Detroit Lions Week 6 Preview: Minnesota Vikings

For starters, this is a must win game for the Detroit Lions.

If the Lions drop this game they will most likely drop out of 1st place and have lost two games in which they were heavy favorites. It’s early, but those loses will add up in a division which is expected to be very close

For the first time in 2014, the Lions will hit the road to face an NFC North foe.

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The Vikings are coming off a 42-10 beat down loss to the Green Bay Packers, a team the Lions defense was able to shut down.

However the Vikings are well rested being that was a Thursday night game.

The Detroit Lions will enter this game as the number one ranked defense in the NFL. You have to like that match up seeing how the Vikings are rolling with rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and the struggles the Vikings offense has had all season long.

Simply put, this is not a good offense and the Detroit Lions should have little trouble putting pressure on the rookie quarterback. Bridgewater did perform well his 1st showing against the Falcons but he will face a much better defense this time around.

Offensively expect the Lions to be without star wide-out Calvin Johnson. That means it is time for part three of the Golden Tate show.

But it won’t matter how many passes Tate catches if Stafford is on the ground as much as he was like week against the Bills. The Vikings aren’t known for getting after the quarterback but if the Detroit Lions don’t want to lose back to back games the offensive line needs to do a better job of protecting Matthew Stafford.

Matt Stafford will also need to play better. He only completed 58% of his passes last week to go with a rating of just 76.

A lot of that is because he didn’t have Calvin Johnson. But against the Jets, also with no Calvin Johnson, Stafford had his best game of the season.

Prediction:

This is a game the Detroit Lions should be able to handle. You always worry about a classic “Lions loss”, a game where they’re looking really good coming in and just flat-out drop the ball against a team that shouldn’t be close to them. That’s what you saw last week.

I hope that is the only one you see all season because the schedule only gets tougher from here out.

Without Calvin Johnson, the Detroit Lions are still a much better team than the Vikings. This is a game that playoff teams win. Star player injured, number one running back not at 100% it does not matter. There is no excuse here for the Lions

Lions 24, Vikings 10

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