, but last week was a clear sign the team needed to make a change. Against the Los Angeles Chargers, Wentz was clearly playing through his shoulder injury, and a few days later, the team announced Wentz would be out for the season. I believe even if Wentz wasn’t hurt, McCarthy would retake the job this week, as it appears he will return against the Lions.
Outside of the quarterback room, the offense isn’t as explosive as it once was. Running back Aaron Jones has only played in three games as he was on IR earlier this year, leading the way for backup Jordan Mason to start in four...
