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Detroit Lions secondary shows swagger by shutting down Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings
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- Detroit Lions secondary shows swagger by shutting down Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings
The music was cranked up as the Detroit Lions locker room opened up.
Inside, there was a sea of players wearing Honolulu Blue shirts festooned with "Ready to Roll, NFC North Champs." And on the far side of that, Lions defensive backs huddled up around cornerback Terrion Arnold for a group photo.
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The secondary celebrated after a defining performance helped lift the Lions to a 31-9 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18 to clinch the NFC's No. 1 seed , as well as the NFC North title. The Lions held Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold to 166 yards passing as he completed just 43.9% of his throws with no touchdowns.
Over his first 16 games, Darnold averaged 259 yards per game while completing 68.1% of his passes during a breakout season in which he became a fringe MVP candidate. But he and the Vikings offense couldn't crack the Lions when it mattered most.
Detroit Lions defensive end Levi Onwuzurike (91) pressures Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025.
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"I feel like we got our swagger back after that," safety Brian Branch said.
Darnold started the game with misfires to tight end T.J. Hockenson on third downs during Minnesota's first two drives, leading to a pair of punts. From there, the Vikings quarterback looked uncomfortable all night, finishing with his fifth-worst completion percentage across his seven-year NFL career.
The Lions' plan was to take a page out of Minnesota's defensive playbook and bring heavy pressure all night. Detroit generated two sacks, from Za'Darius Smith and Al-Quadin Muhammad , while hitting Darnold 10 times on dropbacks and bringing him down twice for loss.
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Entering the game, the Vikings led the NFL in blitz rate, at 38% of opposing dropbacks.
"Maybe we just wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine, reverse it back on them" defensive tackle D.J. Reader said. "It was a good game, man. The guys, especially on the back end, did their thing."
Behind the bevy of blitzes, the Lions trusted their secondary to stick in man coverage with the Vikings' talented group of pass catchers.
"We played two very good receivers, two of them probably top-10 to be honest," Branch said. "And the fact that we have corners that can go out there and play scrappy with them, shoot, we bet on them the whole time."
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Minnesota was still able to move the ball, but couldn't get into the end zone. The Vikings finished with 286 yards but came away with just two field goals and two turnovers on downs in their four red zone trips.
On the first red zone trip, Darnold missed on three straight passes, including on fourth down. The second trip had two incompletions to the end zone, on second and third down, leading to a field goal. The third had one missed pass on third down before a field goal. On the fourth trip, Darnold missed three straight again for another turnover on downs.
"Man, they doubted us," Kerby Joseph said. "They did, they definitely did doubt us. But that just made us go harder."
Detroit Lions cornerback Amik Robertson (21) is emotional as he exits the field after 31-9 win over Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025.
The Lions employed cornerback Amik Robertson to tail All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson , who had his worst game against Detroit since September 2022. Jefferson led the Vikings with three catches for 54 yards, a stark drop-off from his average of 182 yards in four previous games at Ford Field.
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"When they gave me the assignment man, I knew we had a chance to win," Robertson said. "I knew they were going to put me in a good situation to be myself within the scheme, so I just felt like — of course the defense, I knew guys were going to fly around, I already knew. When they told me the assignment was to guard Jefferson, I knew we had a chance to win, because you know, I always believe in myself."
The Vikings targeted Jefferson nine times, but the accuracy issues, coupled with Robertson's man coverage, kept the fifth-year wideout in check. Jalen Nailor was second among Vikings with 53 yards (on three catches), followed by running back Aaron Jones with 30 yards (on five catches). Detroit rarely got beat deep and managed to keep everything in front of them. Darnold averaged just 4 yards per attempt and 9.2 yards per completion.
"We knew that they were going to have a good plan, bringing pressures and different coverages behind it," Darnold said. "So, again, if we execute in the red zone early on, I think it's a different game, so — obviously it's a different game. So, we've just got to execute early on in the red zone."
Detroit Lions cornerback Amik Robertson (21), left, and safety Ifeatu Melifonwu (6) break a pass intended for Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025.
Arnold, who left the game with a foot injury in the second half , spent most of the game on the second assignment. Reserve Kindle Vildor replaced him. Afterward, Arnold heaped praise on Robertson for owning his assignment and Vildor for stepping in seamlessly.
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Ultimately, it was the type of get-right performance the defense needed after giving up an average of 32.5 points in four games entering Week 18. Getting back a key contributor such as linebacker Alex Anzalone helps, but so does standout man coverage across the secondary despite injury.
"We have to be able to play a certain way, and the recipe is right as long as our guys play lights out.," head coach Dan Campbell said. "They do exactly what they're asked to do, they work as one unit and they go after the football. And if we do those things we can be effective and they did that today, man. I just, I felt like they played with high, high energy."
Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press . Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22 , and email him at jramsey@freepress.com .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions DBs find swagger by shutting down Vikings passing game
