In Sunday’s NFL regular season finale, the Detroit Lions defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31-9, securing the NFC North championship and the top seed in the league.
Following an opening-round bye, Detroit will hold home-field advantage for the duration of the playoffs.
Jahmyr Gibbs was the Lions’ standout running back on Sunday. In addition to 31 yards of receiving and another touchdown in the air, he had 139 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
In contrast, Jared Goff, the quarterback for the Lions, completed 27 of 33 throws for 231 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions.
Sam Darnold, the Vikings’ signal caller, had trouble. He only threw for 166 yards and no touchdowns on 18 of his 41 attempts.
SNF blog: Reflect on the game’s progression
In the red zone, Minnesota’s offense particularly faltered. Only six points were scored by the Vikings in four trips inside Detroit’s 20-yard line. They missed two chances to convert from inside the five on fourth-and-goal.
In the first half, the teams combined for just one score, making it a defensive contest. The Vikings made two field goals in the second quarter to narrow the advantage to 7-6 after Gibbs’ goal in the first quarter. With their own field goal as the first half came to an end, the Lions increased their lead to 10–6.
In the second half, Detroit was dominant. He guided the Lion to a touchdown on three consecutive plays after Goff intercepted the team’s first drive of the second quarter. Minnesota was down two scores at the time and made one field goal, missed another, then punted.
The Lions improved their record from 12-5 to 15-2 at the end of the regular season, a three-win increase. A season ago, Detroit advanced to the NFC title game but fell to the San Francisco 49ers on the road. Unless they win the Super Bowl, the Lions won’t have to travel this year to compete in the playoffs.
For the Vikings, the defeat is bitter. Minnesota will have to start the postseason on the road, even though they improved their record from 7-10 to 14-3, a seven-win improvement from the previous season. Despite his difficulties on Sunday, Darnold was a revelation. He passed for 35 touchdowns while starting in lieu of rookie J.J. McCarthy due to injury.
On January 13, the Vikings will meet the Los Angeles Rams in the first game of their playoff schedule.
As it awaits its opponent, Detroit will have a week to recuperate.
Around the NFLNext weekend’s wild-card round is confirmed:
- No. 5 Los Angeles Chargers at No. 4 Houston Texans (4:30 p.m. ET Saturday)
- No. 6 Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 3 Baltimore Ravens (8 p.m. ET Saturday)
- No. 7 Denver Broncos at 2. Buffalo Bills (1 p.m. ET Sunday)
- No. 7 Green Bay Packers at No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles (4:30 p.m. ET Sunday)
- No. 6 Washington Commanders at No. 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8 p.m. ET Sunday)
- No. 5 Minnesota Vikings at No. 4 Los Angeles Rams (8 p.m. ET Jan. 13)
First-round byes will be given to the NFC and AFC top seeds, the Lions and the Kansas City Chiefs, respectively.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the New Orleans Saints 27–19 to win the AFC South.Mike Evans, who finished with nine receptions for 89 yards, gave them a strong effort. He tied the all-time great wide receiver Jerry Rice with his 11th consecutive season of 1,000 receiving yards or more.
With the No. 1 seed guaranteed, the Chiefs rested most of their starters, but the Denver Broncos defeated them 38-0 to advance to the playoffs.Bo Nix, a rookie quarterback, had an outstanding 321 yards of passing, four touchdowns, and no interceptions. He became the only quarterback in history to pass for at least 300 yards in multiple games, score four touchdowns, and have a passer rating of 140 or better.
The game that might have been Aaron Rodgers’ last was won by the New York Jets 32–20 over the Miami Dolphins.He finished his career with a bang, throwing four touchdowns and totaling 503 regular season touchdown passes. Along with Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady, he became the fifth player in NFL history to record more than 500 touchdown passes during the regular season.
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