Sportsnaut
The NFL Christmas Day slate continued on Thursday night with an NFC North duel between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. While only Detroit came into the game with playoff hopes, NFL fans watching on Christmas Day on Netflix saw the Vikings fight like a playoff team.
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Let’s dive into the winners and losers from the Lions vs Vikings on Christmas Day, with Minnesota putting on a defensive clinic in a 23-10 victory.
On a night where very little went right for the Lions offense, rookie wideout Isaac TeSlaa was one of the few bright spots. Detroit faced a critical 3rd-and-16 midway through the game at its 14-yard line, in desperate need of a big play and some momentum. TeSlaa got open downfield and set up the offense near midfield. Just a few plays later, he came through in the clutch again with a leaping touchdown grab on 4th-and-Goal. It gave the Lions a tie before halftime. A third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, TeSlaa is really coming on as of late with 4 touchdowns in the last five games.
You would think that in a game where Minnesota’s defense generated 6 takeaways, many of them near midfield or in Lions territory, the team would have easily scored 24-plus points. It did not happen. Filling in for the injured J.J. McCarthy, Brosmer had -7 net passing yards with 7 sacks taken and just a 2.9 yards-per-attempt average on the first nine drives by the Vikings offense. Time and time again, he held onto the football too long and reacted poorly to pressure around him. If not for Brosmer—who finished 9-of-16 for 51 passing yards—Minnesota might have won this one by three scores.
Entering Christmas Day, Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson had 11.5 sacks on the season, and all of them came at Ford Field. The Pro Bowl edge rusher clearly got tired of whiffing on that elusive road takedown of the quarterback, twice sacking Brosmer in the first half on Thursday. Hutchinson was a force to be reckoned with off the edge, adding to his recent dominance as he has now recorded 5 sacks in the last three games.
Related: NFL Defense Rankings 2025
Justin Jefferson is still going to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark this season, giving him six consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns to begin his NFL career. However, the All-Pro wideout, who is closing in on the record for the most receiving yards in the first six seasons (Randy Moss, 8,375 receiving yards), is putting up some WR4 numbers amid the Vikings’ quarterback situation. Even after an 85-yard performance last week, Jefferson came into Christmas Day averaging just 39.4 receiving yards per game in his last eight contests. Against Detroit, he finished with just 30 receiving yards.
Winner: Brian...
