Lions Already in Vikings Players' Heads Before Week 18 Showdown

The Detroit Lions enter Week 15 once again with a giant target on their backs. Detroit boasts not only the best record in the NFC, but its 12-1 mark is tied for the best in the entire NFL, only being matched by the Kansas City Chiefs.

With four games remaining, every team the Lions face down the stretch will be focused on playing spoiler to Dan Campbell squad as they seek home-field advantage and a first-round bye.

That's especially the case for Detroit's last matchup of the season, as that features a rematch with the Minnesota Vikings, who are currently still in the hunt for both the 1-seed and the NFC North title.

While the Vikings are putting together an impressive year, they've largely been in the Lions' shadow, with the NFL at large praising what's going on in the Motor City. And it's abundantly clear that's starting to rub Detroit's purple neighbors the wrong way before they square off again.

After earning a big win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Minnesota cornerback Byron Murphy instantly had Detroit on his mind. He told NFL Network's Tom Pelissero in a postgame interview, "Y'all need to start talking about us. We're tired of the Detroit talk." Murphy then mentioned that Week 18 date with the Lions, showing he's already looking ahead despite having three games before that.

The fact one of the Vikings' leading players made his postgame interview about Detroit just shows how much the Lions are in the heads of Minnesota's personnel. This was a chance for Murphy to simply brag about all the things his team is doing well and make a case for more attention, yet making Detroit the focus just reinforces the narrative that the Vikings are chasing the Lions -- instead of them being treated as equals like Murphy wants.

Minnesota giving Campbell's team a run for its money in Week 7 surely plays a bit of factor in the confidence the Vikes have ahead of this rematch. A second-half surge by the Vikings actually gave Minnesota the lead in that contest with under six minutes remaining, but a tactical drive by Detroit ran the clock down to set up a game-winning field goal right before time expired.

Since that game, the Lions are a perfect 7-0 and have won in a variety of ways, including hard-fought victories that went down to the waning seconds (Week 14 vs. the Packers) and offensive onslaughts to blow out lesser opponents (52 points scored in both Week 8 and Week 11).

Even if Minnesota thinks it can hang with the big boys, it still has to prove that. The Lions already know they can, and that could make a difference if this season finale comes down to the wire again.

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