It took 13 weeks, but the Lions are no longer winless. Exactly 365 days after their last victory, Detroit stunned the NFC North rival Vikings on Sunday, with Jared Goff firing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown as time expired to lift the Lions over Minnesota, 29-27, claiming their first win of the 2021 season.
The Lions started strong in Sunday’s showdown with Minnesota, leading 20-6 at halftime as the Vikings struggled to find the end zone with both Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen banged up. But Kirk Cousins and Co. stormed back down the stretch, taking a 27-23 lead in the fourth quarter. Goff and the Lions got the ball back with 1:50 to go and zero timeouts, but the former Rams quarterback proceeded to drive Detroit all the way into the red zone, where he took advantage of soft coverage from Minnesota and found St. Brown on fourth-and-2 from the Vikings’ 11-yard line.
The walk-off win marks the first “W” of first-year coach Dan Campbell’s tenure in Motown, improving the Lions to 1-10-1 on the year. This comes exactly a year after the team logged its last victory of 2020, a 34-30 decision against the Bears during Matt Patricia’s final season at the helm of the franchise. It also shakes up the NFC wild-card picture, dropping Minnesota to 5-7 on a day in which the Eagles routed the Jets for a chance to move up the conference standings.
