Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings: DJC Staff Predictions
By Zac Snyder
The Detroit Lions face an important week two road game at the Minnesota Vikings after starting their 2015 season in disappointing fashion against the San Diego Chargers.
Here is what the Detroit Jock City staff sees for the game ahead.
Braden Shackelford (0-1) – Yuck. That’s what I have to say about last week. When a team rips off 30 unanswered points, questions will be raised. Still, it’s too soon to overreact. The Lions were without their best defender–DeAndre Levy–and it showed. They need him back badly. His status for Sunday’s game is still uncertain, but good teams make adjustments. As I said last week, good teams don’t make excuses. If the Lions are a good team, then they will get out to an early lead against an unproven Minnesota Vikings team and never let them back in it. Lions rebound in this one, 28-24.
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Matt Snyder (1-0) – Calling a week two matchup a must win would be silly, but starting the season 0-2 (with a divisional loss) would not help the Lions get back into the playoffs. The Vikings won’t play as poorly as they did on Monday night — and this one’s going to be tight all the way through — but the Lions will be able to get the late-game defensive stop that last week’s contest sorely lacked. Lions 21, Vikings 17
Nate VanNorwick (1-0) – In a battle of two teams that looked really terrible last week, it will be interesting to see which team can make the most improvement, and which team has the biggest problems. The Vikings will be playing in front of their home stadium, and should get a boost from that. The Lions should get Larry Warford and Caraun Reid back, which would help a leaky offensive and defensive lines. In the end, the Lions defense – which was exposed last week – won’t be able to contain AP and the short passing game that teams have been using to beat the Lions. Minnesota 24, Detroit 17
Aaron Huizenga (0-1) – The Lions started their season off in spectacular fashion and then completely fell apart in the second half. The Vikings looked terrible on Monday night and will look to rebound from that. The Lions need to get rookie Ameer Abdullah and Calvin Johnson more involved offensively. They are however already dealing with a number of injuries on the defensive side of the ball which should allow the Vikings to get Adrian Peterson going this weekend. I see Minnesota pulling out a close one on their home field dropping the Lions to 0-2. Minnesota Vikings 27, Detroit Lions 21
Mike Rizzo (0-1) – Both Minnesota and Detroit come into Week 2 0-1 and needing a win. I think the Lions win this game 24-13. I’m not sold on Teddy Bridgewater and I think the Lions are able to at least contain Adrian Peterson. I think the defense redeems itself on Sunday in Minnesota. Lions 24, Vikings 13
Erik Schlitt (0-1) – Since 1990, NFL teams that start their season 0-2 have only an 11.7% chance of making the playoffs. With this in mind, the Lions defensive will be all in on stopping Adrian Peterson. Expect Lombardi to exploit Minnesota’s weakness against the run by putting his running backs in favorable positions behind a finally healthy offensive line. This should quickly turn into the Ameer Abdullah show. For this plan to be successful, the Lions offensive will need to improve in their time of possession, number of offensive play calls, and 1st down totals. In what should be a close contest, this one could come down to field goals. I expect Matt Prater to convert on his chances and the recently shaky Blair Walsh to continue to miss at least one of his. Lions avoid the dreaded 0-2 start and get their first victory of the season: Lions 20, Vikings 17.
Zac Snyder (1-0) – Unless the Lions get a drastically better performance from their back seven, we could see a repeat of last week. The Vikings would be smart to copy what worked so well for the Chargers to give Teddy Bridgewater quick, easy throws at short and intermediate depths to take advantage of Bridgewater’s accuracy and get him in a rhythm. Vikings 23, Lions 20
Those are our predictions, feel free to leave yours in the comments section down below.
Next: Lions-Vikings Q&A with Sporting Sota