The Vikings lost two leads on Thanksgiving when Darius Slay intercepted a Sam Bradford pass in the game’s final minute, sending Minnesota to defeat instead of overtime.
The field goal that followed the pick capped the Detroit Lions’ 16-13 victory. It also bumped the Vikings out of first place in the NFC North for the first time this season.
The Vikings were up by a field goal at the two-minute warning in Detroit Thursday. A Lions drive was stopped on a big 3rd and 1 tackle by Eric Kendricks, so Detroit settled for a field goal that evened the game at 13.
But on the following possession an illegal formation penalty wiped out a Vikings first down and the next play saw Sam Bradford’s pass to Adam Thielen intercepted by Slay. He returned it to the Vikings 20, where Matt Prater kicked the winning field goal as time expired.
Hey, we're 2 for 2!
HOLIDAYS TO BE RUINED BY VIKINGS:
✔️Halloween
✔️Thanksgiving
⬜️Christmas Eve
⬜️New Years— Aj Mansour (@AjKFAN) November 24, 2016
Yikes….two of Bradford's three interceptions have come on potential game-winning drives..
— Matthew Coller (@MatthewColler) November 24, 2016
Bradford completed 31 out of 37 passes in the game for 224 yards. Kyle Rudolph caught 9 of those for 63 yards.
The Vikings only touchdown of the day came from Matt Asiata on a 5 yard run. Kai Forbath kicked field goals from 30 and 27 yards out (in addition to making an extra point).
"We didn't execute well enough at the end of the game." – Coach Zimmer
đź“ş: https://t.co/m9Due59qRK pic.twitter.com/cNXi1xa1fc #Vikings #skol
— #SKOL (@xSKOLx) November 24, 2016
This was Minnesota’s second loss to the Lions, following an overtime defeat in Minneapolis last month.
Detroit’s sweep means they own the tiebreaker if the teams finish with the same record.
Right now they seem to be on different trajectories. The Lions have a knack for coming from behind and winning close games. In fact every game they’ve played has been decided by a touchdown or less.
Comeback kids?
The @Lions trailed in the 4Q in each of their 11 games. With a last-second win over the Vikings, they've now won 7 of them. pic.twitter.com/lkYpeAJtfx
— ESPN (@espn) November 24, 2016
After starting the season 1-3, the Lions are now 7-4.
The Vikings, on the other hand… raised hopes when they started 5-0. But those days seem long ago now that they’ve lost 5 out of their last 6.
By the way, there was also some bad news for the Vikings’ injury-plagued offensive line. Center Joe Berger, who has anchored the line by starting 36 straight games, left the field in Detroit a little before halftime and was being evaluated for a concussion.
There’s no long week for Minnesota. They’ll play another Thursday game when they meet the once-beaten Dallas Cowboys. Kickoff is at 7:25 at U.S. Bank Stadium.
